Mission Bulgaria Week 10

Week 10 – October 21-27, 2001 Sofia, BULGARIA

Greetings from Bulgaria: This Sunday we passed the 5,000 mark of lessons printed and given through the Sunday School Pilot Program. The lessons so far have included topics from the Declaration of Faith on articles 7-10, 13 containing subjects on water baptism, second coming, holiness, baptism in the Holy Spirit, etc. The topics were selected upon the current necessity for teaching for the Central Church of God. The results have been accordingly satisfactory.

Several thousands of lessons have been freely given to regular church members. This has already increased the attendance for the Sunday morning worship with several hundred people. The people come earlier than 10 am in order to listen to the lessons and do not get there as late as 10:15-10:20 as it was earlier, which use to create great confusion especially when several hundred people had to find a place to sit in the middle of worship. The spiritual impact over the services is also evident, as we have had people healed and baptized in the Holy Spirit each Sunday. This creates an excellent opportunity for the growth of the church and enriches its life tremendously. The lessons have had a great impact in several churches beside the Central Church of God. We have sent them as a test program to all churches in the Sofia region, as well as churches as far as Yablanitza and Pravetz. The vision is to create a system through which all lessons will be published and sent to all local churches weekly. At the end of the Pilot Program all Sunday School lessons will be gathered in one booklet which will be published for the needs of all churches nationally. This process will continue to become a national event with new lessons each year. The first book will also contain the lessons on the book of Revelation, which I am presently writing and teaching on Wednesday evenings at the Central Church of God. For the past month we have progressed to Revelation chapter 6.

The work this week also included a trip to my hometown Yambol, in Southern Bulgaria. We traveled through some 40 towns and villages to inspect the work of the already existing churches and to check on the opportunity for new church congregations being started in the next 6 to 12 months. For me personally, having in mind the heavy economical crises in Bulgaria, the results were really encouraging. I am encouraged because God is still working in Bulgaria.

The National Student Movement, which works under the supervision of the Bulgarian Church of God and also turned their results of the work they have accomplished through the past quarter. According to their report 6,000 New Testaments have been given to students (4,000 in Sofia and 2,000 elsewhere), 70 have received Christ as Savior, and 14 have joined the organization.