“I learned about CAMPUS through friends from my church. They invited me to different CAMPUS events but I was very busy and only three years later, when I finally had more free time, I joined this ministry as a volunteer.
“Since then I have seen better the need for evangelism and discipleship among young people.
“I started learning to work on a team which was difficult for me. Also, I began to notice the lack of love in me more. Studying the Bible in a small group, taking part in prayer meetings, and being discipled by Stella has been helping me grow spiritually. I have been learning to use CAMPUS evangelism tools and have seen the need to grow in my follow-up and discipleship skills. We should build relationships of trust and friendship with those we share Christ with if we want to see them trust Him with their life.”
Lyosha has a heart for sharing the gospel with people and we have been inspired by his willingness and consistency in street evangelism. This summer our campus ministry is being led by volunteers, and Lyosha has joined the leadership team and has shared with us what it has been like.
“Even though in the summer the ministry is not as intense as during the school year, being a leader is still a great responsibility. We have to think through what we should be doing, taking many details into account. I am very encouraged by the team I serve with. We help one another in difficult situations and inspire each other to depend on God who leads us and works in our hearts so that non-Christian students could see the love of Christ through us.”
We met Andrey about one and a half years ago when we organized an arm-wrestling tournament in one of the dorms, which gathered about 20 participants. Two young men were interested in continuing to spend time with us personally after this tournament, but spiritual topics weren’t so important for them. Yet I kept meeting with Andrey personally and inviting him to our CAMPUS events. I challenged him to try to understand his own worldview better and learn more about the person of God. Andrey accepted this challenge as an interesting proposition and to find out what our ministry had to offer. He and I started to go through lessons on the essence of the gospel message. I began to see his view of God change, and at the end of this series of personal appointments he said he wanted to invite Christ into his heart.
During the next year Andrey did not really grow spiritually. Something hindered him and he was busy studying and working, but he and I stayed in touch. At the end of that year he decided to get involved in our ministry and I saw that God had not stopped working in his heart. He had given Andrey a desire to know Him better and made him much more rooted in Christ. I started discipling Andrey to help him grow in his faith and ministry skills.
Eugene came to us for the Leader Up project and I was happy to get to know him better and have personal meetings so that he could learn more about God.
I liked that we had a cozy and peaceful atmosphere of conversation, during which I could relax. Discussions have broken many patterns about Christianity and God. I had an expectation that they would start "selling" something to me and involving me in dubious activities, but that didn't happen 😁.
Oleg did not impose his point of view, treated other opinions with respect and understanding. There was no pressure at all in our communication with him. I was ready to just talk about various topics that interested me.