Now another spring is over. Easter has passed, and with it the exclamations of "Christ is risen!" ... Sometimes it seems that once again for a whole year people will forget the reason why our faith and hope are not in vain. But Easter Sunday is His victory over death, over hell and over the devil. This is the main and the central event of human history. This is the victory the Lord shares with all who trust in Him for salvation. So, my friends, this is also our victory, too, and we must not forget about it, even for a minute.

I am happy that in sharing the Gospel with children I have the opportunity to share the news of the risen Lord throughout the year, for this event is the heart of the Gospel. Through your prayers and ours the Lord has abundantly blessed this ministry. About fifteen hundred children in the Poltava region heard of the risen Lord this Easter season. These are children who do not go to church, but through His faithful and devoted workers God reached them in various places. The word of God was preached in kindergartens and schools, hospitals and orphanages, boarding schools, village clubs, churches, and even outside on the playgrounds.

Fortunately, in our country we can freely preach the Gospel. But we do not always use that freedom. Recently we have had a shortage of dedicated workers. And those who do work are at times weak and exhausted. Therefore, we believe it is very important to pray for the evangelism of children, and also for the workers, for their training and encouragement. For this reason we conducted a training workshop and conference in the time leading up to Easter. Many thanks to you, our prayer partners, for your petitions to God. At the workshop my wife Lydia and I shared our experiences ministering to children and explained the methods of teaching Bible lessons and verses. Fifty people from six different churches were able to participate. We thank God for each of them and ask you to pray for blessings and God's guidance in their ministry to children.

You may already have seen the information about the conference. It was published earlier on this site in an article titled "The Hands of Christ." This conference was specifically planned by the Child Evangelism Fellowship staff in advance of the Easter holiday. With the conference we aimed to encourage those who are praying as well as motivate others to increased effort in sharing the Gospel with children and their parents during the celebration of the Resurrection of Christ. Another aim was to encourage those who work with children on their jobs to tell the children about the resurrection of Christ. To do this, we gave the attendees the plan for a festive program stocked with everything necessary for organizing activities.

During the month we put on holiday meetings with children and adults. Encouragingly, the kids came and listened attentively to the news of the Savior. There is no doubt that they believe what we taught them. This is one of the qualities inherent in a child that adults must also have in order to enter into the kingdom of heaven. Of course our common enemy doesn't like this at all. He often tries to disrupt the meetings and cause harm where possible.

It happened during our activities with the kids in the Ognivka neighborhood. As we approached the end of the second day of the festival, preschool children were jumping on the trampoline and the older kids were with me learning to jump rope. We were using a long rope. The kids really were enjoying it. A father was watching with his daughter of 8 or 9. Suddenly, the girl ran to the rope and tried to jump, but fell. The father, who, as it turned out, had sent his daughter to jump, began to accuse me of trying to kill the girl. He shouted loudly enough to be heard across the whole yard, cursing at us, threatening us in every possible way and insulting us as believers. He would not calm down. The children watched all of this. I saw how they were worried about me. And they asked,
- What can we do, Uncle Vova?
- Do you believe that the Lord can help and protect us in this situation?
- Yes, we believe!
- Let's ask Him to.

And I watched as a few dozen children prayed with me. And I had only met them the day before. The Lord is very sensitive to children's prayers - especially in these difficult situations. The girl who had fallen was fine. She was playing and jumping with the other children, and had forgotten about what had happened. That's how children are: quick to forgive and forget the hurt. This is one of the great qualities of childhood. The father paced nearby and watched. After the prayer, he calmed down quickly (probably quicker than he himself expected). In any case we were well aware that God was pleased with this two-day event, since the children of Ognivka and their parents heard the news of the Risen Savior. There were about a hundred people on the playground, and the audio system was loud enough so that more people could hear through the open windows of the apartments. Glory and praise to the Lord for that!

Here are some pictures that show how other activities went:

Vladimir Golyuk