From October 29, 2023, to November 5, 2023, the 28th missionary conference on the topic “Persuading Everyone” was held in the Community of the Good Shepherd church in Rivne. The motto of the conference was the biblical verse from Colossians 1:28: “We proclaim Him, admonishing every person and teaching every person with all wisdom, so that we may present every person complete in Christ.”
Because of the war in our country, the Lord with His hand created a new and unexpected atmosphere and guests who were able to share the word with us. At the beginning of the conference, we had missionaries from Japan – pastor Masato Funakoshi and his son, Yuki, who, despite the strict prohibition of their own government, were still able to stay in Odessa, where the Japanese family has been serving for 24 years. On Sunday morning, Masato shared his testimony and delivered a sermon on the meaning of Christ’s calling and His Great Commission.
In the evening, he held a seminar on the biblical view of Christians’ attitude to war.
Also, we had a young family of Volodymyr and Ani Klochko from Lviv, who studied in our Bible training centers, and now moved to the town of Dolyna, Ivano-Frankivsk region, to help pastor Serhii Kyrylenko with planting a new church there. In addition, the participants of the conference were greeted by Mark Masser, a missionary from the USA who, since the collapse of the Soviet Union, has served in various regions for many years – Belarus, Armenia, and recently taught various Bible courses in Ukraine.
Our Sunday school children also were taught a children’s Bible lesson on the topic of missions.
On Monday morning, brother Masato and brother Yuki had the opportunity to meet with the workers of the Christian Mission Hope to People where they shared their experiences, anxieties, pain, and joys of their ministry in an upfront conversation. Such an exchange of experiences is a great encouragement and help in serving people.
In the evening, the young missionary Yuki Funakoshi – the first Japanese born in Ukraine – preached at a youth meeting in our daughter church Source of Life in Zdolbuniv
On Tuesday, as usual, the small groups were held, and church members along with guests had the opportunity to talk via video call with missionaries who are prayed for and supported by our church. They shared about their lives out in the fields and prayer needs, and everyone in small groups asked questions they were interested in.
On Wednesday, all participants of the conference in Rivne waited for a wonderful seminar by Benjamin Morrison, a missionary in Svitlovodsk, Kirovohrad region, who moved from the USA to serve here. The topics of the sessions were:
«The Church for the sake of the World»
The content of the material was extremely lively, bright, and extraordinary, and the amount of time for Q&A was somewhat brief, so during the breaks, the participants had the opportunity to talk and discuss more thoroughly about evangelism. We praise God for that!
On Friday, within the framework of our conference, a special event took place throughout the day – a meeting of the workers of the Christian Mission Hope to People on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of its activity and work. The Bible repeatedly encourages us to pause, review our life in retrospect, try to see God’s hand in it, be attentive to God’s lessons, and be sensitive to His warnings. The current employees of Hope to People and those brothers and sisters who worked at the mission’s office in previous years gathered namely to recall the distance traveled in the past, to praise and give thanks to God for His mercy and love for us.
On the last Sunday of the conference, at its closing, brother Pavlo Rudenko, recently ordained to the pastoral ministry, gave a thorough biblical sermon in which he unpacked the true meaning of the slogan of the conference – Colossians 1:28.
