UPDATE: We received word last week that after thinking and prayer about the project and checking with local groups in Moldova where we did a tour last october there have now been several invitations to partner with local groups in Ukraine. We are currently working on a project for July 2010 which has the potential to touch lives in Poland, Ukraine and Slovakia!
(original article below:)
We've had the privilege of using music as a tool for evangelism and discipleship in many countries around the world in the last ten or so years. Each of these projects was unique and posed it's own set of challenges and rewards. The amount of resources, both financial and in terms of hours of work needed to successfully do an event like this is very significant, and we're continually looking at ways that we can "improve our serve".
We've learned, for instance, that the most vital part of a successful tour happens long before the tour members arrive; it's in the planning. All of the tours we get involved with now start with an advance trip. This is the name we've given to the exploratory trip that is taken to start the planning process.
The goals of the advance trip are basically to discern if God is leading us to work together with local partners and if so, what form that would take. We are very careful to make sure that we are only going where a request has been made and that the project fits into the church planting or growth strategy of a local group. The process involves talking to lots of people, finding out what God is doing in an area, and then, with the help of the local partners, discerning what part we can play.
Russ and Marjorie were recently involved in an advance trip to Ukraine to try and discern whether there was a place for us to help out what is happening there.
The trip was spearheaded by Chris McDonald (he's on the right in the picture at left) who had his first overseas ministry experience in Ukraine. Chris became good friends with many on his team, especially one Ukrainian man named Max. Max went on from that experience to become a church-planting pastor in Kiev (pronounced "keev"), the capital of Ukraine.
We spent about five days meeting with people from all over the country, learning what God was doing, and what vision he was giving to his people in this large and quickly changing country. It was great to see the friendship of Max and Chris and the path that God had led them both on after all these years, and it was wonderful to meet with so many Ukrainian brothers and sisters who had a heart to reach their fellow countrymen.
It would be great to be able to announce a new tour proposal resulting from our trip, but unfortunately this didn't happen. For the moment, we aren't quite ready to move ahead with a creative arts outreach project in Ukraine; not all of the pieces are in place yet, and both we and the local partners need to pray and think about the next steps. There have been other attempts at using music and creative arts for outreach in recent years in Kiev, and from what we can gather, not all of these efforts placed a high-priority on local involvement and preparation, preferring to do an easier "book the venue; sell the tickets; bring in a band; see what happens" type of event. In contrast, Proclaim spends a lot of time working with the local organizers, making sure the project fits into their goals, and ensuring that follow-up and discipleship programs are in place.
So we'll see what God has in mind for the future for Chris and Max ...and the country of Ukraine.
Russ
Here are some pics representing our time spent praying for and discerning what to do in this amazing, colourful, changing country:
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