Spring seems finally to have arrived, and SGA is looking forward to supporting another year of summer camps for children in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Mongolia.
Last year witnessed more children attending camps in Moldova than ever before. In Ukraine, where state run clubs for children have been closed down because of the war, those organised by Christians in that conflict stricken country, were so much over-subscribed that many children who wanted to attend them were sadly unable to do so.
Camp ministry remains a wonderful means for sharing the Gospel. This is also the case in Central Asia, where around 50% of the population is under 30 years old. Furthermore, up to 65% of the children who attend camps there come from families with no church background and so are hearing the Gospel for the very first time.
It is for the express purpose of seeing an expansion of Gospel ministry that all these camps exist, each one having a decidedly evangelistic purpose. Alongside many fun activities, the children are first taught about creation, sin, and the need for repentance, and that forgiveness is only available through Christ’s atoning sacrifice on the cross.
This vital ministry is bearing fruit. In Ukraine, Pastor Sergey Shalinsky speaks of his joy at seeing children receiving Christ, while Peter Mihalchiuk reports of how last year, many young people in Moldova responded to the Gospel and started attending Sunday School. Our partners in Mongolia also testify to young lives being touched by the Good News of Jesus.
Pray for this year’s camps – for the hundreds of leaders as they make their preparations, for the thousands of children who will attend, and the even greater number comprising their friends and families who, through them, will be reached with the Gospel too.
Pray that there would be many who, recognizing that there is no other Name by which they must be saved, will come to gladly confess that Jesus Christ is Lord – to the glory of God the Father.
