Tuesdays with Teen Ministry is set aside for getting to know the drug addicted in Kiev. And since they don’t normally seek out organizations like Teen Challenge, that means we have to go seek them out. Street Evangelism if you want to call it that, though it isn’t preaching like I often think of when I hear the word “evangelism’. It’s just us spending time with people and getting to know their life stories and asking them questions such as, “What are your dreams for life?, “Do you want to change?”
While we’ve been here we’ve had the opportunity to visit two parts of the city to reach out to people. Two very different parts of the city and two very different types of people. The first site I went to was a Methodone Clinic. A clinic where people addicted to drugs can come in order to get cleaner drugs or something (I don’t understand the purpose of the clinic, but we don’t work with them, we just hang out in front of it to talk to the clients.) The people who come to this clinic either have money themselves or have family that is willing to support them because the clinic is expensive. Most of them have families and jobs or prospects of jobs. Most of them lack hope, though.
The second place we went was a train station. Here we reached out to the homeless, jobless, and hopeless. They live on the streets, in abandoned buildings, under bridges, in alleys. They have family, but most of them are estranged from them. They spend their days begging on the streets for change from passerbys or collecting glass bottles for what little they can get for them. Yet somehow, they manage to still get the drugs, cigarettes and alcohol to take away the pain and get what little joy they find in life.
Teen Challenge’s objective in reaching out to these people is to bring them the true joy in Christ and hope for something better. They befriend these men and women in order to show them God’s love and invite them to build relationships with people who care. They share the hope of Christ and invite them to a coffee house on Wednesday nights to learn more. They want to give them the opportunity to meet Christians (some former drug addicts themselves) who can become a good support system for them. Teen Challenge is offering the way to freedom and salvation.
Many of the people we have talked to have said they want to change. They want a different way of life. They seem open to the idea of Jesus. But so few of them ever come to the coffee house to learn more. Teen Challenge continues to go to where the people are, though. Every week they go back to talk to the people, often the same ones. They are building relationships that are making a difference. Pray that God works in the lives of the men and women Teen Challenge ministers to every day! 
