This is an excerpt from eDOT’s latest Connect!. Connect! is our monthly newsletter that helps you keep up with what is going on with eDOT. To see this month’s Connect! - click here. To sign up to receive Connect every month in your email inbox - click here.

Vladimir’s earnest face communicated the intensity of his feelings about the new distance learning program at Kremenchuk Bible School (KBS) in Ukraine. Though a teacher himself at the school, he realized that many people in his church would never have the privilege of studying full time at a resident school. He recognized that distance learning was not meant to replace Bible schools but is an innovative way for serious believers to study God’s Word and receive training while working a job and ministering in a local church.
In addition to teaching at KBS, Vladimir is the teaching pastor of the Born Again Church in Poltava, Ukraine, a church of about 300 people. Recently he learned that several men in his congregation were taking a New Testament Survey course through the new distance learning program at KBS. He was impressed with the opportunity the men had to fit the course work into their schedules and then apply the truths of the course immediately in their ministries at Born Again Church. Eagerly he shared with the eDOT staff his appreciation for the efforts they had made to bring these resources to Ukraine.
While the economy of Ukraine is struggling (per capita income is only $2,200 a year), the spiritual climate is vibrant. Years of persecution under a Communist government have produced an evangelical church characterized by worship and evangelism. Churches are being started at a rate greater than 150 per year. Church leaders, such as Vladimir, concur that the growth is so rapid that there are not enough trained leaders to handle these new believers. The most significant need of the evangelical church is the training of pastors and leaders for new local churches. Through our partnerships with Bible schools and other mission agencies in Ukraine, eDOT is poised to offer valid, flexible, inexpensive yet effective training through distance learning programs. Want to know more about what we’re doing?