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2018 Deyneka Award Recipient: Konstantin Teteryatnikov
11.29.2018

Konstantin Teteryatnikov, director of the Family as Mission initiative

Mission Eurasia is pleased to announce the recipient of the 2018 Deyneka Award: Konstantin Teteryatnikov, director of the Family as Mission initiative.

The Deyneka Award—named in honor of Mission Eurasia’s faithful founders, the Rev. Peter Deyneka Jr. and his wife, Anita—is a monetary prize of $5,000 awarded every other year to evangelical Christian leaders working on projects that reflect the mission and vision of Mission Eurasia and contribute to the increased impact of the gospel and growth of the national church in Eurasia. The purpose of the Deyneka Award is to encourage ongoing excellence and innovation in missions while honoring the legacy of our founders.

Konstantin Teteryatnikov was selected as this year’s Deyneka Award recipient because of his excellent leadership of the Family as Mission initiative, a ministry outgrowth of Mission Eurasia’s School Without Walls program. The goal of Family as Mission is to empower, support, train, and mobilize families to fulfill God’s calling to follow Jesus’ teaching and proclaim the Good News to the world around them. Family as Mission focuses on supporting and strengthening families in three strategic ways: helping couples build healthy, God-honoring marriages; equipping parents to welcome children and raise them in God’s Word; and mobilizing Christian families to adopt, foster, and care for orphans.

Konstantin and his wife, Katya, have a personal commitment to building strong families due to their own experience of fostering and adopting several of their 14 children.

In the next three years, Konstantin expects that 450 families in nine countries of Eurasia will receive training through Family as Mission. In turn, these families will share the values and training they have learned with more than 300 churches, and these churches have the potential to impact millions of families throughout the post-Soviet nations.

“When we build and support godly families, we are revitalizing both family and ministry in society,” writes Konstantin.

Konstantin plans to use the funds from the Deyneka Award to grow the Family as Mission initiative, develop new resources, host strategic events, and partner with more churches in support of the goal of strengthening families throughout Eurasia.

Resources currently in development include:

  • Presentations and handouts for three special Family as Mission workshops
  • A manual on Family as Mission
  • A book titled How Family Can Become a Mission
  • A brochure titled “20 Stories of Families Fulfilling the Mission of Adoption”
  • Video resources (presentations, stories, and testimonies)

Upcoming Family as Mission Events:

  • Three regional conferences
  • Nine national seminars
  • Nine roundtable events

Church Partnerships:

  • In the coming years, an international network of churches will be established in nine post-Soviet countries

“The world will become kinder and more gracious when Christian families realize their mission to bring God’s rays of light into this world,” writes Konstantin. This is why Mission Eurasia is committed to training, equipping, and supporting godly families throughout Eurasia as part of our holistic approach to transforming the nations of Eurasia for Christ.

We warmly congratulate Konstantin Teteryatnikov as the recipient of the 2018 Deyneka Award, and we look forward to seeing how God continues to use the Family as Mission initiative to build healthy, Christ-centered families throughout Eurasia with the potential to transform their communities and nations with the gospel.