Annual Bulgarian Conference

During Memorial Day Weekend Cup & Cross Ministries participated in the Third Annual Conference of Bulgarian Churches in North America. The conference took place on May 29-31, 2004 in Minneapolis and was hosted by the local Bulgarian Evangelical Church. Over 130 delegates from Bulgarian communities of Dallas, Chicago, Los Angeles, Montreal and Atlanta attended the event. Among the Bulgarian ministers present, there were pastors who have been persecuted along with their families as a part of the underground church in Bulgarian during the Communist Regime.

The conference began on Saturday with an introduction of the ministries present and a concert in honor of May 24, the Bulgarian holiday which celebrates the Bulgarian alphabet and culture.

The Sunday morning service was accompanied with a picnic, followed by two sessions on the topic of the conference, “The Joy of the Lord is our Strength”. The first one was presented by the pastor of the Bulgarian Church in Los Angeles, and the second one by our ministry.
During the presentation we were able to inform of some of our findings of our research.

Cup & Cross has worked with Bulgarian immigrants for the past ten years, and our team has actively and purposefully observed the Bulgarian Evangelical Churches in North America for almost three years as a part of our research. We were able to present each minister, pastor and leader of a congregation with a special copy of the results of our research. The churches were also presented with a special Bible study software prepared by our internet ministry team of which administrates www.bibliata.com.

A new ambitious goal was set to review the results and analyses provided by the research and implement them in the ministry of the local congregations through a church-planting program for Bulgarian communities in North America.

Our research called for awareness of cross-cultural challenges, immigration dynamics and interchurch relationship as well as their affect on the churches identity and ministry. The conclusion included an altar call and dedication prayer for the future of the Bulgarian Evangelical Churches in North America and especially for the second generation of Bulgarian immigrants.

It was decided that the 2005 annual conference of Bulgarian Evangelical Churches in North America will take place in Los Angeles. The conference gave us an opportunity to network with Bulgarian congregations and communities nationwide. It is our prayer that their ministry is successful and blessed in the future.