On Friday, Pastor Oleg Kononenko conducted a seminar on an interesting topic “How Ukrainians Survive in the West.” It is no secret that the mentality and lifestyle of Ukrainians and Western Europeans is different. Pastor Oleg knows them well, since he has been working and serving for a long time in Warsaw, Poland. Our church is a mission oriented and it is important for us to know the details of such differences in order to be effective in Europe.
“We do not understand them, and they do not understand us. In the West, there is a different mentality”- confidently declares the pastor. He gave interesting examples of such differences and features of service and employment in Poland.
Pastor Oleg added that we, the parishioners of the “Embassy of God” church and the disciples of Pastor Sunday have no problems with this information, as we already have everything we need. While we are still in Ukraine is our preparation time. Knowledge of the language is not the main barrier in Poland; the most important thing is to learn to understand the people.
Before leaving to serve abroad, we already have to show some result here, to have some achievements. Departure for service abroad is not a time when you need to start from scratch to study and understand the people you are going to serve. There you should go prepared.
Pastor Oleg Kononenko listed several points, which an imminent missionary should be prepared for seriously:
- Have a revelation from God that you should go abroad as a missionary. God gives grace to serve when He sends His servant. Being a missionary is God’s choice and our obedience to Him. Out of 100 missionaries, 95 is returned. Without God, there is nothing to do on the mission field.
- Be prepared spiritually. “I left with 10 big notebooks of what to teach, what to say. I took with me what I learned here, “the pastor adds.
- Before you go abroad, get a higher education. This is especially important in Europe. Education is in the first place abroad. The first thing they ask is what kind of education you have. That is why, Pastor Sunday told us that we must prepare to go abroad and he urged us to study. “I am glad that I am obedient to Pastor, it frees me from many problems,” says our speaker.
If you are going abroad, to Europe to work as a laborer, you will have to work hard for many hours daily and be in a good physical shape. If you are recruited as a specialist, then it is very good. - Prepare in advance the documents that will ensure your legal stay in the foreign country where you are traveling to. This is very important. Without documents, you will constantly have problems with the authorities; you will not be able to effectively serve, since you will have to constantly settle issues with your lawful stay in the country. Before you go, you need to know where and what position you will be working in. 95 out of 100 people, who travel to serve, loose the desire, when they have to look for work to survive there.
- The main thing for a missionary is a personal relationship with God. We can count on situations, on people, but everything is decided by God. Do not rely on people, only on God! This will save you from problems and disappointments.
Pastor Oleg also added that we, the members of the “Embassy of God” church, really are needed abroad. There are already built churches in need of pastors, preachers, leaders. There are pastors willing to preach the Gospel, to spread the Kingdom of God, but ministers, who are ready to serve them selflessly are few.
Missionary pastor Oleg Konenko says that he is very lucky that he was taught by Pastor Sunday and he obeys him. He simply uses the knowledge obtained from him and it brings success to him. If Pastor Oleg has some difficulties, questions, he just calls Pastor Sunday and gets the necessary answer or advice. For this reason, he advises us to obey the senior pastor of the “Embassy of God” church, listen to his advice, instructions. Their value has already been tested over the years and from the experience of many people.
One person came to Poland and said that he came to preach – he has not been given a long term official documents to live in the country. However, if you are working officially in a foreign country, then this greatly simplifies the solution of this problem.
“They are waiting for us abroad!” – Once again at the conclusion of his seminar, says the speaker from Poland, who was previously a pastor in Kovel, Ukraine, Oleg Kononenko.
The Conference of the 23rd Anniversary of the Church is different. Useful and interesting seminars! Come, listen, and learn, dear friends!
God bless you!
March 30, 2017, Kiev
The Press Service of the Embassy of God Church
