Our Ukrainian teachers had the opportunity to reflect on this question at the camp held by the Department of Christian Ethics of our mission from July 1 to 6, 2024 in the village of Yablunytsia in the Ivano-Frankivsk region. The camp was specifically for teachers of Christian schools from all areas of Ukraine on the theme “Ignite Your Love for God.”

Our main goal was to get the gospel across to the camp participants, as well as the Great Commandment and the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The vast majority of camp participants are believers of evangelical churches in the Rivne and Kyiv regions (Boyarka,  the village of Tarasivka). Among them were also believers of Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches. In total, we had 26 participants in the camp.

We have been doing camps for public school teachers for many years, but this is one that was specifically organized for the first time for private Christian school teachers. They are all very active in their schools and churches, and many participate in the camps as leaders, organizing and conducting camps. At the same time, the willingness of these teachers to participate in our camp displays that they have a great need to communicate with colleagues to share their experience of teaching children based on Christian values.

Every morning and evening there was a corporate spiritual part of the day where we glorified God with singing, sat under the preaching of God’s Word, and participated in joint prayer. Every day we studied Bible lessons on the following topics:

1) Ignite your love for God,

2) Ignite your love for God’s Word,

3) Ignite your love for prayer,

4) Ignite your love for worship,

5) Ignite your love for the gospel.

Also, the educators, who teach God’s Word to children in schools through the subject “Fundamentals of Christian Ethics” had an opportunity to share their experience with each other for one hour every day. After the Bible lessons, all camp participants were engaged in crafts. After lunch, we would go on various trips and excursions. For example, we had an opportunity to go to the Huk waterfall, the lake of Molodosti, and the ski lifts in Bukovel. Every evening, pastor Pavlo Rudenko preached based on biblical texts that we studied during the day in Bible lessons.

Those who visited the Christian camp for the first time experienced a real culture shock: you could see that some had tears in their eyes during the singing of evangelical songs, while studying the Bible lessons, and it was clear that some people were exploring the Word of God for the first time and they were interested in it! One teacher requested a textbook we had in this camp for himself to study with a group of other teachers. He really liked the method where we carefully study the Bible, verse by verse, mark keywords, answer questions, and thoughtfully observe the biblical text.

Camp participant Iryna V. from Kherson shared her impressions and noted that she received important lessons about God’s love, which includes everyone, regardless of their state. Iryna emphasized that in Christian schools, the emphasis is on opening hearts to God, and not on worshiping idols. She also noted the importance of repentance and prayer, regardless of the circumstances, and recognized the need to improve her relationship with God. In addition, she benefited from new methods of anxiety relief.

Mathematics teacher Svitlana B., who works in the Kyiv region, in her feedback emphasized the importance of constant dialogue with God and obedience to Him, noting that God is kind and loving. Svitlana noted that Christian schools have their own traditions and have a positive influence on children. She also expressed her gratitude for the opportunity to share experiences and participate in seminars and lectures that arouse interest in learning. She especially liked the Bible course, which opened up new perspectives on understanding the Old and New Testaments.

Thank God for this new experience for us! In the reviews, almost everyone wrote that they would like to go to such a camp again next year and invite their colleagues, as well as their spouses, to study the Word of God together and ignite their love for God!

We sincerely thank you, our dear partners, for your prayers and financial support of camps for school teachers!

 

Arkady Slyoza