CEE Story From The Mission Field
"Isn't that how it is supposed to work?"
June 21, 2002
"He (Andrew) found first his own brother Simon and said to him, 'We have found the Messiah' (which translated means Christ)."
John 1:41
Laughter, squeals of delight, and high-pitched voices are heard resounding off of the gray decaying buildings. Children are once again playing outside in the yards in between the apartment buildings. Moms are sitting nearby watching and visiting. A natural result of warm spring weather? Yes, but also an open door for missionaries in Kharkov, Ukraine.
In this former communist culture, it is nearly impossible to share the gospel by going door to door, because people won't admit strangers into their homes. So wintertime, with people hurrying to get out of the snow and freezing temperatures, creates natural barriers to reaching people with the gospel. However, in the spring, as the sun warms the ground and people venture outside again, opportunities abound to reach out to families right in their neighborhoods.
At the end of April and the beginning of May, IMB missionaries in Ukraine were able to lead several community projects outside because of the warm weather. Two teams led children's clubs in three different communities. While the children heard about Jesus and played various games their parents watched. This gave an opportunity for some team members to introduce themselves and begin telling them about Jesus too. They invited them to Easter services as well as a health clinic being held at New Hope Center (Church Planting Center). One team took pictures of the children, still a novelty in some parts of Eastern Europe, and then later delivered these pictures to their homes. This opened a door to further develop relationships and to share with them about Christ.
While the children were involved in children's clubs, Shannon Scarbrough (ISC missionary) and Christopher Stockwell (MK), along with several youth leaders from New Hope Center played basketball and soccer with the youth that were hanging out in the yards. While they played with them they also shared about their faith in Christ. Then they invited them to the youth programs on Wednesday and Saturday nights. Fifteen of these came to New Hope Center to visit the youth club and five of these youth prayed to receive Christ. These five in turn, invited their other friends to the youth club and two of them also prayed to receive Christ. When we asked Shannon about this he responded, "Isn't that how it is supposed to work?"