Where Communism Once Flourished, the Gospel Is Now Invited In
by Allie Martin
June 1, 2004
(AgapePress) - An international Christian ministry is being allowed to teach ethics from a biblical basis in a former communist stronghold.Although communism collapsed in Czechoslovakia in 1989, years of communist control resulted in a moral decline that has been widespread, especially among young people. Skyrocketing alcohol and drug abuse, among other poor life choices common in that nation's youth culture, prompted government officials to turn to the Christian ministry International Needs, or the IN Network, for help.
IN Network spokesman Rody Rodeheaver says believers will now be able to teach ethics in public schools.
"What they've done is turn to an organization, like the IN Network in the Czech Republic, who has supplied and put together a group of youth evangelists who have created talks on ethical issues," he explains.
Those talks, he says, address such issues as sex and morality, abstinence, alcohol, drugs, and bullying. "They can actually go in and are allowed by the school to talk about those subjects and to speak from a platform of Christian values," he adds.
Such an arrangement, he says, leads to many evangelistic opportunities. "We're able to present [our talks] and then invite these students back to another location after school -- to a drop-in center, to a church's youth group meeting, whatever -- to be able then to talk completely and openly about the gospel and to share the gospel," he explains.
And it doesn't stop there, he says. "Many of these young people are coming to know Christ, and then we're discipling them into churches," Rodeheaver says, noting that the IN Network works closely with churches in the areas where its representatives are speaking in the schools.
According to Rodeheaver, the main ministry to young people in the Czech Republic will involve lectures presented by IN Network representatives. The response thus far, he says, has been warm from public school students.
