The Beauty of Meeting Together
Last week UBI hosted a student retreat as well as a meeting with our ministry partners
Last week I traveled to the Kyiv area to help lead two important events for the Ukrainian Bible Institute. It was a joy to be back in Ukraine and to spend time with so many people who are doing so many good things.
I returned to Slovakia yesterday with a full and grateful heart for how God blessed our time last week, and today I am excited to share with you about these blessings.
UBI Student Retreat
The first event was UBI’s first-ever student retreat. Beginning Monday, students arrived to the beautiful retreat center in Irpin, a small city outside of Kyiv. Due to the ongoing situation in the country, less than half of our students were able to attend in person. (Several of the attending students brought family members along with them.)
Our goal was to spend three days together in fellowship, rest, fun, and spiritual formation. Because UBI is online now, it was extra special to be with many of our students we’ve only seen on Zoom. Just a few hours into our time together, several people were commenting on how they were already feeling closer to one another. (Multiple times people last week people commented on how important these in-person meetings are right now, after nearly three years of this war.)
We learned more about each other through creating personal timelines and sharing the stories of our lives. We looked closely at a couple of psalms, and the students even practiced writing their own psalms of lament. One of the students resisted that activity, saying she didn’t have anything to lament about and was thankful for all that she had from God. We encouraged her to try it anyway, and afterward she tearfully shared a beautiful prayer lamenting all that she has lost in the last several years. Twice a refugee, there was such depth and emotion in her words and it was beautiful to hear her share it.
We took times to separate the men and women for different classes. We shared several devotional times together and heard lessons from our brothers. There was free time, there were games, and we even watched a movie together (Inside Out, which prompted good conversation on the importance of emotions, including sadness).
Our three days together were a blessing, and I look forward to being able to hold student events like this in the future.
Serving Those Who Serve Ministry Partners Retreat
A few of our students had to leave after we finished our time together on Wednesday, but the rest of us prepared for our Serving Those Who Serve ministry partners retreat which took place Thursday through Saturday.
As a reminder, UBI partners with 28 different Churches of Christ around Ukraine in providing humanitarian aid in the form of grocery packages. Each month UBI helps organize the purchase and delivery of 2,500 bags of groceries which provide around 7,000 meals each day. These partnering churches receive these groceries packages and use them to bless and reach out to their own local communities.
This was the third time UBI hosted a retreat designed to encourage those who are spending their lives serving others right now. Ministers are invited to come with a few key workers from their churches. It’s our goal to give these care workers time to rest, to fellowship, to be spiritually fed, and to report on how their ministries are developing. This time, more than 80 people gathered for this special occasion.
Our theme was “Follow Me” and our lessons and discussions revolved around what it truly means to be a disciple and to challenge these men and women to look at their own lives as disciples of Jesus. It was a joy to see how excited everyone was to be there, and these brothers and sisters shared with me over and over again how blessed they were by our time. Every evening would end with both exhaustion and a full heart, thankful for the opportunity we have to serve those who are working so hard.
The partners shared how they are doing and how this humanitarian aid is directly impacting their outreach and church growth. It was an important reminder that these groceries are so much more than groceries. They are creating a unique space to share and demonstrate the gospel to those who are in need of both physical and spiritual food. And God is using this work to grow His church!
One brother, Victor, from the city of Rivne, stood up and introduced fifteen-year-old Anya and declared, “This is the fruit of our humanitarian aid.” Anya shared that she and her mother are refugees from Sievierodonetsk. When they moved to Rivne they found the church through the groceries being providing, and now she and her mother have been baptized into Christ. Anya is just one example of hundreds of people who have come to know the Lord through these efforts.
Until next time...
There are big things happening at UBI. Our academic program is training Ukrainians all over Ukraine and even around Europe to be confident and effective followers of Christ. Our humanitarian aid program is empowering churches all over Ukraine and in Europe to bless those who are in need in a way which allows them to both hear and see the gospel in action. And all these efforts are bearing fruit.
We thank you all so much for your continued and faithful partnership with the Ukrainian Bible Institute. Without you we wouldn’t be able to do what we are doing. And we must do what we are doing.
Sincerely,
Brandon Price