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About the Discipling Center |
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The Discipling Center is a wonderful safe haven and home for teenagers who have been released from one of the correctional facilities in Kazakhstan. They served their time and now as they face big decisions in their young lives, we offer them a place where they can grow. Most of them have no fathers and all have experienced serious family problems. So the nuturing and family-style environment at the Discipling Center is often the first wholesome home life that they have ever know. |
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The Discipling Center, also known as the Spiritual Freedom Center located in Almaty, Kazakhstan. |
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Our goal at the center is to assist them in their educational, social and spiritual development at this key moment in their lives. Because they have very few personal possessions on departing the prison, we provide them with their living necessities and finance their schooling. This ministry helps them stay off the streets and it is a great joy to see these young believers advancing in life and growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. |
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Almaty Recent Advances at the Discipling Center |
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How the Discipling Center Believers Help Their Former Prison Companions In the second week of March the young believers at the Discipling Center organized and prepared gift bags that were given to the inmates at the women's prison in celebration of international Women's Day on March 10th. For an entire day they packed clothes and food items and stuffed envelopes with gospel literature into the early morning hours of their holiday on March 8th, so that the 1,300 bags would be ready on time. Since each of the believers completing this project had personally spent time in the same prison facility, they felt a special blessing in participating in this ministry outreach, the results of which will last into eternity. Their disciplined efforts have already paid off. The gift distribution and gospel presentations to all the inmates and staff went very well, thank the Lord, and many were reading the gospel literature and speaking to the Set Free chaplaincy team members afterwards. Following is a brief article prepared by Susi, who assisted in supervising the gift bag preparation. (Read Susi's other June article here) .......................................................................................................................... It's already midnight but perspiration is still running from the faces of eight young people. They all have one goal: Getting 1,300 bags ready for the next day. For each bag they have to put in several items including among other things: one pack of noodle soup, two candy bars, one shampoo, one bar of soap, a toothbrush, toothpaste, ten tea bags and most importantly Kazakh or Russian gospel literature. All this takes time and must be done very meticulously, because a mistake could cause serious problems at the moment of distributing the bags on the 10th of March to the ladies' prison. But the atmosphere in each of the two packing groups is relaxed. It's a pleasure for everyone of the girls to help doing this because they really know what joy it will be for the inmates, for they themselves have also spent time imprisoned at that facility. Now in their new life in the Discipling Center they have the opportunity to serve their former companions and over all their Lord by spending a few hours with lots of fun work. The person who counts the groups of 30 small bags that will be given to individual inmates has the most challenging job. These small bags have to be placed into a large bag that holds them all and it is easy to miscount them. Much laughter filled the room when at the 24th bag one of the girls called out again, "Oh no, I forgot!" For this meant that all the counting had to be done over again for that bag. Along with that, each one had his own small hardship to bear, the most with a bad aching back the next day. But it was a good time...more like a race to see which team is fastest and they got it all done in the short period of time between getting the products and having to load the 43 big bags on the transport truck. They did that in a record 30 minutes. It's a great blessing being allowed to serve the Lord in this way knowing that many lives will be touched for eternity. |
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Updates |
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If you would like further information about the Discipling Center or would like to know how you can join us in carrying out this ministry, please write us via email and we will be glad to get in touch with you.
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"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." II Corinthians 5:17 |
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P.O. Box 5440 Riverside, California 92517 (951) 780-0199 E-mail Us |
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