What is your ministry?
I’m currently a youth group leader at Kuršėnaievangelical church. There are around 12 teenagers in a group from the ages of 12 to 18 years old. The goal is to make them Jesus followers. We meet every Friday evening.
When did you trust Christ?
It was not only one particular moment. It was gradual; I always believed God existed, since I was born into a Christian family. Then in my first year of university, I started to search for God, and my conscience was not clean. Then one evening, while reading the Bible, I came across a story in the book of Acts where apostles placed their hands on people so they would be baptised in the Holy Spirit. I understood I needed to be baptised as well. So that's when I started my journey; it was March 2018.
What have been the defining moments of your Christian walk?
When I started walking in faith, I was still seeking worldly things. But after a while, by God's grace, I understood I needed to flee from these sinful things. One thing was a relationship with an unbeliever; when I finally decided to exit this relationship, God taught me what true repentance and seeking Jesus are. Also, I needed to flee self-condemning thoughts like “I’m not enough” or “God doesn't love me,” which I was battling, and sometimes I still do. Through them, God taught me to trust in His word and not in my feelings.
What do you hope to gain from participating?
I hope to learn from your other experienced leaders who have been doing this for a long time. I wish to receive advice for studying Bible in their context. How to care for what they face and implement it in groups.
After ELF 2023, I tried a new method with the youth group, where more activities are organised for group members, and the Bible study duration is reduced to 20-30 minutes. Also, I have been working on making more personal relationships in my ministry. I want to return to ELF to gain more wisdom, learn from godly examples, receive motivation, and buy affordable literature.
What is your leadership role or what were your past leadership roles?
I was the youth group leader in a previous church and a volunteer at the university.
Why should someone invest in your ministry?
I think that nowadays, most people don't want to give away their time to other people for meaningful things. I want to be as useful as possible to the church; I hope and desire that God will use me.
