Trip By: Action International Ministries
Location: Ukraine, Eastern Europe
When: Customizable: Jan-Dec 2019
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Lisa DeGrace has worked with the most vulnerable, neglected, and abused people in Odessa, Ukraine since 2000. She and her team are involved in a ministry center. Join her and share Christ’s love!
***Special Note: Interns must be conversational or fluent in Russian for this missions opportunity***
Q & A with ACTION missionary Lisa DeGrace
1. What are some ministry tasks that you want the intern to accomplish while serving with you?
Interns could help develop and lead a Vacation Bible School Program or Christian Children’s Day Club! There would also be the many opportunities to help evangelize families of children through friendship evangelism. A primary goal of the interns would be to find young, local Ukrainian ladies and mentor them to continue with the children’s program after the interns’ departure.
2. What are some key lessons from your ministry and walk with the Lord that you want to impart to the interns to help them as they consider their own individual call to missions or vocational ministry?
• Interns will learn that our first priority is our relationship with Christ because if we don’t fill up with God’s love, we can’t give it!
• Being flexible is very important because God often works through ways that we don’t expect
• Forgiveness is key to working with dysfunctional people and families. They are not constant with their unstable lives and only Love in action can help them seek God
• Never take sides when those we serve have conflicts between themselves. If there is an obvious offender always be neutral seeing the offender as Christ sees them (someone that needs to be saved so they don’t act the way they do)
• Those we minister to will respect you if you love them when they know deep down they don’t deserve your love
3. What criteria do you use to measure the effectiveness of an intern serving with you?
Having a positive attitude, flexibility, an eagerness to help and serve, being a team player, keen interest in personal spiritual development, compassion for the hard to love people and children.
4. What would a typical day look like?
Plans here are often subject to change, but a new daily schedule will be made to accommodate interns. I suggest a morning devotional we would do together, preparation time for Christian Children’s Club and a children’s club outreach. Evenings would be spent developing relationships with families, attending a church service, leisure time and other preparations. Interns may also help at the ministry centre if the need arises.
5. Please list specific skills an intern may expect to develop by the time the internship is completed.
• Compassion skills while working with troubled youth and dysfunctional families
• Interns will learn to not hold a grudge and learn to set boundaries but with a gracious attitude
• Russian language skills could be improved and developed if intern is not already fluent