Capitol Ministries

International | CM 2019 35 Oleg Rachkovski Eurasia Director Belarus A er helping to establish successful ministries to na- tional political leaders in eastern Europe, this year Oleg Rachkovski turned some of his attention to building our Local Government Ministries when interest among leaders in his area of the world soared. Pastor Rachkovski, CapMin's Eurasia Director, since 2015, is working with Baptist leaders to launch Local Gov- ernment Ministries (LGM) to municipal leaders who govern in the towns and rural communities across Russia. Under Pas- tor Rachkovski's direction, Ralph Drollinger's book, Oaks in Office; Biblical Essays for Political Leaders, the curriculum for LGM, has already been translated into Russian as have doz- ens of Capitol Ministries® Bible studies. CapMin established LGM because studies reveal that most career politicians be- gin in local office. Discipleship ministries with weekly Bible studies will help public servants develop a Christian worl- dview early and will benefit them as they ascend to higher office. "e concept has resonated with faith leaders and politicians as well," Pastor Rachkovski said. "I believe this is a model that will be well received by many nations." Pastor Rachkovski is spearheading efforts to plan a CapMin Train- ing Conference in Ukraine in 2021 where ministry leaders will be taught how to build and sustain ministries to public servants. On the national level, Pastor Rachkovski has assist- ed in developing ministries to federal leaders in Ukraine, Ro- mania, Moldova, Belarus, Latvia, Russia, Serbia, and Mace- donia, some of which have launched. Aer introducing our mission to Pavlo (Pavel) Unguryan, an Evangelical Christian and member of the Ukrainian Parliament, the prominent conservative political leader joined the prayer group he had begun for colleagues in 2008 with CapMin. "Capitol Min- istries® is a brilliant chance to enhance and grow evangelism and discipleship among political leaders and officials," M.P. Unguryan said. "We embraced the models set forth by Cap- itol Ministries® because we understood the importance of multiplying Bible study groups in our huge post-communist country. Such a mission is new to Ukraine." In addition to building LGMs, Pastor Rachkovski is working to establish a ministry to national leaders in Poland, among other nations in central and eastern Europe. While the concept may be new, aer it's understood, Christian political leaders heartily embrace it. "Many leaders have met to pray, but they don't under- stand why they needed Bible study," Pastor Rachkovski said. "When they heard about Capitol Ministries®, they said, 'is is what we need!' Every country needs this but because of the communist and atheist experience under the Soviet Union, our countries need in-depth disciple-making Bible ministries even more. I pray that God will raise up the right men for these ministries." St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev, Ukraine EURASIA Eurasia Training Conference Kiev, Ukraine November 12–15, 2020 Coming up

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