12,000 Young People Respond to the Gospel in Ukraine
October 19, 2016 • Russian
11 Cities. 39,000 participants. More than 12,000 responses.
“As I held in my hand the response cards of the thousands of young people who responded to the Gospel message, I was humbled by God’s power,” reflects ReFrame Ministries (BTGMI) Russian ministry leader Rev. Sergei Sosedkin. “Each card represents a real life, a soul changed by Jesus.”
Over the past several months, the BTGMI Russian ministry team worked with local church partners throughout Ukraine, including Kiev, Odessa, Kherson and Melitopol, to plan and carry out youth mission rallies. Together BTGMI and the churches promoted the events on radio and TV, printed and online resources.
Local churches, from several evangelical denominations in each of the eleven cities, encouraged church youth to invite people in their social circles—college or high school friends—most of whom were not believers. Churches sought permission from their local authorities to use the central squares for the gatherings.
“The churches distributed free tickets so we would know how many youth to plan on, then they collected the tickets at each event,” Rev. Sosedkin explains. “That’s how we know a total of 39,000 youth came.”
The events were advertised as Christian music concerts. Several Christian bands from Ukraine, as well as at least one from the United States, led the youth in worship. Lika, former Miss Ukraine, who works with BTGMI Russian ministry, presented the Gospel and challenged the youth to respond to Christ. More than 12,000 young people filled out information cards requesting Bibles, Christian literature, or follow-up with local congregations who will disciple those who want to know more about a commitment to Christ.
Again, Rev. Sosedkin says, “It is humbling to see the number of young people who filled out cards. I was wonderfully surprised to see so many hearts open to the Gospel, hungry for God’s Word, desiring to learn more about the Christian faith.
Pray for the spiritual growth of all the young people who responded to the Gospel call and for those who disciple them in the faith.