Lausanne World Pulse – LAUSANNE REPORTS – Eurasian Lausanne Consultation for Younger Leaders

By Marina Stetsenko
June 2009

Day One
On 3 March 2009, 214 participants from different corners of the Eurasian Region entered the chapel of Ukrainian Evangelical Theological Seminary (UETS) in Kiev, Ukraine, to open the Eurasian Lausanne Consultation for Younger Leaders. Participants came from Russia, Belarus, Moldova, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Philippines, and Ukraine.

 

214 participants from throughout Eurasia met in Kiev to open the Eurasian Lausanne Consultation for

Younger Leaders.

The event began with prayer and singing, accompanied by UETS’ choir. Dr. Anatoliy Glukhovskyy (Lausanne’s International Deputy Director for Eurasia) made a presentation on the Lausanne Movement and talked about Cape Town 2010. Brian Birdsall, Campus Crusade for Christ director in Ukraine, shared his experience and perspective on Lausanne and its call to world evangelization.

The first day ended with a roundtable discussion on “cross-cultural evangelism,” in which participants from Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Ukraine shared their experience of ministering as missionaries. It was stressed that Christians must distinguish the eternal elements of the good news message and make it native to people using their cultural authenticity.

During the two-day consultation, younger leaders discussed thirteen issues:

  1. How to reach the indigenous population of each country in the Eurasian Region
  2. How to reach nations with authentic culture without changing it
  3. New ways of evangelism to reach people preoccupied with materialistic success
  4. Evangelism in university and student dormitories
  5. Evangelism in the midst of financial crisis
  6. Unity of denominations in evangelism
  7. Evangelism between young people and their peers
  8. How to motivate young people
  9. Spreading the good news in contemporary society
  10. Evangelism to young people in jails
  11. Evangelism in the Orthodox context
  12. Discipleship and how to keep and develop new converts
  13. Charity and ministering to destitute people

Marina Stetsenko, a country correspondent for Lausanne Eurasia, was born in Kiev, Ukraine. She’s been studying and working at the Ukrainian Evangelical Theological Seminary, where she began working with Lausanne International Deputy Director for Eurasia, Dr. Anatoliy Glukhovskyy.