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Training and equipping future leaders for evangelism and church-planting is foundational to all of Russian Ministries’ programs and services. This emphasis is accomplished through our centerpiece training project, School Without Walls, and further supported and enhanced through our additional training programs for Sunday school teachers, youth leaders, camp counselors, puppeteers, family and trauma counselors, writers, evangelists, pastors and others. SWW is the largest network of nonformal schools in the former Soviet Union (FSU). It is currently comprised of 1,813 students, studying in 62 schools in 49 regions. SWW reaches a variety of nations and cultures. SWW is active in five countries—Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova and Uzbekistan, as well as the autonomous regions of South Ossetia (in Georgia), and Karakalpakstan (in Uzbekistan), which is one of the poorest and most closed regions in the FSU to the work of the gospel. Work is also starting in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan. In regions where the two-year SWW program has finished, local churches have continued instruction independently. These regions include: Chelyabinsk (Russia), Salekhard (Russia), Kaluga (Russia), Yaroslavl (Russia), Tyumen (Russia), Poltava (Ukraine), Lugansk (Ukraine), Zaporozhye (Ukraine), Cherkassy (Ukraine), Grodno (Belarus), Volkovysk (Belarus) and Gomel (Belarus). Therefore, SWW has become a great example of continuous education in churches. Pastors and teachers continue to bring together graduates for further development of the ministry skills they learned during SWW. Decentralized work and a flexible approach allowed for the vision of SWW to be enriched by new ideas, and made the programs flexible and contextualized. Especially noteworthy are the effectiveness and the interest churches have taken in their new approaches to youth and social ministry. We continue to involve the local church in the process of teaching those disciplines where their strengths lie. Our students and graduates are active in church-planting, evangelism, and discipleship. They start new Bible studies for believers and unbelievers. They organize evangelistic camps for children and youth, and participate in social projects. They participate in community-wide Christian events, creating ways for churches to implement more sacrificial forms of ministry. Our graduates start new youth projects and organize talent nights. They are actively involved in ministry to couples, girls, and women, which all significantly impact church growth. SWW is spreading to regions and countries where young people have no way to obtain formal theological or spiritual education, yet God is developing new churches in those regions. This innovative training program is a friendly and extremely diverse partnership of donors, coordinators, pastors, teachers, students, and volunteers. |
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