Bonnie Hailey spent 20 years as a church staff member, including serving in churches in Alexander City and Tallassee. But when the Lord called her and her husband, Charles, to serve as Baptist representatives in Ukraine, her focus shifted to working in education.
“I do not have a degree in education, and I have never worked in education,” Hailey explained. “I got to the point I asked the Lord what I was doing here because I did not want to fail.”
That is when the idea for Hope in Education was born. This nonprofit organization, founded by Hailey, partners with local Christian educators to reach their communities with the gospel. This evangelistic emphasis is important because only about 1 percent of the nation’s population is composed of evangelical Christians.
Hailey explained that atheistic communism has been rejected by people in this former Soviet republic, including those in public education. Communism forced people through a system, she noted. “It cared little for the individual. Mastery of facts was education’s goal.”
Now people are asking what alternatives exist.
Hope in Education promotes a Christian worldview. “People’s worldview inevitably shapes the world they have in view,” Hailey said, paraphrasing fourth-century theologian St. Augustine.
The organization helps teachers realize that a relationship with Jesus Christ has a direct connection to who they are as individuals, as well as how they teach, she said. “We want people to know that true religion is more than a subject studied in the classroom. It is about a relationship with Jesus.”
Through Hope in Education, Hailey hopes to help Christian teachers learn how to live out their lives as disciples of the Lord, sharing their witness in classrooms, as well as in communities.
“Teachers are influencers,” she said. “Teachers are the moral fabric of society. Teachers teach morals by the way they lead their classes, by the way they relate to students. Teachers touch their colleagues, their students and the parents of their students.
“That is why this is a strategic ministry. We are trying to influence the influencers,” she added.
Hope in Education currently works in five major cities in Ukraine. In one of those cities — Kharkov in far eastern Ukraine — eight small groups of teachers meet weekly for instruction and encouragement. Other cities have similar groups.
The organization sponsors activities ranging from regional seminars on educational topics to “in service” training for schools. Frequently educators from the United States participate as speakers or panel members.
A group organized by Alabama Woman’s Missionary Union partnered with Hope in Education during the last week of April. It visited several elementary and middle schools in two areas of Ukraine, meeting with officials and teachers to talk about educational topics and share insights about the importance of a Christian worldview. Group members also prayer walked in various areas.
Hailey said having Americans come and work with Ukrainian educators not only stimulates new ways of thinking for local teachers but also increases the credibility of Hope in Education.
Visiting American teams have done everything from teaching English to explaining various teaching resources to installing playground equipment and painting classrooms.
“We are an educational resource in this nation,” Hailey said. “That gives us credibility. Doors are open because we do what we say we will do. And that opens doors for evangelism, for church planting and for discipleship training.”
For more information, visit www.hopeineducation.com.
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