Agape Training School
Agape’s10th Ministry School: III Session
From January 27th-31st, the third session of Agape's 10th Annual Ministry School was held at Lvov Theological Seminary in Lvov, Ukraine.
Over the course of the week, the students attended lectures on the topics of Conflictology and Psychology from a Christian viewpoint. The lecturers were Edward Sivets from Khmelnitsky and Oksana Malishuk from Kiev.
This was a very important set of lectures for our students, people who have committed themselves to ministering to orphans.There was a lot of good information on causes of conflicts as well as conflict resolution from a Christian perspective. There was also a great amount of information concerning the factors that cause rejection in the life of orphan children and the consequences that rejection has upon an orphan's self-esteem. This examination of the intricate processes that take place in a person's heart and soul, that form his outlook and character, that determine his reaction to the world around him was something that really hit home for each one who is actively involved in orphan ministry.
Of course, as always, there was so much more that the students were able to enjoy that week. There were the evening and weekend walks around the beautiful snow-covered, historical city of Lvov. There were times of just sitting and sharing of life and ministry experience over a cup of tea. There was the fellowship at meal times and in the dormitory rooms. All of this only serves to strengthen the bonds of friendship and purpose in ministry that unite all of these students even though they differ in age, are from different parts of Ukraine (and Belorus!), different denominations and churches.
Comments from students:
"I am grateful to God for giving me the opportunity to study in Agape's Ministry School. This has been an answer to prayer for me and this session in particular was a time of growing even closer to God in my life. Oksana Malishuk prayed a lot with us and taught us how to grow stronger spiritually. She also really helped us better understand the mind and emotions of an orphan child going through life without the love and protection of parents. When we come together like this, God fills our hearts with His love so that we can go and share that love with others. Through this school, we're given another chance to be God's hands in this world. I want to thank Agape Ministries for giving us this opportunity to receive such valuable knowledge and make many new friends. May the Lord bless them.
Natalia Ilkov, Ruske Polye, Zakarpatskaya region, Ukraine
Over the course of this past week, I really enjoyed the psychology course, not only the psychology itself as a science, but more importantly, the Christian approach to psychology, based on the Word of God. "Rejection - Steps to Healing" was something that I myself found healing through this week. Studying the psychology of an orphan helps us to better understand the behavior of the children we work with in orphanages. I think it's not as important to focus on how much we do for God as it is to see what God wants to do through us. As we learn more about our own selves, we can learn to open our hearts to God, allowing Him to work in and through us as He sees fit."
Olga Berun, Rovno, Ukraine
