U.K. media consultant Peter Wooding interviewed Russian Ministries’ President Anita Deyneka about the late summer evangelistic summer camps that are running in the former Soviet Union. Many of these evangelistic summer camps are reaching children in difficult places such as Dagestan and Ingushetia.

As School Without Walls students and other young Next Generation Christian leaders  are busy running summer camps in more than hundred locations, help is urgently needed to complete their goal of reaching more than 5,000 needy children across the former Soviet Union.

“We’re looking for partners who would want to be part of this marvelous movement to help children who still face so many problems the turmoil in their countries and  from the legacy of communism,” said Russian Ministries President Anita Deyneka.

Already a month into the evangelistic summer camp program, Deyneka says help is urgently needed to reach the goal of impacting over 5,000 kids: “It has been magnificent so far,” explains Deyneka, ” with children coming to camp and responding to the counselors and staff, but what is  challenging is having enough funds.  With another month of summer camps to go, we need at least $75,000 to finish the summer strong. It costs just $50 per child to attend one week of camp—and every one of those dollars is an investment into a changed life.”

There are so many  children who come to camp from tragic backgrounds, children with alcoholic parents, street kids, orphans, children with disabilities, tuberculosis and HIV.  One of the toughest places where Russian Ministries is running camps right now is in Chechnya where all the children have known in their lives is war.

Deyneka says the impact on these vulnerable young lives goes far beyond summer camp: “That is one of the best aspects of the camps. It’s not just that one week, but our national co-workers, who lead the camps, keep a connection with the children. The camps build a bridge into a future of ongoing relationship with the children and their families and communities.  The children want to keep in touch, and so doors oepn.  The campers often return to their non-churched families and talk about camp and what they learned, and in some cases, parents have come to know the Lord and come to church.

“The community also sees these young Christians who care about the children and care enough to organize the camps. This leads to all sorts of wonderful paths for the future not only for  the children but also the communities. The camps are a great blessing in themselves but the ripples afterward are just amazing in the ongoing impact in the lives of the children.”

With more than ten years of Russian Ministries’ summer camp ministry, many of those that were children from the beginning, now come back each year camp counselors, and then become involved School Without Walls as students at Russian Ministries’ non-formal training program that provides Christian discipleship and leadership.

But help is desperately needed now to ensure this legacy continues. To find out how you can help send a child to camp, click here www.russian-ministries.org and click on the donate now tab.

Right now, as a special thank-you for a camp gift of $50 or more, we are offering original artwork either by a Russian Christian artist, Anastasia Taran or an American Christian artist, Pamela Alderman.

Anastasia (pictured at right) is wheelchair bound, and childhood rheumatoid poly-arthritis has gnarled her hands. But this gifted young woman joyfully serves God and uses her art for His glory. Pamela’s watercolors express the joys and trials of life. She has captured the joy of a young Russian girl for us in the print we’re offering.

When you give to our evangelistic summer camps, you’ll help
• at-risk children whose homes are orphanages and state-run institutions,
• special needs children in Zaporozhye, Ukraine,
• mothers and children living with HIV/AIDS in Moldova and
• children who live in the difficult-to-reach regions of Central Asia and the Northern Caucasus.

A $50 gift will help send one child to one week of summer camp, and give him or her a Bible or Christian literature.

A gift of $100 will double your impact, and give two children a week at summer camp and place a Bible or Christian literature into their hands.

An investment of $200 will give four children the opportunity to meet Jesus at one of our evangelistic summer camps, and $300 will help send six children to camp. A gift of $400 will help send eight children to camp, and each of these children will receive a Bible and/or Christian literature especially geared for him or her.

An even greater investment of $500 or $1000 will help send 10 or 20 children to one of these life-changing summer camps.

When you give online to our evangelistic summer camp ministry, your gift can start making a difference in the lives of children in the countries of the former Soviet Union.

Read about our evangelistic summer camp ministry in the Northern Caucasus region of Russia.

From 3,000 gifts to four times that number in its second season of ministry, Gift of Life-Russian Ministries’ Easter outreach and gift distribution-brought the good news of Jesus’ resurrection to orphans, hurting children and teenagers.

In all, 13,190 gifts and Bibles/Christian literature were given away this Easter season. The gift boxes for the children included candy, toys and children’s Bibles. Teenagers received a special edition of the Gospel of Mark that included testimonies from young people, who have discovered new life in Christ. This Easter, 34 national evangelical churches and 30 organizations and business in the Zaporozhye region also support the Gift of Life project.

On April 23, an orphanage in Volnyansk, Ukraine, welcomed a music group, amateur and professional soccer players and clowns as young Next Generation Christians from the THEME youth club in nearby Zaporozhye arrived to share Resurrection hope and joy with the 150 orphans there.

“Looking into the younger children’s eyes, you see a sincerity that will all too soon be marred by disillusionment, and possible anger and resentment,” related one young Christian leader.

“But those who have not yet lost hope seek in us faithful friends, whom they can see more often than just Christmas and Easter,” continues this young leader. “Some children did not want us to go . . . . Lord willing, we will visit them again. As Christ said, ‘And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name, welcomes me.’ ” (Matthew 18:5)

Seasonal outreaches such as Gift of Life at Easter, or Project Hope at Christmas are some of the many ways School Without Walls students and other young Next Generation Christian leaders connect with needy children and at-risk teenagers throughout the year.

In just a few weeks, Russian Ministries’ evangelistic summer camps begin all across the former Soviet Union.

School Without Walls students and graduates not only initiate this outreach but also mobilize their churches and other young Christian leaders to be a  part of the summer camp ministry.

Russian Ministries would like to help send at least 5,000 children and teenagers to a life-changing week of summer camp. One child + one week of summer camp = one changed life.

Be a part of this divine math today with a secure online gift to Russian Ministries’ evangelistic summer camps. A gift of $50 will help send one child to camp and provide one Bible/Christian literature, a $100 gift will help send two children to camp and provide Bibles/Christian literature for them and a gift of $200 will provide the same for four children. Make a secure online gift today.

Join Russian Ministries on Facebook and become part of the summer camp Cause.

Khristos voskres! Voistinu voskres!

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

This ancient Russian Orthodox Easter greeting takes on its true meaning as Next Generation Christians across the former Soviet Union bring Resurrection hope and new life to at-risk children through a variety of Easter outreach events in places like a nearly forgotten orphanage in Pology, Ukraine.

All 40 children at the small orphanage are either from the streets or troubled families. But this orphanage is only a temporary stop for these children, who will soon move to a permanent orphanage or return to their families.

These lost and drifting children—and thousands of others like them all across the former Soviet Union—are trapped in a system that can’t offer them the security they need now or the hope they need for the future.

Tatyana, a young Next Generation Christian, recalls her visit to the orphanage last spring. “After our play about the Resurrection, we distributed the gifts, and the children’s joy was never-ending. They showed us their gifts and asked us to come more often and stay longer. We would like to participate in events like this more often, and bigger and better.”

This spring, God has given Russian Ministries an opportunity for “bigger and better” Easter evangelistic events that will reach even more children and young people in more countries of the former Soviet Union.

Local School Without Walls ministry teams of Next Generation Christians plan to distribute 10,000 Gift of Life boxes. Each Gift of Life box has Easter candy, toys, clothing and a copy of My First Bible, or other age-appropriate Bible or Scripture books geared for children. In addition, ministry teams plan to distribute 5,000 Gospels of Mark to students at higher educational institutions along with a specially designed insert that will explain the resurrection of Christ. Local outreach teams estimate that the impact will double to 30,000 as each child/student who receives the gift/Christian literature is expected to share it with one other person.

The gift boxes are distributed to children who live in

•orphanages or even on the streets,

•shelters,

•and families with great material need.

This year’s Gift of Life outreach will be coordinated through the Christian Youth Center in Ukraine through which young potential leaders will work to mobilize their churches, participate in the outreach program as well as in follow-up programs and events.

Russian Ministries is grateful to God to see that, as a result of its efforts to train the Next Generation through School Without Walls, these young Christians are now creating innovative ways to bring hope to these hurting children.

Support the gift of Life outreach this Easter, and help young Next Generation Christians in the former Soviet Union give the gift of eternal life and Resurrection hope to needy children and young people for whom Jesus came.

Khristos voskres! Voistinu voskres!

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

Prayer and Preparations for Project Hope

Give now are receive our 2010 wall calendar

Christians in Russia and Ukraine are making final preparations for Project Hope: The Great Gift Exchange. Young Next Generation Christians in Russia and parts of Ukraine are now filling gift boxers with Christmas presents containing everything from art supplies to small toys. Each gift also includes a children’s Bible and/or Christian literature geared for kids.

Pray for the outreach efforts, that many children and families in need will discover the truth of the gospel and the love of Jesus Christ.

If you haven’t already done so, it’s not too late to give to Project Hope and help bring the good news of Jesus to a child. Make your gift today—it’s one gift that won’t be returned and will last forever.

Give a gift to Russian Ministries now, and we will send you our beautiful 2010 wall calendar (while supplies last).

Russia and other nations discuss nuclear arms, hoping for a more stable world.

A country mourns when a fire roars through a club in the city of Perm and 113 people are killed in the blaze.

A bomb explodes in a busy marketplace in Grozny, Chechnya.

And every night, in large urban cities in Russia and Ukraine, four-five million children and teenagers sleep on the streets.

Where is the peace, the hope for Russia and the other countries of the former Soviet Union this Christmas?

This year, the hope of Jesus, the Prince of Peace, will come for 50,000 orphans, street kids and needy children and their families as hundreds of young Next Generation Christian leaders give out Christmas gifts, filled with small presents and a children’s Bible or Christian literature.

These gifts of hope and peace have helped build bridges between young Christian leaders from Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia and Muslim families in Grozny, Chechnya in past Christmases—and will again this year through Project Hope: The Great Gift Exchange.

After clearing all the border checks in North Ossetia, Ingushetia and Chechnya, the team of young Christian leaders enjoyed re-connecting with children they knew from Russian Ministries’ evangelistic summer camp in Grozny as well as meeting new children and their parents.

“The parents express joy and gratitude that we don’t forget them,” explains one of Russian Ministries’ young Christian leaders, “and that we come to show them our love and share in the fate of the Chechen nation, which has experienced the horrors of a decade of war, and the trauma still remains in the minds, souls and hearts of the children and adults.”

A gift to Project Hope: The Great Gift Exchange will help Russian Ministries’ young Next Generation Christian leaders bring the hope and peace of Jesus to Russia’s hurting and needy children this Christmas.

CLICK HERE TO GIVE TO PROJECT HOPE.

All across Russia, national evangelical churches and young Next Generation Christians will bring Christmas hope to 50,000 orphans and needy children through Project Hope: The Great Gift Exchange.

This Christmas hope will reach children like Pasha, whose home is a tuberculosis hospital.

When Russian Ministries’ Next Generation Christians arrived at the hospital to celebrate Christmas with the children, all of them happily gathered, ready to play games, watch Christmas skits and open the presents their guests had brought with them.

Except for Pasha. He sat by himself, staring out the window. Soon Elena, one of the young Christian leaders, noticed Pasha. “I took a gift and told Pasha that Jesus loved him very much and prepared this gift for him. Pasha nodded, took the gift from me and walked away,” recalled Elena.

As the boy walked away, Elena noticed that he walked with a limp. The orphanage staff explained that Pasha’s mother didn’t want him, and had injected him with a concoction that adversely effected him as a baby.

“Now Pasha has problems with his eyes and one of his legs has grown at all,” Elena sadly reports. “He was close to his father, but he died from TB a few years ago.”

As dismayed as she was by Pasha’s story, Elena took heart in the opportunity she had to be a part of Project Hope: The Great Gift Exchange.

“I am so thankful to God that He gives us a chance to tell theses chldren about His love and bring them hope and joy!”

Soon, national evangelical churches, School Without Walls students and other young Next Generation Christian leaders will be preparing Christmas presents for 50,000 orphans and needy children.

But Project Hope: The Great Gift Exchange is more than delivering presents. It’s about building relationships in which Christmas hope—the hope of Jesus—is communicated through a loving touch, a friendly conversation, and above all, through God’s Word.

You can have a part in making Christmas a reality for children like Pasha all across Russia.
• A gift of $25 will provide one gift that includes small presents and a children’s Bible.
• A gift of $50 will provide two gifts and two children’s Bibles.
• A gift of $100 will provide four gifts and four children’s Bibles.

Make a secure online gift to Project Hope: The Great Gift Exchange, and start helping Russian Christians get ready for Christmas today!

CLICK HERE TO GIVE TO OUR CAMP OUTREACH.

The summer of 2009, 8,283 campers attended 111 sessions of evangelistic summer camps*, organized by School Without Walls students, other young Next Generation Christian leaders and churches across the former Soviet Union.

At Russian Ministries’ evangelistic summer camps, children and teenagers . . .

…discover God’s love

In Moldova, cancer is one of the major causes of death. Tragically, early detection and treatment are rare, and children with cancer have a low survival rate.

Young Next Generation Christians in Moldova wanted their evangelistic summer camp to be a place of hope and joy for these children and their caregivers. The camp’s theme for the week was, “Searching for Great Discoveries,” and 15-year-old Sasha was about to make the greatest discovery of his life—God’s love.

Battling brain cancer, Sasha lived with his grandmother, and one by one, his friends and classmates stopped hanging out with him as they heard he had cancer.

Once friendly and outgoing, Sasha was now hardened to life and people. When he arrived at camp, he ignored everyone.

One of the camp leaders decided to do something about the barrier Sasha had erected, and asked the teenager for some help . . . and God’s love began to melt the heart of this hurting teenager.

The next day, Sasha talked with the other campers, and helped with activities and games for the parents. The last day of camp, Sasha confessed that he hadn’t planned on making friends at camp, but he did.

His grandmother added, “Thank you for inviting us here. At this camp, I learned that when things are very hard God is nearby and He hears us. We will definitely attend church when we return home.”

Learn from His Word

Sergey had been to enough camps to last him a lifetime, and hated every single one.

When Sergey was invited to one of Russian Ministries’ evangelistic camps in Moldova, his first reaction was to say, “No. I thought it would be just like all the other camps, but my mother convinced me to go.”

It only took a couple of days for Sergey to settle in, and realize that this camp was different from the other camps he had attended. “This camp had a warm, open atmosphere,” explained Sergey.

The fourth day of camp, Sergey picked up a Bible for the first time in his young life, and read the first six chapters of the gospel of Matthew. “I am so grateful to this camp for changing me, and I think for the better,” said Sergey. “I will keep coming to camp until they kick me out!”

Grow in Their Faith

Tanya and Valya are both seventeen years old. Both like to cook and both live at the same orphanage in the Rovno region.

The two girls also spend their summers at one of Russian Ministries’ evangelistic summer camps.

Each summer, Next Generation Christian leaders from Rovno have a summer camp for orphans all over the region. “We’ve known Tanya and Valya for a few years now,” explained one of the Next Generation leaders. “We have a ministry in their orphanage and they’ve been coming to camp.”

This summer, the girls helped out the camp staff with younger children from the orphanage. “They acted like leaders,” said one of the camp leaders.

Tanya and Valya remember when these Next Generation Christians first came to their orphanage and told the children that Jesus loved and cared for them.

This summer was Tanya and Valya’s last summer at camp.

They’re “graduating” from the orphanage and will head off to cooking school together. But the girls won’t forget the Next Generation Christians who came to the orphanage and told them about Jesus, and gave them opportunities to grow in their faith at summer camp.

Thank you for your part in helping to send these children and teenagers to our summer camps, and for giving them opportunities to discover God’s love, learn from His Word and grow in their faith.

*Number of children reached/total number of camps:

Russia: 2900 campers/39 camps

Ukraine: 2730 campers/31 camps

Belarus: 2188 campers/36 camps

Moldova: 465 campers/5 camps

Total number of campers: 8,283

Total number of camps: 111

For the past four summers, young Next Generation Christians in the Northern Caucasus region have traveled to Grozny, Chechnya to hold an evangelistic summer day camp for Chechen children.

There have been summers where the sounds of exploding bombs were a backdrop to teaching and singing, and armed security guards patrolled camps.

“Nowadays it’s calm in Chechnya. Still our pilgrims feel a bit uneasy,” reports Gennady Terkun, Russian Ministries’ ministry director in Vladikavkaz, Russia.

While fighting in Chechnya has eased, many children are still affected by the war. Marina, a young Christian leader from Vladikavkaz, asked the children to draw pictures of their homes and families. One girl turned in a blank sheet of paper, with the caption: “This is my house.”

Moved to tears, Marina was even more motivated to share with the campers the hope that Jesus gives, and to help them understand the peace of God.

Victor traveled from Chisinau, Moldova to help with the children’s camp in Grozny. “I’m very thankful to the Lord for the chance to join the team that was bound for Grozny,” says Victor. “My attitude to this country has changed. The news reports on Chechnya are often one-sided, but the campers helped change my attitudes about them and their country!”

As a father, Victor was touched when the young campers would rest their heads on his shoulder, and show other signs of affection. “We were able to show these children that the world is not as cruel as they might think it, and they were able to show me that I shouldn’t judge a whole country because of one tragic event, or horrible things done by a small group of terrorists.” (Victor was referring to the Beslan school tragedy that took place in 2004.)

Even when the campers figured out that their camp leaders were Christians, not Muslims, the children kept returning to camp. “We played with them and talked with them a lot,” recalls Victor, “and they shared with us their impressions of camp, their worries as well as their Chechen traditions.”

Your online gift to Russian Ministries’ evangelistic summer camps helps build these bridges to Muslim families today.

Russian Ministries appreciated the School Without Walls students who were involved with Project Hope: The Great Gift Exchange this year, working with their local churches to bring the good news of Jesus’ birth to hurting children and families this Christmas.

We thank God that over 30,000 Christmas presents and children’s Bibles were given away this Christmas through Project Hope: The Great Gift Exchange.

To the Least of These
As soon as Svetlana* entered the house, she knew she wouldn’t hear joyful laughter or see a sparkling Christmas tree. Instead, on the sofa, a mother huddled under dirty rags in a drunken stupor. The elderly grandmother wasn’t in better shape either.

The only child home at the time was ten-year-old Tamara, who immediately hid behind her bedroom curtain when she saw Svetlana.

Svetlana and Tamara

Svetlana followed her into the room, where Tamara busied herself with her meager possessions, and then hung a few homemade ornaments on a small Christmas tree.

“Tamara, here is a Christmas present for you.” Svetlana held out one of the Project Hope presents that Russian believers had carefully and prayerfully filled and wrapped.

“But I have everything I need,” replied Tamara, without looking at Svetlana.
This compassionate young Christian leader was dumbfounded. All she saw was a cold wood stove, wet firewood and dirty pots.

Svetlana and the other Next Generation Christians with her did leave behind the Christmas presents as well as dry firewood, warm blankets, clothes and food, and as Svetlana left, she prayed, “Lord, only with You is it possible to have everything! Your light shines in darkness. Pour out your light on this house, in these hearts, so that they can understand that there is nothing more important than knowing Jesus, who gives us everything!”

*not her real name