“Growing beautifully”: Youth-led ministry in Moldova

This Summer,  50 children from vulnerable families attended an ‘English language’ camp in the village of Leuseni, Moldova. Incredibly, this camp was organised and run by a group of teenagers and young Christian leaders. They travelled from Telenesti, a city north of the Moldovan capital.

Three years ago, the youth work team in Telenesti consisted of just one husband and wife team: Sancio and Jana. They were exhausted and close to giving up. But they asked Innovista to help their church, first with Mindshift, and then with Tempo. These training courses helped reframe how the church team thought about leadership and inspired them to widen their view of who could be a leader.

The church leadership team realised that their youth ministry wasn’t sustainable. With the church’s support, Sancio and Jana gathered together a few willing young people. They recognised that, if they wanted to see young people grow as leaders, they needed to invest in them.

”They’ve grown beautifully”

Over the past three years, these young people have grown in their faith, and grown in their desire to serve their community. Jana said: “The fact that the team of young people has grown beautifully and reached the stage where they serve and organise mission projects is largely the result of the Tempo course.” This year, for the first time, Jana and Sancio were able to take a step back and watch as the young team organised themselves. With a little facilitation help from Jana, the young people decided on the camp’s purpose and described their vision. They organised themselves into groups and delegated tasks amongst themselves.

 “Something new” for Leuseni

The young leaders were invited to help run this camp in Leuseni, after the church team in Leuseni completed the Tempo course themselves last year. Led by the pastor, Pavlo, and Sabina, who leads the Sunday School, they wanted to reach out into the community, but they didn’t know where to start. Innovista facilitated a partnership between these two churches, and the result was something completely different for the church in Leuseni:

“In our village, it is something new having such a well-resourced and complex camp. I was surprised by the quality of doing things and attitude of the heart of these young people. It is the first time I have seen such a serving heart at such young age, thinking firstly on the needs of kids and only after on their own needs.” (Pavlo)

What were the results?

Up to 50 children each day heard, many for the first time, who Jesus is and what He has done for us.  Seventeen of the children invited God into their lives, and Sabina has been thrilled that many of these children have started coming to Sunday school each week.

The team of young people from Telenesti learned to work well together and to trust each other. New teenagers joined the group and felt welcomed by the more experienced team members. Their confidence and desire to serve other young people has increased and they’re already looking ahead to how they can keep serving next year.

What’s next?

The church team in Leuseni have been so encouraged by the young leaders and learned about children’s ministry from them.  As a result, they have decided to invest more into their children’s work: they are supporting Sabina through coaching with Innovista so that she can develop the Sunday school, and they have increased the children’s resources.

Jana and Sancio recognise that they can’t lead the ministry in their church forever. Together, we are supporting them as they raise up the next generation of Christian leaders, like Sabina and these young camp organisers.

Want to know more about the challenges facing Christian leaders in Moldova? Watch Vlad, a Moldovan Christian leader, explain how Innovista is helping inspire young leaders in Europe’s poorest country.