Today in the church “Community of the Good Shepherd,” was the grand opening of the XXI Missionary Conference. Crowded with guests hall has immediately drawn into the atmosphere of a significant event. And it really was so, because we were able to welcome sixteen missionaries from around the world, and it was just the beginning. During the following week we are expecting more guests who will share God’s work in the places they are from.
Being limited in time, on Sunday there was an opportunity to hear only some short greetings of some missionaries, but they were a great testimony of God’s love. Especially touching were news about the ministry in the East, because we know the least about those places.
Also, a great discovery became the testimony of the missionary from the Crimea, which carries his ministry to the people such as the Chukchi. He shared about the difficulties of relocation away from “warm” sea to the “cold” sea and adaptation to a completely new culture. Unusually was to meet an elderly man who had never heard about Jesus. Not all people after the missionary schools could become missionaries. An interesting feature of this remote nation is that the Chukchi can serve and take care of you the whole day in silence, saying only two words that actually reinforce what they have done doing. And just the same way they perceive the Gospel – tere’s no need to talk a lot, we have to show them.
Opening the conference theme, Taras Pristupa preached on the place from 2 Corinthians 4:13. The main idea of the sermon was that if we believe in the Gospel and the Great Commission, we speak, because we can not keep silent. Conversely, if we are silent, then maybe our faith in unreal? On the example of St. Paul, we can see that this path is not easy, but if our faith is sincere, the Holy Spirit will create the conditions for us to speak.
The completion of the meeting was a prayer. Gathered in small groups, each of them invited a missionary to hear the prayer requests and to pray in the community. And all those who could not be with the missionaries in the places where they have been to, they could reinforce and serve with prayer.
And this week we will have the opportunity to meet with our guests closer through different seminars, communication in groups and dinners. Pray for the conference, that the glory of God was in everything.
Olya Denysiuk
