Gospel News · September - December 2016

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Brother Terry reports as follows: “I am Bro
Terry Athanasiadis, together with my Sis wife
Sofia from Australia were visiting relatives in
Greece in May / June this year. Bro Duncan
Heaster invited us to be part at the Kiev Bible
School to fill a gap in presenting a study if
possible. Being relatively close geographically
and also having a desire to meet and experi-
ence the people and culture of the Eastern
Europe we gladly said yes. Some 70 to 80
gathered. These people meet like this once
maybe twice a year and come from all over
Ukraine, Belarus, Moldavia travelling many
hours on the train. The atmosphere was
warm, lively, intense and the people full of
joy. Their English was at various levels from
professional to a few words, but for us
however, it was easy to communicate between
words and body language. All up, a beautiful
atmosphere engaging with Bre and Sis of all
age groups from teenagers to 80 year olds.
From all backgrounds like Teachers at all
levels from University to Primary, Engineers,
Pensioners, Workers, Students. A normal day
would be 8.30 am breakfast, 9.30 study 1,
10.45 study 2, with small breaks and discus-
sions. 12.00 Readings 1 commentary - ques-
tions, 1.30 pm lunch, 4.30 pm readings 2, 6.30
dinner, about 7.30 readings 3 again with
commentary and questions/discussion espe-
cially as to how the Bible has an application
in our lives today. The studies we chose were
based on the Epistle to the Ephesians under
the theme “Blessed from God with Jesus
Christ in heavenly places”. In six sessions we
looked at how God chose us before the foun-
dation of the world, the meaning of the cross,
we are saved by grace, oneness in God and
Christ, relationships between husbands
/wives, parents/children, employees/em-
ployers and then how God has supplied us the
armour of faith. The fact that God is always
near us to assist us and we can have an active
living conscience walking with God next to us.
The message was well received with the aid
of an interpreter. Everyone was interested
and engaged. At one stage on the subject
‘Servants and Masters’ the discussion got very
animated. The unreasonable demands of
employers today especially in Ukraine and
how a disciple of Christ is to handle it. On the
other hand the struggle of small business
Sisters watching baptisms in the same lake where some of them were baptized 19 years ago
Carelinks | Ukraine ... continued ~