"Here I am, send me!" - Wycliffe Mission Conference in Kemerovo, Siberia
2022-11-16

"Here I am, send me!" - Wycliffe Mission Conference in Kemerovo, Siberia

The beginning of November of this year was joyful for a Christian community in Kemorovo: In two cities located 200 km from each other, pleasant and profitable meetings of like-minded people took place at once.

“Here I am, Lord, send me!”

Isaiah 6:8

A prayer conference was held at a UECB church of Leninsk-Kuznetsky, and in the central church in Kemerovo. There was barely enough space for the participants of the Children's Regional Conference, which brought together more than two hundred people, most of whom were children aged 7-14 years.

The theme of the conference is “Here I am, send me!” Children's workers and their children from Sunday schools with their unbelieving friends became interested, because for the first time representatives of the St. Petersburg educational public organization "Mission of Bible Translators - Wycliffe" came to the area. It was this new and unfamiliarity that attracted children and adults. They were divided into teams, from the very first moments of the conference, and were involved in an interesting journey around the globe. Practically, all local churches of the region have delegated their representatives to the conference. No one would be bored - there was simply no time!

The St. Petersburg organizers, Elena and Maria, apparently have a lot of experience working with children in the subject:

Can everyone on the planet read the Bible in their own language? What is Wycliffe? How can we understand the work of translators and their mission? Is it possible to become a missionary at the age of 7-14? Who will teach them? And then what do we do with this knowledge? How can you be useful to your peers who do not speak Russian, but, for example, Kazakh or Chuvash?

To these and many other questions, Elena and Maria answered not just with words, but, having organized a Journey through seven stations, set off on a journey together, uniting with the station leaders from local assistants, brothers and sisters, who have a joyful, cheerful, kind, inquisitive disposition. Anastasia and Svetlana Botvich, Ilya and Natalya Mukhin, Evgeny Yagunov, Tatyana Kuznetsova, Anna Torgunakova, Kirill Pankov, Katya Korepanov, Georgy and Evgeny Nyagin, Svetlana Burikova, Alena Kachurina, Svetlana Kataeva, Margarita Gurskaya - they and many other leaders and mentors of the conference, along with the children traveled that day, dove into knowledge and understanding, and took into their hearts the whole work of the mission of Wycliffe.

The presbyter of the Kemerovo church, Igor Shulga, met everyone in a prayerful greeting and they prayed together. Svetlana Burikova prepared favorite and familiar children's and teenage songs and hymns for the conference, and so they sang together. Thanks to some hospitable and caring sisters, everyone ate together. And we played together - the leaders knew their stuff. They all answered our questions together.

Hour after hour went by. We were all well-taken care of, children and adults absorbed all the information:

  • Masha's presentation on the translation of the Bible in the world and in Russia
  • Video "Bible Banquet"
  • Game "Missionary"
  • Elena's story about serving in Africa;
  • Bible game

Attendees traveled from station to station with friendly, boisterous, and bright impressions, remembering the most interesting things at these meetings: "Russia is a generous soul", "Workshop", "The leader's wife", "Test", "Ends of the earth", "Messages", A special project "The story of a dirty sock" presented by Elena gave the children the right to take part in the preparation of Christmas gifts for their peers in Ghana.

The scene “Who will go for me?” left an indelible impression. It was performed with a  high level of emotions by a team of adult participants, showing the continuity of missionary work from ancient times to today's heartbeats of missionaries, answering questions from the Lord:

  • Who will go for me?
  • Whom shall I send?
  • Here I am, Lord, send m
  • e!

Iraida Rodina, member of the Union of Journalists of Russia

 
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