KidsGames brings God’s Word to Ukrainian children

KIEV, Ukraine — Special editions of the New Testament and John’s Gospel with a sports theme proved very popular among the more than 3,000 children who attended the first KidsGames sports evangelism event to be held in Ukraine. The Scriptures, supplied by the Ukrainian Bible Society, were distributed as part of a program which ran in Rivne, some 320 kms (192 miles) from Kiev, for five consecutive weekends from early September.

Two participants in the KidsGames event in Ukraine read the special editions of the Scriptures they received. Rivne, Ukraine. Photo: Operation Mobilisation (UKR03DJ-1)

The Rivne KidsGames, which offered sporting activities, Bible study and discussion sessions for children aged between eight and 14, was the initiative of Dirk Human, a field leader for Operation Mobilisation Ukraine, but was designed to operate in collaboration with local schools and churches.

Some church leaders were initially sceptical about using sport as a means of reaching out to children and had to be persuaded to participate. However, once the program was running they saw that the children were responding positively, with one welcome outcome being a sharp rise in attendance at children’s clubs and Sunday Schools. Church leaders even started to request that similar activities continue after the official end of KidsGames.

KidsGames also encouraged local churches of different denominations to work together, “a dream come true”, according to Mr Human, who noted that this collaborative atmosphere also acted as a positive model for school and city officials. A local pastor stated, “We, the Church, learned that if we worked together we could serve far more children than has ever previously occurred in our city.”

An Olympic theme united the sporting events, which included basketball, chess and table tennis, while the Bible study sessions, which focused on the life of Joseph, used the theme A Healthy Way of Living. All the participants came together for a closing ceremony at a local sports hall, at which city officials presented specially designed medals to the winners of each event. The deputy mayor thanked Operation Mobilisation, the churches and schools for “investing in our children”, and expressed interest in the town staging KidsGames again: “We need to make it bigger and better in Rivne next year.” (WR 375/40 - 3.03)