Bulgarian Churches in North America
Bulgarian Churches in North America results from a comprehensive dissertation work on emerging Bulgarian American congregations. The book incorporates some twenty years of research, which the author began while involved with the establishment of the first Bulgarian Church of God in North America initially located in the city of Chicago. The work presents an overview of the historical presuppositions and immigrant dynamics associated with Bulgarian churches is offered to enlighten the current problem of ministry. Next, a detailed contextual analysis describes the churches participating in the project. The project model design explains the research methodology and the study’s findings, which provide the first ever statistical overview of Bulgarian American congregations. The work concludes with a series of prognoses of the explored movement of evangelical churches, various considerations and an A-to-Z church planting proposal to serve as a paradigm for ministry and church planting among Bulgarian immigrant communities in North America.
Increase of Religious Non-Identifiers in America
There is a documented and marked decline since 1990 in the number of Americans espousing a religious identity, from less than one-tenth of the public to nearly one in every six adults today. Far from being randomly distributed in the population, the data portray non-identifiers as more likely than those expressing a religious affiliation to be young, male, living in the West and New England, moderate-to-liberal politically, and unmarried.
A lingering question for this research is whether the decline in psychological affiliation with any church or denominational organization will persist, level off, or reverse course. Will the decline in religious identification observed in this research continue or prove to be a temporary phenomenon?
If the question is meant to refer to the traditional, established churches and faith systems that have been with us for some time, the answer is very likely to be yes, it is likely to continue. But if we expand the concept of “religion” to include the increasingly popular forms such as New Age religions, EasternWestern blends, multi-stranded hybrids, the “small-group movement,” pseudo-scientific spiritual formulations, and other types, then maybe no.
This study is an excerpt from the larger report on The Decline of Religious Identity in the United States by Sid Groeneman & Gary Tobin published in 2004 via the Institute for Jewish & Community Research (http://jewishresearch.or)
Religious Characteristics of Non-Identifiers
26% No past religion, no current attendance, no religion in future
19% Past religion, no current attendance, no religion in future
11% Past religion, no current attendance, possible religion in future
11% Past religion, current attender, possible religion in future
10% Past religion, current attender, no religion in future
9% No past religion, current attender, no religion in future
8% No past religion, no current attendance, possible future religion
6% No past religion, current attendance, possible religion in future
This study is an excerpt from the larger report on The Decline of Religious Identity in the United States by Sid Groeneman & Gary Tobin published in 2004 via the Institute for Jewish & Community Research (http://jewishresearch.or)
Heritage and Religious Identification
Fully 16% of the HARI sample answered either “none” when asked how they identify themselves or gave one of the other answers classified equivalently (atheist, agnostic, secular, Humanist, or Ethical Culture).
The largest number of non-identifiers (35%) were not raised in any religion as a child. Nevertheless, 62% of them had religious training or background. This compares with virtually all (97%) of respondents designating a current religion.
The fact that well over half of current non-identifiers were raised in some religion indicates substantial attrition in the proclivity to claim a religious affiliation. Movement in the opposite direction — from no religion to a current identification — is less extensive (26% of those raised in no religion now identify with some religious category). This opposite-direction movement — acquiring a religious identity after having none in childhood — is not nearly large enough to off set the elimination of identity among those with a religious upbringing. Among adults alive today, our calculation produces a net loss of about 8% in the number having a religious identity relative to when they were young.
This study is an excerpt from the larger report on The Decline of Religious Identity in the United States by Sid Groeneman & Gary Tobin published in 2004 via the Institute for Jewish & Community Research (http://jewishresearch.or)
Religious Praxis without Religious Identity
Some people who do not identify with a religion, nevertheless, practice some form of religion
Sizable numbers of those who do not affiliate psychologically with any religion are, nevertheless, occasional or unsettled practitioners. As such, they might sometimes attend religious services, have previously identified religiously as adults, or expect to take up a religion sometime in the future. A more complete religious profiling requires additional information about religious beliefs and behavior.
Gallup Polls, which use a differently worded question emphasizing “religious preference,” seem to indicate less change over the same time period as well as a lower current proportion of “no religion” / “none” responses. Unfortunately, Gallup changed the question wording several times, complicating analysis. Since mid-2000, they included the “if any” phrasing in their primary version of the question: “What, if any, is your religious preference — Protestant, Roman Catholic, Jewish, Mormon, Muslim, or an Orthodox religion such as Greek or Russian Orthodox?”
This study is an excerpt from the larger report on The Decline of Religious Identity in the United States by Sid Groeneman & Gary Tobin published in 2004 via the Institute for Jewish & Community Research (http://jewishresearch.or)
Religious Change in Contemporary America
Compared to even 15 years ago, fewer Americans today espouse a religious identity. In this report we examine not religious practice like church attendance or membership but rather religious identity.
Approximately one of every six Americans has no religious identity
Sixteen percent of United States adults either fail to place themselves in any denominational category (answering “none” or ”no religion”), or they describe themselves as secular, humanist, ethical-culturalist, agnostic, or atheist.
Individuals who identify with no religion are a growing population
Based on a review of survey evidence, the proportion of non-identifiers appears to have grown substantially in the last 10-12 years.
The non-religiously identified make up the third largest group in the country
The two largest groups are Catholics and Baptists. Those non-religiously identified are virtually tied with Baptists as the second largest group since the difference in estimated size between them is within “sampling error.”
Those raised in no religion are most likely to not identify with a religion
About 1 of every 9 Americans who was raised in some religion now identify with no religion; nearly three-quarters of those with no religious upbringing are current non-identifiers.
Being raised in more than one religion may lead to no religion
Those raised in multiple religious traditions are more than twice as likely to be non-identifiers as adults than those raised in a single religion.
Younger Americans are less religiously identified than older Americans
Younger adults (under 35) are most likely to be non-identifiers, and those over 65 are least likely to be. Religious identification shows a steadily increasing association with age. It is unclear whether this represents a persistent growth trend in non-identifiers, or if it reflects a snapshot in time, with younger people likely to become more affiliated with religion as they pass through customary life-cycle stages. Non-identification in the United States likely will continue to increase
This study is an excerpt from the larger report on The Decline of Religious Identity in the United States by Sid Groeneman & Gary Tobin published in 2004 via the Institute for Jewish & Community Research (http://jewishresearch.or)
4 Points to the Glory of God
1. Every time God renews His covenant with His people, He shows His presence.
2. We know that God is present in the covenant, because He shows His glory. It happened to Moses and his generation. And it also happened to Solomon several hundred years later.
3. When a generation looses the vision of the glory of God, God begins renewing His covenant again with a new generation.
4. God is not satisfied with a people who know the signs and the blessings of the covenant. He rests not until He is revealed as the God of the covenant.
Mark Hits the Marketplace
The new literal translation of the Gospel According to Mark hits the Marketplace on Monday via bookstores across Bulgaria as annual book fairs are usually held during the spring season. This time has been long waited by theologians and Bible scholars as this is the first series of literal translations from Nestle-Aland in the Bulgarian vernacular. It is the third volume our ministry has put out with the complete Johannine works in (2008) and the Gospel according to Matthew (2010). Final editorial revisions before printing are being made on the last of the volumes, which includes Luke and Acts, with plans to make it available to the general public by the end of the year.
Ivan Voronaev: The Death of a Hero is a Legacy to Remember
A more recent research, which came out after the writing of this first paper, proposed the discovery of a letter documenting Ivan Voronaev’s death on November 5, 1937. Such claim, especially coming from a single document, is the least to say suspicious, as it undermines the findings of leading Pentecostal historian, Vincent Synan (mentioned above) and the testimony of over 500 Russian Pentecostal national leaders placing Voronaev’s death some seven years later. It also contradicts the testimony of Voronaev’s wife and children, who continued to speak in defense of his release in churches all over the United States well pass 1937 (especially pass 1940).
If such document was indeed authentic, it is quite questionable that it has never surfaced before regardless of the numerous writers and researchers, representing at least a dozen of institutions and that many denominations, over the period of 100 years never came across such letter. Our team itself spent over ten years, with the help of friends and colleagues both in the United States and Russia, researching archived materials and documents, which had not been taken out of the boxes and shelves for decades, and we were not able to find even one concrete reference as per Voronaev’s time or cause of death. Not even his family knew, not even his children.
It was not until the 2010 Society for Pentecostal Studies meeting in Minneapolis, when this present research brought about that Voronaev could have in fact, under severe physical a psychological pressure, signed a document refuting his faith and work as a Pentecostal minister. This is part of history, which none of us would like to believe, but was completely possible under the Communist Regime and did occur time and time again in the lives of many Pentecostal heroes of the faith, making their testimonies not one bit less believable or inspirational. And though we strive to estrange from any conspiracy theory, this all looks very much like a political cover up and a clean house operation.
But who then, would have had such an increasing interest in recent years to go so deep into Bolshevik KGB archives, gaining access in offices and places where no one has been able to penetrate before? Certainly defending the honor of Rev. Voronaev was not at stake here, as no one, not even his most fervent critics for one moment believed his denial from the faith, as stated by the Communists. Such action was strongly refuted by his wife upon her arrival in the United States and even if it occurred in truth and reality as historical evidence, makes very little difference in the rich heritage Voronaev has left in Eastern Europe and global Pentecostalism.
So if Voronaev’s legacy was not at stake here, then whose? Perhaps, someone else’s honor had to be defended. Like the honor of an organization felt threatened by a story of its own, kept as a cold case for years now, but coming alive resurrecting memories and livelihoods and guilt? Or perhaps a party so mighty, so powerful, so strong that it could not bear the burden of martyrs it buried below? In all cases, such defensive and definitive action can come only from human organization based on man made polices and rules, which Voronaev rejected and fought from the moment he was saved from this world to the moment he was sent into the world to come.
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Missionary Leader Lovell Cary Passes
FaithNews Networks: February 28, 2012–Lovell R. Cary, 83, veteran Church of God missionary and denominational leader, passed away last night, Monday, February 27, in Cleveland, Tennessee.
Cary is best known for his leadership of Church of God World Missions as Assistant Director for eight years and as General Director for eight years. Since 2004, he has served as a Missionary Evangelist. He also served eight years on the International Executive Council.
Cary accepted his first appointment to missions in 1954, when he went to Hawaii. In 1959, he moved to the Philippines and later served as Field Director of Asia Pacific for 20 years.
Current General Director of World Missions Rev. Douglas LeRoy said of Dr. Cary, “He has introduced Christ to thousands, and his Christian life and global passion have impacted the world. He was known as an effective preacher of the gospel and as ‘Mr. Missions.’” Cary’s biography, Nothing to Win but the World, sums up his life as a missionary statesman.
Lovell and his wife, Ginny, were married for 65 years. They have two daughters – Sharon and Susie – three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
- Historically a Missions-Minded Body, the Church Of God Still Gathers the Worldwide Harvest
- Where We Have Come From and Where We Are Going
