During the conference several pastors agreed that the missionary movement in our country has grown older. It is important to raise younger generation with the missionary spirit.
The conference organizer decided to expand the program of the kids’ missionary conference this year. Besides inviting the missionaries to two lessons of all the Sunday School classes, it was decided to have a separate memorable time with children, parents, and the missionaries on Saturday. Kids had a quest with different stations where children were introduced to different cultures and nations. At the beginning they heard the Good News, then at a different stations kids left uncomfortable bags with sins at the symbolic cross. They did it in order to fulfill the mission which is to carry the Gospel to a closed country and to buy freedom for a captive Christian in prison. During the games children communicated with the foreigners in different languages, explained the Gospel with gestures, “made money” to fulfill their mission, got into the “temptation room” and “swamp, were searched, fined, arrested, but at the end the Gospel prevailed and all of them gathered for a little celebration.
There was a youth meeting in the evening where young people from the town, the region, and even from other countries gathered. Young people who had already been to a short-term mission trips as well as experienced missionaries shared their testimonies and what they went through.
The conference is coming to an end. Some guests keep coming, others are already leaving. Here is one of the messages we have received today, “We are thankful to all the organizers and the conference participants. We are returning back home being refreshed, filled with joy, optimism, and a desire to move ahead.” We hope that this conference will become a push for more Christian churches to do such events.
Tetyana Arterchuk
