Regional Church Meeting in Pleven

On September 27th, the Bulgarian Church of God held a meeting for the churches in the Pleven region of Northern Bulgaria. This is the second of three meetings. The first one was held close to the city of Troyan (September 20-21, 2008) and the last one will be held in the city of Etropole (October 4-5, 2008). The purpose behind the meetings was to gather the people of God and unify the local churches against the spiritual crises which have taken hostage the whole nation of Bulgaria.

The meeting in Pleven was important, because according to the history of the first Bulgarian Church of God people received the Holy Spirit in a dug out dwelling not far from the town almost a century ago. Later on, when the Bulgarian Pentecostal Union was established, these churches remained unregistered with the government and formed the Free Churches of God movement. The church and its ministers, active predominantly in Northern Bulgaria in the beginning of the 20th century, became known as the Bulgarian Church of God.

Most of the local congregations were present at the meeting, which was held in the assembly hall of the city of Pleven. We opened the morning service with a word from Psalm 115 and then led all pastors and ministers present in prayer for the people who had gathered for the regional meeting in Pleven. Then, the floor was given to various ministers among which were pastor Mladen Marinov from Pleven Assemblies of God, bishop George Goranov from First Church of God in Pleven, pastor Velichko Tzanov from Lovetch Church of God, bishop Dimiter Cholakov from Peace of God Church of God in Pleven, bishop Ivan Yadkov from Grave Church of God in Sofia, pastor Ivo Tashev from United Church of God in Sandansky, pastor Venelin Tzankov from Christian Center – Pleven and episcope Vlado Blajev from the Pleven Methodist Church. The national overseer of the Bulgarian Church of God was also in town to meet with the Church of God ministers. At the end of the meeting, the people who had gathered prayed for their pastors and sang the old traditional Bulgarian Church of God song that says, “How beautiful are brothers and sisters, all to be gathered in one” (seen on the video below). We were also able to stay in Pleven for the Sunday morning service and ministered at the Peace of God Church of God.