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About YWAM Rostov
In these last few years, we have seen dramatic and accelerated change in this city and in this nation. Access to technology and to a capitalist worldview of business are two key areas for its growth. The gap between 'those who have' and 'those who have not' continues to widen. Organized crime dominates the business and political scene. The formal education system is being completely overhauled. Medical care is inconsistent. Social and welfare services are almost non-existent.
Part of the vision and call for YWAM Rostov has to do with our geographic location -- we serve as a gateway to Asia and the Caucasus which provides us with opportunities to plant churches, particularly among the unreached peoples of the South Federal Territory. There are more than 40 known unreached Caucasus Muslim people groups and, because of regular political instability and war, it is extremely difficult to get into the area to build relationships in order to plant churches. We have a few people, and believe more are coming, who have a desire to go into these places where others have not already laid the foundation in order to establish and build the Body of Christ amongst these peoples. We also had a word from the Lord that He would give us the ground that we walked on, so we went to the Caspian Sea! The Kalmykia people live in this area; they are the only European Buddhist peoples. One of our school outreach teams managed to plant a church in less than three months and the outreach team leader stayed behind for nine more months to help the congregation grow. At that time, the church was turned over to the Pentecostal Union who provided a full-time pastor.
In all of our educational activity, we present a Biblical worldview of the character and nature of God and His relationship to individuals, cultures, and all of creation. We train and disciple people through a variety of methods including schools and seminars, evangelism, church planting, and children's ministries. Our desire is to encourage and equip Christian leaders and invest in the new generations and in those called to missions. Current schools include: Discipleship Training School (DTS), School of Frontier Missions (SOFM), and School of Biblical Studies (SBS). We have a specific vision to build on these curricula and to establish a degree granting University of the Nations (UofN) campus right here in Rostov. There is an extremely high value placed on all forms of education in this society and even the simple certificates we currently provide for completion of any of our schools opens doors for ministry and relationships. The quality and level of training and discipling we can provide through both our local and the international pool of YWAM and U of N speakers and teachers will serve our students well in their church planting and ministry futures. We have also have a vision for Biblical community development and, to date, have offered a variety of seminars (for Christians and non-Christians) including 'Business Development and Management', 'Addictions', 'Missions' and 'Biblical World View'. In fact, from one of our church plants, we have vision and finances to start an income generating sausage-making business! Relationships have been built with pastors and congregations in many local churches and many of the YWAM Rostov staff are preaching and teaching regularly. We also have a Kings Kids ministry that trains Christian children and youth to reach their own generation. We currently have four church planting teams placed on the field in the surrounding areas, including the North Caucasus. We are also offering on-going training for our church planters.
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