The Past, Present and Future of Evangelical Education in Bulgaria

The missionary strategy of Protestant denominations toward Bulgaria within the 19th century effectively included evangelistic, publishing and educational outreaches. The educational paradigms, which the western missionaries introduced, were soon adopted by the Bulgarian people, quickly realized as progressive and successfully implemented in both religious and secular Bulgarian schools. These trends continued in the next several decades, educating Bulgarian youth and producing the first generation of Bulgarian leaders who took their rightful place in political, economical, social and religious structures in the Bulgarian lands.

Unfortunately, when the Communist Revolution took place in Bulgaria, all religious schools, with the exception of the Eastern Orthodox Seminary in Sofia, were closed down and religious education was outlawed. For the next half century, Bulgarian evangelical ministers were destined to do ministry without any former religious education.

When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, the tension for religious education reached its culmination and a number of religious schools were quickly established across Bulgaria. The instruction methods used ranged from Bible study home groups to Bible colleges all to fulfill the niche for religious education. Two important milestones must be mentioned here, and they are the opening of the Logos Bible Academy in the Danube town of Russe and the starting of a long distance program by ORA International.

Naturally, the general trend of Bulgaria’s post communist governments to control these educational institutions resulted in the registration of a religious institute under the Directorate of Religious Affairs, a government agency formed to register, manage and supervise the activity of religious formation on the territory of Bulgaria. It was in this context that the Bulgarian Evangelical Theological Institute (BETI) was formed and registered in the capital Sofia. It included five departments (often called faculties), representing Bulgarian evangelical denominations with a predominant focus on the Pentecostal wing.

The Theological College in Stara Zagora, often mistakenly called a Theological Seminary, was established in 1998 as one of these departments to represent the Bulgarian Church of God. Because of current developments within the Bulgarian Church of God, the department was started in the city of Stara Zagora, located some four hours east of the capital and became the only of the faculties not located in Sofia. Naturally, its location, staff, affiliation and purpose created a sense of independence, both in its theology and structure.

With the acceptance of the new Act of Confessions in 2002, the Bulgarian government employed a more drastic approach toward all religious institutions not fitting the standard denominational profile. Since BETI was among them, the government initiated the process of the Institute’s accreditation with the Ministry of Education. Five years later, the government is yet to grant the accreditation. It was not until the publication of this article in March, 2008 that the Bulgarian Government moved toward finalizing the long-awaited accreditation of BETI.

Meanwhile the Institute’s management is facing a tri-dimensional dilemma which includes economic, cultural and leadership tensions. Some of them have not been resolved due to the lack of recourses; others have not been resolved due to the lack of essential prerequisites in the long-term educational strategy of the school. The following is a list of the challenges, which must be resolved immediately in order for the Institute to continue to operate under the said government accreditation:

1. The school’s baccalaureate program, structured primarily after 20th century American Bible college model, is practically incompatible with the requirements of the Bulgarian Ministry of Education. The dilemma of changing the program to meet the accreditation requirements or to retain the school’s evangelical identity is yet to be resolved on part of BETI as a whole, as well as its theological departments individually.

2. Three masters programs that were to focus on the subjects of Christian counseling, chaplaincy ministry and missions were secured from the Bulgarian government several years ago. However, because of the lack of students and experts on the said topics, only one of them, the master’s program in counseling, has been partially developed. Today, it remains in its initial phase as a distance-learning program, while the other two programs are virtually untouched.

3. It has taken BETI over a decade to comply with the country’s requirements for higher education. In this process, the school has not facilitated the opportunity for religious master’s programs thus missing its mission to become a higher education authority in religious studies.

4. The resistance toward the evangelical movement and more specifically its presence within the educational process of Bulgarian adolescents has resulted in continuous protests on part of the Bulgarian community. They have been followed by restrictions from the government, which has forced the Institute at the periphery of the educational process. Two waves of attacks against Bulgarian evangelicals in 1990-1993, 2002-2004 and the current trend of the government to establish mandatory religious classes for children ages seven to twelve has contributed to this alienation and has forced the inability of evangelical education to find and establish its place within the Bulgaria community. Much of this has to do with the lack of an adequate placement strategy for graduates upon the completion of the college’s program.

5. Furthermore, scholarships for individual students and sponsorship for the colleges of the Institute has weekend since 9/11 creating an economical dilemma with which the Institute is still struggling. The financial crisis has brought about the rethinking of the economic strategy of the Institute, its dependency on religious support sources and its financial self-sufficiency.

6. Additionally, a number of Roma/Gipsy communities have received substantial educational grants from the European Union upon Bulgaria’s official membership. This has taken a great number of the Roma/Gipsy students within the Institute in a different direction.

7. Immigration has also taken its toll on the Institute’s graduates, as many of them have seized the opportunity to continue their training in religious educational institutions abroad, while other have simple forgone their higher religious education in the struggle for personal survival, both groups never to return and practice in Bulgaria.

8. It is also unfortunate, that most of the professionally trained Bulgarians who have graduated with a higher degree in religious studies from foreign colleges and universities, have been unable to find their place within the structure of the BETI and have been employed in educational institutions, religious centers, ministries and missions which often have to do very little with Bulgaria.

9. The denominational affiliation of each of the departments, has contributed to the dilemma of structural incompatibility with the leadership and vision differences between the denominations that are affiliated with the Institute. The recent crises in several of the member dominations have added to the escalation of the above dilemmas and the incapability for the resolution from a denominational standpoint.

10. Naturally, the well-educated graduates have chosen not to occupy themselves with denominational politics both to avoid confrontation and to express their disagreement. This dynamic has been partially ignored by leadership remaining from the period of the underground church when religious education was virtually nonexistent and lacking a complete realization of the power of education. This unnoticed trend, however, endangers Bulgarian Evangelism creating a lack of continuity within the leadership and preparing the context for the emerging leadership crises.

As an educational institution of the Bulgarian Church of God and a member of the Bulgarian Evangelical Theological Institute, the Theological College in Stara Zagora has experienced all of the above dilemmas and more. Its physical distance from the capital Sofia has jeopardized its accreditation with Bulgaria’s Ministry of Education, the latest guidelines of which have constituted that a school department cannot be more than 25 miles away from its main office. Since Stara Zagora is almost 200 miles away, the Church of God Bible College has been forced to find a suitable alternative. One logical solution may be to move the school or parts of the school to a Sofia location.

However, the Stara Zagora Theological College has had very little if any representation in the capital for its decade of existence. A move to Sofia would propose a number of new problems such as the relocation of teachers and a forced split of focus between two campuses. Another immediate challenge would be the development of a long-term financial strategy to meet a budget, which in the capital would be three-four times the cost of the same operation in the city Stara Zagora. And finally, a successful strategy for establishing a new level of cooperation with the rest of the Institute’s departments, which have operated in the capital Sofia for over a decade is a must, before a successful educational program can be initiated by the Bulgarian Theological College at the new location.

The Albert H. Lybyer Papers

As we have reported through the years, a good number of our research publications on Bulgarian Protestant history come from the great treasure of knowledge stored at the library center of the University of Illinois in Urbana. Through this research, our teams have been able to discover documents, books and personal archives related directly to the early period of Protestant presence on the Balkans.

Our last trip to Urbana revealed the personal papers of Albert H. Lybyer who taught at Robert’s College in Istanbul as well as the Missionary School in Samokov. The University of Illinois Archives hold several boxes containing his personal papers among which we were able to identify his diary with records of his arrival on the Balkans, trips taken through Bulgaria, Serbia and Turkey from the early 1940s, his grade book and a number of authentic official documents related to the school’s educational program, social activities and financial status. We are in the process of reproducing these papers in a digital format in order to make them available to the Bulgarian researches in the field, as part of our ministry’s endeavor to tell the story of Bulgarian Protestantism.

Visiting Patten University

Our visit to Patten University was not accidental as we reacquainted with professors and pastors affiliated with the school. We were also able to participate in the planning of the Summerfest 2008 which will be held by the Church of God in the heart of San Francisco. As the ministry context of our X Youth Events in Bulgaria is very similar, we were able to sharpen our understanding for inner-city missions and learn new paradigms for urban missions which will help us in the organizing of future youth events in Bulgaria.

From Elsinore to Sacramento

We are thankful to the Lord for opening another door for ministry in the United States in the state of California. Our visit there, both long-waited and unexpected, took our ministry from Elsinore to Sacramento. We visited with the Living Waters Church at Orange County, had meetings at Simi Valley, ministered at Fresno, met with ministers at Patten College, reestablished connections in San Francisco and had two great services with Pastor Duncan and the New Life Christian Center of Rio Linda. We are looking forward to return to California and minister there again soon.

My First Free Easter

I remember my First Free Easter. It was in the spring of 1991 immediately after the Fall of the Berlin Wall. The Bulgarian Church of God had just emerged from its underground status taking its respectful place in the Bulgarian social life. As a powerful transformational force, literally over night, the denomination rapidly grew from 800 to some 8,000 members. The First Free Easter was to be held in the largest auditorium in Bulgaria, the National Palace of Culture and Rev. Floyd Louhan traveled all the way from the United States to deliver the Easter message. Read more

East Coast Bible College Alumni Reunion August 29–31, 2008 Charlotte NC

For over twenty years, East Coast Bible College was a place which left a great legacy of training as well as wonderful memories for many students, staff, local pastors, and denominational leaders. It was a place where students and faculty grew in a deeply intimate relationship with our Great Father. It was a place where we were trained and prepared to step out into places of ministry that still continues throughout the world. It was also a place where many were able to see God move with great demonstration in spiritual gifts, miracles and forthright testimonies of God’s power. Through these faculty and students, East Coast Bible College still lives today! Read more

Doing Missions in the Spirit

This message is not even 30 minutes long, but I challenge you to take the time and listen to it today. If you do not sense the Spirit of God in the first five minutes, feel free to turn it off. I truly believe that this is a message from God that every minister, missionary and church must hear. It was preached at the annual mission’s conference organized by the Good Shepard Church of God in Pahokee, Florida under the title “Doing Missions in the Spirit.” What are you going to do when governments, organizations or finances do not permit you to do missions? What are you going to do when people and problems send you to the periphery of ministry, while God has called you to the epicenter of missions? All these questions and many others are answered in “Doing Missions in the Spirit.”

Click on the link to download and listen to the message https://cupandcross.com/mp3s/missioninspirit.mp3

 

Building Bridges to People while Doing Urban Missions in the Spirit

My longtime friend, mentor and colleague, Sean O’Neal, who serves as the the Director of Evangelism and Youth Ministries for the Church of God California/Nevada State Executive Office, has published his dissertation work under the title “Bridges to People.” The book is one of a few, if not the only published academic research on urban missions from a Pentecostal perspective.

But the text is much more than just a dissertation project. It is a practical application emerging from over two decades of urban missions work across America, which is intended to be used as a training tool for pastors and congregations who are involved in cross-cultural urban ministry.

Sean’s ministry begins in Indiana and moves to Chicago metro where the church he pastors transforms into a multicultural center ministering to Bulgarian, Romanians, Hungarians and Mexicans and building bridges between ethnic groups within the Kingdom of God. The practical experience, which becomes the basis and the heart of the publication redefines the philosophy of modern day urban ministry in the 21st century. The claim that the book defends over and over is simple: the effectiveness of urban ministry depends on its origin in the praxis of ministry. And this is a truly Pentecostal claim, as it places the practical experience of faith within the multicultural context of ministry before all theological and philosophical presuppositions.

I know that by now, most of you who are involved in any type of urban ministry are already asking the question: “Will this work for me?” It worked for Sean and the ministers whom he trained to recognize the need and provide the needed ministry. The principles which he defines and describes come directly from his experience within the multicultural ethnic context of Chicago (1990-1998), New Jersey and New York (1998-2002), Urbana (2002-2004) and California, where he currently teaches and ministers.

“Bridges to People” is intended to be used exactly the way it was developed: in a practical self-growing, self-testing and self-accountable ministry. It is a cross-cultural training manual for ministries and churches through redefining the ethnic reality of your community. Its objective to build a multi-facet cross cultural ministry makes it applicable not only for American based organizations, but for international ones as well. And last, but not least: it is written from a Pentecostal perspective, giving a central place of the work of the Holy Spirit building bridges between people across cultures and redefining doing missions in, from, by and with the Spirit of God.

“Bridges to People” can be purchased at Amazon.com by clicking on the following link: http://www.amazon.com/Bridges-People-Sean-S-ONeal/dp/1602662681/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1205607996&sr=8-1

Cup & Cross Ministries with a New Website

Since 1999, the website of Cup & Cross Ministries has become an international media center for evangelical churches in Eastern Europe. It has served as a reliable source of information for the ministry and developments of the Bulgarian Church of God publishing official statistics, interviews with church leaders, in-depth research and much more. Through this efforts, the website has become an information bank for Bulgarian Pentecostalism used by denominational medias, research centers, Bulgarian and foreign government and non-government organizations including the U.S. Department of State.

The new design and functionality of the website offers a large spectrum of text, audio and video materials which inform of the scope of our ministry. The renovating technologies implemented in the new web center allow visitors to receive regular news updates via email or text message on their cell phone. The audio streaming allows the live delivery of sermons and audio content, while the video option will allow us to broadcast live ministry events from Bulgaria, hold video conferences with team members and provide an opportunity for churches to publish broadcast information about their ministry in video format.

Recently, the national overseer of the Bulgarian Church of God asked our team to assist with the PR of the denomination while informing and promoting the ministry of the church via the internet and other medias. This new media strategy will include broadening the coverage through regular ministry reports of the dynamics and activities of the denomination, introduction of churches and ministers, interviews, statistics and analysis. Having received this great responsibility, Cup & Cross Ministries is committed to continue the mission of bringing up to date reliable information about the Bulgarian Church of God and to serve toward the broadening of its media ministry strategy in the 21st century.

Revival Bulgaria 2 Film Released

Cup & Cross Ministries is proud to announce that it has released its new film, Revival Bulgaria 2. The release of this film has been long awaited for since the release of the first Revival Bulgaria film in 2004. The current release gives report of the ministry of Cup & Cross in Bulgaria in the past three years and provides helpful information about our context of ministry. The film overviews several of our ministry’s efforts such as the Bulgarian Chaplaincy Association, the X Events, revival campaigns and youth rallies, as it concludes with an invitation to the 2008 national camp meeting planned in the Heart of Bulgaria. The film is distributed as a free promotional DVD and can be obtain upon request. Parts of the movie can be viewed at our ministry’s media center at: www.cupandcross.com

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