Research aids ministry
By Chad Causey
“God’s Word. Every Child.”
That’s the vision of OneHope. What would it take to make it a reality — to ensure that every young person had an opportunity for meaningful encounter with the scriptures?
That’s the question OneHope is asking through an extensive, global program of research designed to discover the spiritual state of the world’s children and find the ways to meet their deepest heart-felt needs by engaging them with God’s life-transforming Word.
The research findings have helped the international team devise new programs and products to touch young lives.
“In Russia, the research showed so much about our students and the next generation — right away we saw the glaring need for positive male role models,” says OneHope Regional Director for Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States Irina Litvinova.
Alcoholism is rampant among men in Russia. Often women are the breadwinners and the ones who keep their families together. Drug addiction is also a serious problem in the nation.
Based on these research findings, Russia’s OneHope leadership team began to brainstorm new ideas that would meet the needs and engage the next generation with scripture.
Already the printed Book of Hope is available in a special “Teen Challenge Edition” for use in rehabilitation programs and abuse prevention programs.
In Russia, as in the United States, Teen Challenge and other Christian rehab participants take part in prevention efforts and church ministry.
“Most of the people in these faith-based rehab programs have come to Christ, and they want to minister to other young people — and most of them are young men,” says Irina.
“It was a perfect fit to address both the need for positive male role models and the need for substance abuse prevention and intervention.”
The leadership team has now developed the “At Risk Youth” program for OneHope in Russia, launched this spring with the goal of organizing rehab participants and graduates to impact Russian young people through the Book of Hope, The GodMan film and strategic, ongoing church ministry.
“This kind of initiative is exactly what we hoped we’d bring about with the research studies we’re doing,” says OneHope President Rob Hoskins.
“We want to find out what issues are facing the children and youth, and make sure we deliver the scriptures in a way which speaks to those needs.”
The research will also provide a baseline for attitudes and behavior among the next generation, which will allow OneHope to measure the impact of scripture engagement over the short- and long-term and continue to tailor programs more effectively.
Learn more about OneHope at www.onehope.net.