«Who is the Christian teacher and what can we learn from Jesus?»
30th May – 2nd June 2019 in the region of Montes del Toledo
86 participants from 23 countries gathered together in the picturesque region of Spain near the city of Toledo for the annual EurECA conference. The warm welcome of friends, the chance to make new acquaintances; the expectation that the Lord will speak to us through the keynote speaker and in discussion groups; common prayers and worship; sharing vision and experience – all these motivate Christian teachers from different countries to come together annually. Although the EurECA conference has been taking place for many years, the International Alliance for the Development of Christian Education has participated only for the third time, and it was pleasant for us to feel ourselves a part of the community of Christian educators of Europe.
The organizers may be commended for choosing a picturesque venue for the conference and our accommodation.
We appreciated the traditional Spanish cuisine and friendly waiters. The program offered an interesting tour to the ancient city of Toledo. The open-air museum left bright and unforgettable impressions. The city of Toledo, the first capital of Spain (Castilla), is surrounded by the River Tagus where in the past the citizens of three religions lived peacefully: Christians, Muslims and Jews. The birthplace of Don Quixote-Castilla-La Mancha will be remembered for a long time. We had a lot of time for fellowship and sharing, which is very important for an international conference for the exchange of experience and united prayers. We also enjoyed the opportunity to relax and spend good time together.
The conference began on Thursday evening, quite unusually – during the dinner. Graham Coyle presented a passage from the Bible to us, and then there was an interesting form of making new acquaintances. We each found a person we didn’t know and then talked about scripture and prayed together for our needs.
The format of the conference was focused on the speaker’s lectures followed by discussion of prepared questions in small groups.
The main speaker of the conference was William F. Cox, Jr., PhD from Regent University. He challenged all the participants with the question “Who we are? EDUCATORS AS CHRISTIANS OR CHRISTIANS AS EDUCATORS?”. The professor reminded us of the four phases of God’s big story: creation, fall, redemption/salvation and empowerment. He invited to recognize what phase we are in now as educators and where our students are. Every lecture was followed by the discussion group led by one of the EurECA board members. It was so amazing to share our thoughts on all questions given by the speaker. The fellowship was very friendly with God’s presence felt by all the participants. The atmosphere of unity,sincere involvement in each other’s needs and humble prayers for every country remain in our hearts after this conference.
On Saturday William Cox spoke on foundations for nurturing in education. Humans flourish when rightly pursuing their identity based destiny. Following lectures, we had an International Evening. There were presentations of some countries, members of EurECA – Albania, Greece, Ukraine, Portugal and others. These presentations broadened our minds and gave the feeling of unity, support and compassion to each other. Women from Switzerland shared their vision of Moms in Prayers ministry, which is very powerful and can change the hearts of the children and lead them to Jesus. Shared vision, shared prayers make us stronger and closer to Jesus and to each other. We are very grateful to all the organizers and EurECA board members for this amazing experience in Spain.
We, the team from Ukraine, are so excited to host EurECA 2020 conference and praying for God’s blessings and His holy presence with all the participants next year.
Tatiana Chumakova
Tetiana Garkun