Youth for Christ in Ukraine organized the second National Forum for Day Centers who serve children at risk. The purpose of this forum is to motivate day centers to use the driving powers in the ministry – the power of prayer, the power of partnership and the power of teamwork. About 130 ministers from all over Ukraine came together to study together and to encourage each other to work together.
Saskia van Helden (“WakeUp Deborah” movement coordinator) joined this forum. She helped Youth for Christ Ukraine to publish the “Faith, Prayer and Teenagers” book in the Ukrainian language. Each child should be blessed by a prayer parent. Workshops concentrated on how to introduce this ministry in a day center and in the churches involved. Creative ways of prayer were introduced and made concrete at prayer nights. One young woman testified about God’s word to her, about starting this ministry. Ukraine and Belarus appointed a national prayer coordinator. Edward de Kam (Youth for Christ EMENA Area Director) also joined and taught about the power of partnership.
Being able to see one another, hear the stories of others, and pray for one another is one of the important achievements of this forum. Leaders of the day centers once again felt that this ministry is huge and they have hundreds of colleagues across the country. Today about 100 day centers work with about 2000 children from at-risk families.