School Without Walls
‘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,…
A Muslim Family Transformed by the Gospel: Lika’s Story
“I was born into a Muslim family and like a good Muslim, I followed all of the rituals,” shares Lika, one of our School Without Walls (SWW) students from Georgia. But God got a hold of her heart—and the hearts of her entire family—in a powerful way when she was invited to one of Mission Eurasia’s summer Bible camps . . . “A few years ago when my family moved to the town of Gory, one of my cousins told my parents about a Mission Eurasia summer Bible camp and asked their permission to invite me to attend,” shared Lika. “I attended the camp and was amazed at the kindness of the SWW students I met there—and I started attending a local church soon afterwards. I was so excited about this new church that I shared about it with my whole family, and soon my sister started attending with me….
Serving the Lost Sheep of Israel
Boris is one of our current School Without Walls (SWW) students in Israel. He found Christ through a Christian rehabilitation center run by Living Israel, a messianic Christian ministry in Israel that partners closely with Mission Eurasia to conduct holistic ministry in the Holy Land. Boris’ faith journey is one of dramatic transformation only made possible by God’s grace: Before dedicating his life to Christ, Boris spent 17 years addicted to drugs. He had heard the gospel and even said he was a Christian, but he had not fully given his life over to Christ. Eventually he got to the point where he felt like he was dying, and then he remembered hearing about Christian rehabilitation centers. He found Living Israel’s rehabilitation center, and there he learned about God’s love and restored his relationship with God. After he finished his time in the rehabilitation center he was eager to share…
A New Home for Natasha
“When we first met Natasha’s family, their home was in a terrible state,” shares Denis, one of our School Without Walls (SWW) coordinators in Moldova. “Their two-room house was too small to comfortably accommodate Natasha and her six children, very dirty, and insufficiently heated. Natasha and her partner often drank and left the children alone without supervision.” Denis and his team of young Next Generation Christian leaders started providing the family with food, clothing, firewood, and other aid as soon as they heard about their situation, however when authorities learned about the family’s situation they came and took the children away, explaining that Natasha’s parental rights would only be returned if she could provide adequate living conditions. However Natasha was unable to find better accommodations with her limited resources, and started to lose hope of getting her children back. Saddened to see the family torn apart, the SWW students…