January 31st, 2015, Gethsemane church was the venue for an enlightening seminar on practical Christianity to bring up the issues of exposing one’s faith in Jesus Christ at real-life work, home or in ministry. The seminar was led by Viktor Matveyev, the director of the Christian mission “Peace to Your Home” along with bishop and pastor Igor Alferov of Kyiv. Touching on the issues of Christian counseling for married couples and couples to be married, the seminar offered practical steps on starting a ministry targeted at families in need and in need of God as well. Over 60 ministers and ministry members coming from Lviv and its region attended the seminar to have their questions answered on how to practically experience a successful family ministry.

Bishop and pastor Igor Alferov, a psychologist by education and a teacher at a public school, shared on more effective ways of supporting and ministering to dysfunctional families. Pastor Igor accentuated the aspect of consistency in ministry, shared his expertise as a psychologist, remarked frequent errors in Christian counseling and provided guidance on the do’s and don’ts of family ministry.

Olena Alferova involved the audience in an interactive test to demonstrate how information passing through a number of people may get distorted, and how important it is to deliver the first and the foremost of what Jesus Christ wants the families of Ukraine to know – His love. As the first session was through, the attendees were treated with a delicious lunch, which likewise served as a setting for informal and brotherly fellowshipping.

At the second session, pastor Igor shared on his personal experience in counselling, the FAQs of those being counselled in particular. Viktor Matveyev, the director of the Christian mission “Peace to Your Home” talked on his vision of specific practical steps churches could undertake to spread the Gospel of Jesus among the families of Lviv and its region.

The head pastor of Gethsemane Valeriy Marchenko thanked the speakers for their ministry to the numerous church representatives present and the contribution the seminar should make into their lives and ministries. The seminar was closed with a prayer by pastor Valeriy for transforming the knowledge acquired at the seminar into tangible Christian fruit in the lives of many families in need of God.