Welcome to Covenant Partners
Pastor Paul Alexander,Director Phone: Home 1-256-837-6515 or 6584, Cell 1-256-684-3519 Email: palexukrainemtw@knology.net Who we are Covenant Partners for Christian Education in Ukraine is a ministry to Ukrainian families and their children. Focused on the nation of Ukraine and based on support from the United States, we are a missionary partnership with Mission to the World (MTW), the foreign missions arm of the Presbyterian Church in America. Paul Alexander, former pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama serves as our director. He and his wife Lorraine lived in Ukraine from 2001 to 2005, serving as missionaries under MTW. Pastor Paul periodically travels to Ukraine in the interest of Covenant Partners. He also leads missions conferences and preaches frequently in our churches. The executive committee of Covenant Partners is made up of five men: Larry Covington, Victor Davis, Charles Edgar, Curry Knight and Steve Topham. We are inviting others to join our ministry. Individuals, Churches and Christian schools are eligible for membership. We invite you to partner with us. This is the NEW stuff on the site
News Today DAWN CHRISTIAN SCHOOL in Odessa, Ukraine, is the first and only Christian School that MTW has been able to establish in Ukraine. It is kindergarten through fourth grade at this point, and we hope to add a grade each year. DAWN is a traditional classroom school and is, therefore, quite expensive. It expects to enroll 40 students next year. The budget for the grades is $50,000 and for the kindergarten is $12,000. This is the budget supplied by American donors. Parents will be paying $400 per student or about $16,000 in the 2006-2007 school year. Tuition has been increasing on a yearly basis, with the expectation of becoming self-sufficient in time. Our parents and children are highly pleased with the school. Most of our teachers are members of our own church and all are well-trained in teaching from a Biblical perspective. Our hope is to start more Christian Schools in Ukraine associated with churches like we already have in Odessa. It is not likely, however, that these new school starts will be so fully funded as the Odessa school. Perhaps DAWN can remain as a model, especially in teaching philosophy and method, but we will be using those “innovative” methods mentioned above. That means we are not likely to have our own building in these new sites. We have two churches discussing the possibility of starting schools through Covenant Partners. We will continue those discussions and see where the Lord may lead. We want to see the initiative come from our native congregations. Then we can offer help but not try to fund the full operation. Here are three of about 20 families that are presently benefitting from DAWN school in Odessa: Valera Babuinen is senior pastor of our church in Odessa. His wife, Galya is a frequent volunteer for DAWN school. Their daughter will be enrolled in a year or two. Valera Zadorozhny is associate pastor of our church in Odessa. His wife Valia has been an employee of the school. Their daughter is in the third grade. Denis Dudkin plays a vital role in DAWN school. He is president of our school board. His wife is a frequent volunteer for the shool and their daughter is in the second grade. .
Our Plan As described more fully in our basic documents below, Covenant Partners sees three basic human institutions as tools God uses to minister His grace to families: 1. Homes 2. Churches 3. Schools (learning communities) The Home is the most basic and fundamental institution in God’s plan. The home must be seen as a creation by God, not an invention of human society or the state. Under God and His grace, parents must function as Prophets, Priests and Kings, leading each other and their children into an understanding of God’s wonderful plan for them in Christ. Covenant Partners seeks to help families develop “covenantal habits” of daily worship in the family and weekly worship in Church on Sunday. In this covenantal setting children learn to revere God and respect each other. They learn to work hard, study diligently, play fairly and develop fully in their vocations. The Church plays the vital role of refreshing parents and children in their relationship to God and each other. The church calls us to worship God through every activity in our lives. It challenges us to serve our Lord with joy in all things and to listen for His call to special duties – our vocations, our ministries. The church provides solid teaching in the Word of God so that we see all of life centered in God and leading to the “marriage supper of the Lamb.” (Rev. 19:6-9) Covenant Partners will provide churches and pastors with programs and curricula to fulfill this part of their role. The School (learning communities) educates Christian children according to scriptural mandates given in the scripture cited above. All data of education is a part of God’s revelation to mankind. Discovering this data through Christian education enables children to develop a Biblical World and Life View. The “schools” we mention here will have to adapt to Ukrainian law in creative ways. Because Ukrainian Law makes traditional classroom schooling so expensive, we will be forced to use home-schooling and other alternatives. This is why we use the word “learning communities” in this context. Covenant Partners will have to use “sanctified” imagination in order to provide Christian Education as desired for our children. Through this three institution plan, Covenant Partners will be working to bring Ukrainian families to Christ. We might adopt as a motto: BRINGING UKRAINE TO CHRIST ONE FAMILY AT A TIME
You Can Help We need Christian friends to join Covenant Partners. The old familiar challenge fits here: Pray – Give – Go! We need you to join us doing any one or all of these. Please Pray! This is a new venture in missions. It has never been attempted in just this form. We believe it is not only valid, but is an absolutely crucial approach to the missionary mandate which Jesus gave us in the great commission of Matthew 28:19 – 20 and Acts 1:8. The family must come first in “making disciples”. Pray that parents will see this as their greatest duty to the Lord and their greatest joy in His service. Please Give! To date, June 16, 2006, God has provided nearly $21,000 in gifts and pledges through His faithful servants. We will need another $29,000 in order to support our Christian School in Odessa and to help others get started. We need funds to help us help churches develop programs and curricula for training their families in the Covenant. Make your checks payable to: Mission to The World 1600 North Brown Road Lawrenceville, Georgia 30043-8141 Account # 095997 Please Go! We are in great need of more missionaries. We need missionaries who understand God’s covenant. We need missionaries who have a passion for helping Ukrainian families understand the covenant and helping them apply the covenant in their everyday living. We need to help Christian families adopt the covenant life-style. And we need Christian schooling. We need Christian Learning Communities to help children see that the whole world belongs to God and that we must celebrate this with joy. Is God calling you to consider this grand vocation of helping others into His glorious plan. FINALLY, the basic documents which give fuller description of our VISION and OGANIZATIONAL plan are available to you. Simply click here.