School Without Walls
Yevgenia’s Story: I really had a spiritual ‘reboot’
You can see the joy on Yevgenia’s face as she stood in the water. She will never forget the five-day “Restart” Christian camp led by School Without Walls (SWW) leaders that stirred her to make the most important decision of her life – the decision to put her trust in Jesus Christ and be baptized that week. The 20-year-old refers to her decision to follow Christ as a “reboot” that has given her life new momentum. “During the year, I had to overcome a lot of difficulties that taught me to trust God,” she said, “and a lot of the decisions I made at camp had a greater impact on me. I started a new life with Christ and became softer, more courageous, and happier.” This “reboot” has given Yevgenia the strength to handle a difficult season of life where she has dealt with a series of health challenges, the death…
Artem’s dream: How faith, SWW gave teen new purpose
Artem, 18, recalled the dream that led him to turn from sin and give his life to Christ. “One night I had a dream about a man dressed in white, and a bright light emanated from him,” Artem said. “He told me that if I didn’t change my ways, then I would face great suffering. When I woke up, I was afraid and I knew that I needed to fix my life.” Artem, who grew up in a Christian home in Russia but had fallen away from his faith, decided to turn his life over to Christ. He soon became involved in Mission Eurasia’s School Without Walls (SWW) Christian leadership training program. “God spoke to me through young Christians, who helped me understand why it is important to obey the Lord,” he said. “Thanks to their kindness, I realized that I didn’t want to live without God anymore, and He became the most important thing in my life. “As soon as I put…
Her disability didn’t stop her from serving the Lord
Elnara was desperate for a new start – deaf, unable to speak, spiritually lost, and a single mom raising two children on her own in Kazakhstan. It’s a place where more than half the population is Muslim, Christians are persecuted for their faith, and churches have been closed. Mission Eurasia’s School Without Walls (SWW) program reached out to Elnara – and her life hasn’t been the same. She shared, “I am 27 years old, and Tatar by nationality. I am also deaf, so I can’t speak. About two and a half years ago, sin reigned in my life, and my family broke apart.” After Elnara and her husband divorced, she rembered feeling “very broken” inside. “I had always called myself a Christian, because my mom and I went to church on holidays, but I didn’t live a Christian life,” she said. “When I was older, I worked as a model, and my entire life…
‘Relevant’ skills: School Without Walls students thankful
Mission Eurasia’s School Without Walls (SWW) program is equipping and training Next Generation leaders for evangelism and discipleship – one young life at a time. In their own words, these young believers in the Eurasian country of Georgia share how the program has helped prepare them for ministry. Salome’s story When Salome – now 25 – was a child, her grandmother told her about God. “And even though I didn’t understand much of what she said, I was always impacted by the love she felt for the Lord and the kindness of her voice,” Salome shared. “As I got older, I never really thought about whether the things I did were right or wrong.” But Salome said her family told her that she needed to decide if she was going to pursue a “real relationship with God.” As she struggled with this decision, she realized, “I couldn’t find any evidence…
Abandoned by the World, Adopted by the Church
“I am a Christian because when the rest of the world turned its back on me, the church was there for me,” shares Sanzhar (name changed for safety), one of our current School Without Walls (SWW) students from Kazakhstan. Despite the danger of being an open Christian in Kazakhstan, Sanzhar refuses to stop sharing the Good News because, in his own words, “Now that I am saved, I cannot help but share this Good News with others. I must share God’s love with a dying world.” It was a long and painful journey for Sanzhar to come to know Christ and join SWW. He was born to alcoholic parents, and he and his younger brother suffered a lot growing up. However, even through he had never been taught anything about God as a child, he found himself praying in his darkest and most difficult moments, and that brought him comfort…
Young Christians Sharing Christ in Rural Mongolia
The name of our School Without Walls (SWW) program comes from the flexible, adaptable nature of this strategic leadership training program—our SWW sessions and students are not confined to the traditional walls of a school building, but instead they are encouraged to conduct ministry training on the ground wherever it is needed most. Any place where a group of dedicated young believers is gathered can become the site of a vibrant SWW movement! A recent SWW conference titled “I Am, I Can, I Will” took place in a yurt base in rural Mongolia. The goal of this conference was to encourage nearly 50 young Next Generation Christian leaders from western Mongolia to deepen their own relationship with God and motivate and equip them to share the gospel with their surrounding communities. Many of the young who attended the conference became involved with SWW through Mission Eurasia’s summer Bible camp ministry,…