SUBMISSION TO UKRAINIAN LEADERSHIP

SEND International works with two seminaries (Odessa Theological Seminary and Kyiv Theological Seminary) and with several Bible institutes and colleges (including Kremenchuk Regional Bible College). All of the theological institutions with which we work are under direct Ukrainian leadership. Since the beginning of our work in Ukraine, we have served at the invitation of the Ukrainian Baptist Union and we continue to do so. Even when SEND missionaries serve in leadership roles, it is always at the request of Ukrainian theological education (TE) leadership and always alongside other Ukrainian leaders. Thus, when determining the institution(s) with which a missionary will work, the ultimate decision lies with the Ukrainian brothers and sisters whom the Lord has placed over us. Such an approach helps to ensure that we will uphold the SEND value of servanthood, plus this approach assists us in being contextual as we strive to meet the TE needs of the Ukrainian church as defined by her leaders.

MEETING NEEDS THROUGHOUT UKRAINE

Working with a number of different institutions means that there are many TE needs to be met. The growth of some of these institutions, and the decline of others over the years, along with regular missionary turnover means that the actual TE needs change quite often. This reality, combined with the above principle regarding submission to Ukrainian leadership, keeps us from making definite missionary assignments too far in advance. Rather, we seek missionaries who are willing, gifted and able to teach and serve in any of our TE institutions, depending on the needs when they are ready to step out into full-time ministry. We generally wait until the missionary is in his or her last year of language school and then assess the TE options for that missionary. SEND leadership, the missionary and the Ukrainian leadership of given institutions together determine the most strategic place for that missionary to serve when the time is right. We consider all of the institutions with which we work as vital to the equipping of the Ukrainian church and thus desire that all of our TE missionaries be ready to serve where the Lord leads.

COMMITMENT TO TEACHING IN RUSSIAN/UKRAINIAN

Every missionary serving with SEND Ukraine will study either Russian or Ukrainian full time for two years. (While Ukrainian is the official language of Ukraine, Russian is still widely spoken and, in some TE institutions, students from other countries come to study and often only have Russian as a common language.) Although the road to teaching in the language is long and difficult, it remains a goal and expectation toward which each missionary must show continual growth and improvement. The depth of interaction, the level of respect and the ability to contextualize all increase when in-class and out-of-class communication takes place one-on-one instead of through a translator. Continued language study (after the initial two years), relationships with language helpers and teaching partially in the language are some of the many ways that theological educators can further develop their language skills, all with the goal of teaching without a translator.

STRATEGIC INVOLVEMENT IN THE LOCAL CHURCH

SEND International is a church-planting mission and, as such, we want all of our missionaries to be actively engaged in a local church. Especially for those involved in TE, whose gifts and talents revolve around teaching and preaching, SEND Ukraine leadership works together with local church leadership to help find the right church fit for each of our missionaries. When the Lord provides us with the appropriate people, we seek to connect missionaries with Ukrainians to start new Churches. Those with theological training can be of tremendous value to such church-planting teams. But even for those whom the Lord does not lead to serve on a church-planting team, significant church ministry involvement will be a regular part of ministry in Ukraine. This will include intentional promotion of a healthy body life, as well as fostering the idea that healthy churches are reproducing churches. As with TE proper, preaching and/or teaching in the language builds a strong bridge between the missionary and the church in which he or she serves.

TRAINING UKRAINIANS TO FULFILL THE GREAT COMMISSION

It is the goal of SEND Ukraine to work itself out of a job. This principle has a number of applications to TE. First of all, we want not only to teach our students effectively, we also want to train them how to teach so that they can do what we do in their own ministry settings. Secondly, we want Ukrainians to understand how vital they are to the completion of the Great Commission in this part of the world. As access to former Soviet countries becomes more and more difficult for Westerners, the door remains open for our Ukrainian brothers and sisters. Thus, no matter what subject they are teaching, we want our missionaries to teach with the goal of exposing their students to the call to and the need for cross-cultural ministry. Thirdly, SEND Ukraine, in addition to seeking theological educators with training in biblical studies and theology, is also seeking theological educators who are trained in intercultural studies and missiology and who can be involved in the direct training and sending of Ukrainian missionaries to other parts of Eurasia. In all that we do as theological educators, we want to pass on the missional passion that God has given us to our Ukrainian co-workers.