From the April-June 2007 Issue
The call to Discipleship
Vitaliy Maryash
Downtown Ternopil
In my church I am preaching at the moment through Mark’s gospel. It has the simplest outline, as someone noted: eight chapters to explain who Jesus is, eight to explain that he is going to die. I have already passed the central part of Mark’s story, chapter eight, and am now entering into a straightforward account of the tenth. Three times Jesus says He is going to be rejected, to suffer and to die. Then three times later, in different ways, Jesus gives a radical call to discipleship. The first call thunders like this: ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me’.
I do not doubt that those words of Jesus had an immediate electrifying effect on everyone around. Assuredly they can and should have the same effect upon us because they have great life-changing power. They are true, because Jesus did not utter them out of thin air. Jesus’ words are rooted, anchored in His person, in His Messianic task to deliver His people by dying on their behalf on the cross. To my mind Mark here helps the reader to draw back the veil and see the heavenly reality in the midst of the earthly. Those who see this reality respond to Jesus’ call. I would now like to tell you how I am trying to respond to these words in my life and ministry.
Location
I live in a pleasant area of Ukraine, in the centre of Ternopil, about which you may have heard from another EMF missionary and my friend – Volodymyr Kostyshyn. I started coming to my church after I had been converted in 1998 and am still there, doing the work of assistant pastor since 2001. During the years 2002-2005 I was studying in the UK and I have many good memories from those years. I enjoyed enormously this time of study and have had a great two-fold benefit from it: first, a strong and lasting influence upon my thinking and ministry, and second, the same influence upon my bookshelves.
Activities
My two main responsibilities in the church here are teaching and preaching. Apart from preaching in the church, I and a very good friend of mine, an elder from the church, are engaged in the preparation of preachers. We hold two meetings every month, during which we follow our own programme for studying different subjects: Doctrines, Exegesis, Hermeneutics and Homiletics, etc. In this work we are trying to prepare Christian men for the Lord’s service as pastors, preachers or missionaries. It is a very necessary work in our region, which is characterized by the lowest number of evangelical churches in comparison with other regions of Ukraine. We don’t have enough time for this work, but we hope in the future, when we have completed some other undertakings that we shall be able to give ourselves more to this important work.
The two Bible study groups, which I am already leading, are really a big field in which to work. Using these groups for teaching as well as for evangelism, we have a good opportunity to reach people from the church and our friends who are interested in knowing more about Christ and His Gospel.
Recently I dived into the study of Postmodernism, mainly the writings of and about Jacques Derrida. I suddenly realized how hard and depressing it is to hold the view that truth is unattainable, that we are locked in the hurly-burly of a linguistic world and all we can allow ourselves is to “enjoy” the endless play of signs. Nevertheless, these ideas do not prevent us from studying the original languages. Language for us does not hide and mask the reality, but is the instrument to deepen our understanding of it. At the moment our group for learning Greek consists of five people, and one is a woman! (She is, by the way, the best student in the group.)
New project?
Some time ago I was given a disk of John Piper’s biographical lectures. I didn’t expect that these lectures would have such a great impact upon me. They just stirred my soul to a deeper devotion to Christ. Calvin, Spurgeon, Luther, and many other champions of the Christian faith were portrayed very powerfully. I thought perhaps I could do something similar for the Christians in Ternopil. This is a seed-thought which, hopefully, will come into being. I have already started to study the life and thoughts of St. Augustine. Watered with your prayers, this seed-project might bring some good fruits in the future.
I think this short presentation is enough for the first time to give you a little picture of my work. I am thankful to those who support my ministry in many different ways and I need your continued prayer support, for which I ask you as I close this article.