Lyosha* first heard about Jesus at a children’s camp in his country, and it was his first time to feel joy and peace.

He still remembers that, which is why today, at the age of 23, he has a burden to introduce children in Central Asia to Jesus.

For several years he has been leading Nazarene summer children’s camps. But this year, he had university classes to attend. So he turned over planning and leadership of two children’s camps to his youth group.

“They were in shock. ‘We can’t do it. We haven’t experience in this area,’” they told him. “I saw the fear in their eyes.”

Earlier in the summer, Missionary Linda Russell, who serves in Moscow, came to train the teenagers in how to effectively lead children’s ministries. So six teenagers implemented what they had learned to host a one-week camp in August in the capital, followed by a three-day camp in another town several hours away where another Nazarene group meets.

Twenty-five to 30 children attended the first camp, nearly all from non-Christian families. Ten children attended the second camp. It was the first time the youth group had taken sole leadership of a ministry or event without adults involved, Lyosha said.

“After the first day, their eyes sparkled by the power of God and by the work they did,” he said. “I saw that it is the work of God that happened in their lives.”

The families who are part of these Nazarene groups have raised their children in faith over the past 20 years. Now those children are the teenagers and young adults of the group, and are being given leadership experience. One young man has started preaching. Lyosha is the worship leader.

“I saw how they spiritually grew, and I saw how they behave, how they teach children. It was amazing for me,” he said. “I always dreamed about new leaders in our church and I feel that this time is coming.”

--Church of the Nazarene Eurasia Region

*Name changed and locations omitted for security reasons