Youth Conference GFC “Generation for Christ”

Over the course of 4 days, conference participants attended general sessions, where they listened to God’s Word, participated in seminars on current topics, went out to do street evangelism, and also just walked together, went on excursions and fellowshipped a lot!

But first, it is worth noting that two days before the conference, a Youth Leadership Summit took place on the theme “Reaching the next generation together: Heart. Mission. Teenagers.” This was for youth leaders and youth ministry teams of local churches of our brotherhood. The summit brought together about 200 participants - current youth ministers and their assistants.

Over the course of two and a half days, they took part in six main sessions taught by Peter Mitskevich (Moscow), Andrey Krysov (Perm), Evgeny Bakhmutsky (Moscow), Ilya Lyamshin (Orenburg), Justus Walker (Altai Territory), Alexey Guzenkov (Volgograd) and Anton Tretyak (St. Petersburg). Participants were also divided into five thematic tracks, in each of which they had five training blocks:

• Teen Ministry Forum
• Mission and Evangelism Track
• Track for Youth Ministers
• Track for Preachers
• Working meeting of UECB Youth Regional Coordinators

Thus, each participant was able to receive practical information and learn from the experience of the brothers who taught on the tracks in the area relevant to him in the amount of 7.5 hours!

Immediately after the Summit, the “Generation for Christ” conference began. It had the theme of missions and was called REmission, that is, rethinking our mission on this earth. Throughout the 4 days of the conference, there were calls for short-term missions, service in front-line territories and for participation in many other missionary projects!

At the opening of the conference, the UECB President Peter Mitskevich, addressed everyone on the topic “Missionary God”. At the second session, the missionary who dedicated himself to serving in the outback of Russia - the villages of the Altai Territory - Justus Walker, known to many conference participants for his ministry of evangelism on the Internet, preached as well.

Most of the main sessions of the conference were assigned to the regions of our brotherhood. At them, the leading brothers, who represented their regions, talked about their youth ministry, revealed the features of ministry in the region and shared evidence of God’s work among their youth. Also, at each such “regional” session, the brothers responsible for youth ministry in their region or who are key ministers there preached:

• Far East - Maxim Chepel, responsible for youth ministry in the Far Eastern region, pastor of the UECB church in Vladivostok
• Siberia - Sergey Zhurba, responsible for youth ministry in Siberia, pastor of the UECB church in Tomsk
• Ural - Andrey Krysov, responsible for youth ministry in the Urals, currently a missionary in the front-line territories
• Volga region - Ilya Lyamshin, coordinator of youth ministry in the Orenburg region, pastor of the UECB church in Orenburg
• South - Vitaly Tulyakov, coordinator of youth ministry in the union of churches of the Krasnodar Territory and Adygea, pastor of the UECB church in the village of Varenikovskaya
• North-West - Anton Tretyak, responsible for youth ministry in the North-West, pastor of the Poklonnaya Gora UECB Church in St. Petersburg
• Center - Ilya Pukhlyakov, pastor of the Bezhitsa ECB Church in Bryansk

Also varied was the musical participation at the conference, which represented different forms of musical ministry that exist in the churches of our brotherhood: on the first day, the general singing was led by a fraternal musical group from Maykop, on the second - musicians from the Novosibirsk Bible Church, on the third - musicians from the Russian Bible Church church.

On the last day, in the morning session, all participants took part in the Lord's Supper. It was conducted by a veteran of the brotherhood - Pyotr Borisovich Konovalchik. Unfortunately, on this day the musicians from Bryansk, who were invited to participate musically, could not come, so again the fraternal group from Maykop led the whole hall in singing - their participation and the word of Pyotr Borisovich touched many to tears. For most, this moment was especially significant, because the participation of such diverse youth from all over the country in the Commandment of Communion clearly testified to the main thing - our unity in Christ.

At the closing of the conference with a final sermon on the text of John 20:21-22:

As the Father sent Me, so I send you. Having said this, he blew and said to them: Receive the Holy Spirit.

The head of Russia UECB Youth Ministry Vitaly Zanin addressed the participants. He called on everyone to dedicate themselves and the best years of their lives to serving God, His Church and His mission. After this, the conference ended with prayer on our knees.

In addition to general sessions, participants could take part in seminars on the following topics:

• Practical tools for taking care of your spiritual health - Maxim Chepel, Vladivostok
• Where is your foundation and what do you hope for? - Sergey Zhurba, Tomsk
• Conducting evangelistic meetings for teenagers - Mikhail Lukin, Voronezh
• Nursing seminar “Priceless. Talk about the main thing” - Tatyana Chepel, Vladivostok
• Broken Hearts Club: reflection on falling in love - Pavel Kazakov, Samara
• How to achieve a strong relationship in marriage - Maxim and Tatyana Chepel, Vladivostok
• How to bring the Gospel in the modern world - Vyacheslav Levashov, Novosibirsk
• They will come to repentance through your friendship - Georgy Koraev, Naberezhnye Chelny
• Mission to the front-line territories - Vitaly Moroz, Volgograd
• How to achieve your dream - Vitaly Tulyakov, Krasnodar region
• Spiritual gifts and how to understand your calling - Anton Tretyak, St. Petersburg
• From form to essence: harmonious musical ministry - Mikhail Kurtukov, Novosibirsk

and many others!

I would like to note that during the conference a volleyball tournament was held among teams from different regions of the country. In the final, in a bitter struggle, the team of brothers from Bryansk defeated the brothers from Maykop. All participants received medals, and the winning team received the “Generation for Christ” challenge cup.

God touched the youth in a special way through the preaching of the Word and many came out after the sermons for prayer of repentance, confession and dedication to serving Christ! On the third day of the conference, after the next sermon, many pastors  prayed with the youth for more than 20 minutes, who came in an endless stream, responding to the work of the Holy Spirit in their hearts. Also, throughout the conference there was a counseling room, whose ministers were often unable to cope with the huge number of people who wanted to talk and pray with them. Thank God that He worked so mightily in the souls of the participants during these 4 days!

The Lord blessed the conference with the fact that it brought together both the youth themselves and pastors, ministers and youth leaders from all over the country, who with renewed vigor were fired with a desire to convey the Good News to the younger generation in our country! We believe that this conference will become a powerful impetus for the development of mission and evangelism among the youth of our communities and that we will one day reap great fruit - new ministers, evangelists and missionaries whom the Lord will send to His harvest, which is already ripe!