Bulgarian Churches in North America: Contextual Assessment
After awaking in the morning of the 21st century, the world was rapidly introduced to a new postmodern movement called globalization. At a top political and economic level, globalization is the process of denationalization of markets, politics and legal systems purposing the implementation of a global economy. However, globalization is much more than an economic event as it affects social status and human rights of people worldwide. For the world community the process of globalization is a process of internationalization describing cross-border relations between countries, growth in international exchange and interdependence. It is also viewed as a liberalization process of removing government-imposed restrictions on movements between countries in order to create a borderless world. Globalization further implements spreading various objects and experiences to people at all corners of the earth creating universalization. In a cultural context, globalization is often seen as Westernization of the world. Finally, globalization carries the meaning of deterritorialization – reconfiguration of geography reforming any social place in new terms of independent territory, distance and borders.
Since the church is a global event, inevitably this process affects the community of believers. The “global believer” seeks to connect with people of similar nature independent of race, location and social status. Thus, church mission and church ministry reclaim its original Biblical global perspective. In this process, the church of postmodernity is liberated from its nationality and reaches toward internationalization establishing a new multicultural identity with a global perspective and mission. As a result multicultural churches gain a contextual new function serving as identity sources. Such is the case with the network of Bulgarian churches in North America.
Established to unite all Protestant Bulgarian churches in North America, it reaffirms the participation of Bulgarian immigrant communities in the global multicultural ministry. This present contextual assessment will explore the process of establishing a network of Bulgarian churches in Northern America. Read the complete paper (PDF)
Bulgarian Churches in North America: Statement of Problem
Since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the world has witnessed a miracle. In the corner of Europe, coming out from the severe Communist persecution and surrounded by the Balkan religious wars, one growing group of Christians is making a difference for the Kingdom of God. Placed on the crossroad of three world religions (Christianity, Islam and Judaism) and three continents (Europe, Africa and Asia), the country of Bulgaria has experienced an on-going spiritual revival in which hundreds of thousands of people have been touched by the power of God.
In the midst of extreme poverty due to prolonged economical crises, revival has become an answer for many. Yet, in the fifteen years of democratic post-Communism, more than one million Bulgarians have left their homeland in search of a better life and a better future. Receiving better economic opportunities, approximately 200,000 Bulgarians have established communities throughout the larger United States cities.
Having witnessed this remarkable act of God, some of them have brought the spirit of revival to their new land. Driven by the struggles of the immigration life, cultural adjustments and economic survival, these Bulgarians have been able to establish churches which serve not only as religious meetings, but also as communities of support.
Regardless of the vital integration and social functions for the Bulgarian communities, the resources of the Bulgarian Protestant churches in the United States remain unexplored. Their home churches are too far away and too poor to help, while the local cross-cultural ministries are either are occupied with much larger ethnic groups or lack the training and tools for effective ministry among Bulgarians. As a result, in the
midst of the present context of post-modernity and cultural re-imagination, the stories of these Christian pilgrims remain unheard. The reason for this is a threefold problem that focuses on the cultural, economical and organizational dilemmas with which the Bulgarian communities in North America struggle daily. Therefore, the problem involves finding a way to empower the network of Bulgarian Protestant churches in North America to overcome these cultural, economical and organizational dilemmas. This ambition postulates the enhancement of vision and quality of ministry among the Bulgarian immigrant communities. Read the complete paper (PDF)
Bulgarian Churches in North America
During Memorial Day weekend Cup & Cross Ministries will participated in the 7th Annual Conference of Bulgarian Churches in North America. The conference will take place on May 24-26, 2008 in Minneapolis and will be hosted by the local Bulgarian Evangelical Church. Over 200 delegates from Bulgarian communities of Dallas, Chicago, Los Angeles, Montreal and Atlanta are expected to attend the event. Cup & Cross has worked with Bulgarian immigrants for the past 15 years, and our team has actively and purposefully observed the Bulgarian Evangelical Churches in North America for almost seven years as a part of our ongoing research.
Bourgas Mayor Declares War on Churches
Several days before the Bulgarian Easter, the mayor’s office in the Black Sea city of Bourgas issued an order to all school principles to limit the access to students for all ministers and church members who identify themselves as Mormons, Jehovah’s Wit nesses or Pentecostals. We publish an English translation of letter without any further comments:
MUNICIPALITY OF BOURGAS
26 Alexandrovska Street, Bourgas 8000
Tel: 056/84 13 13, fax: 056/84 13 14, telex: 83 433
TO
HEADS OF SCHOOLS IN THE
MUNICIPALITY OF BOURGAS
DEAR HEADMISTRESS/HEADMASTER,
The Local Committee Against Anti-Social Behaviour Among Children and Young People (LCAABCYP) in the Municipality of Bourgas, jointly with the Police, is making inquiries regarding the activities of Christian churches non-traditional in our country, in connection with the forthcoming Easter holidays. The need to gather this material was dictated all the more by the increasing frequency of complaints by parents and suffering children, victims of a lack of information, and a lack of responsibility and control on the part of school and family.
To this end we are sending you an information sheet intended for all the pupils in the school under your charge. We leave it to you to select a suitable means, in or out of the classroom, to acquaint them with the information in the material. Whether in the form of a discussion or special lessons, you should explain the indications by which they can distinguish the sects from the Orthodox Faith traditional to our country.
We require feedback by you: in the form of your own inquiries, send information no later than 10 May 2008, addressed to Desislava Vasilieva, secretary of the Local Committee Against Anti-Social Behaviour Among Children and Young People (LCAABCYP) in the Municipality of Bourgas [stating]:
• The means by which the information was presented
• The response on the part of the pupils – actual examples of incidents they have experienced and their impressions; confirmed violations of human rights and freedoms on the part of the sects.
• Your attitude to the incidents shared by the pupils.
For further information and specific questions:
1. Desislava Vasilieva – secretary of the LCAABCYP – tel. 84 57 63 and 0899/82 88 44
2. Ivan Dimitrov – Police Inspector – Bourgas – 856 026 and 0898/78 42 68
Yours sincerely
YORDANKA ANANIEVA
Deputy Mayor and Chair of LCAABCYP
INFORMATION
In connection with the forthcoming Easter holidays there has been an activation of all the churches non-traditional in our country. It consists of a campaign to attract new members from all ages and social groups. To this end we consider it necessary to draw your attention to the most basic and dangerous sects which, despite their official registration with the Directorate of Churches at the Council of Ministers, are violating Bulgarian laws, civil rights and social order. For most people it is difficult to distinguish which missionary belongs to which religious sect. We will focus on some of the most popular non-traditional churches, who are using the forthcoming Christian holidays to agitate to their own advantage, attracting new members by manipulation. Initially they all present themselves as Orthodox Christians and later reveal that in fact this is to do with a different church, “better” and “truer”.
1. JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES
The church’s missionaries are well-dressed Bulgarian and foreign citizens. In the town at the moment there are representatives from Japan, Germany, Ukraine and Poland. In pairs they go around private homes, parks and schools, offering publications – “Watchtower”, “Awake!” and “What does the Bible really teach us?”. In most cases, according to the complaints that have reached us so far, the missionaries from the church of “Jehovah’s Witnesses” call for more modest dress, the repudiation by young people of all forms of entertainment, the repudiation of consultations with a doctor in the case of illness, and for cutting off from the natural family, on the pretext that love for Jehovah God comes before love for oneself and one’s own parents. The result of this suggestion, not uncommonly, is depression, mental disorders and suicides. A number of children have been offered money for food and clothes, as they were “helpfully” invited to attend their meetings in the so called “Kingdom Hall” situated next to “Konstantin Preslavsky” secondary school on the Slaveikov estate. Parallel with the refusal of medical assistance, the JWs also preach refusal of blood transfusions, even if it costs the life of the patient. According to schoolchildren, missionaries of this sect act by lying in wait for them outside the school gate and on the way home. There are confirmed cases of missionaries offering their sectarian literature to children and young people who were home alone, without parental supervision. When interest is shown or literature taken, the JWs return to the same address for renewed contact, in an insistent manner offering to give help and to expound texts from their booklets, with an invitation to attend their prayer house.
2. “CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST AND [sic] THE LATTER DAY SAINTS – MORMONS”
The missionaries of this church are basically Americans – young people up to 35 years old, who stay in the territory of the town for not more than 2 to 3 months and on an exchange basis, after this period expires, they leave for another town to continue their mission. They are known by their traditionally immaculate dress of a white shirt, tie, and jacket with their name badge on the lapel. They generally go around in pairs, they are always smiling, they greet even strangers and, if interest is shown, they begin talking to explain from the Bible and the Book of Mormon who Jesus Christ is according to them. It is characteristic of them that they also visit private homes and, if no interest is shown, they don’t insist on immediately visiting you again. Their most widespread campaign is holding English language courses in their building at 29 Tsarigradska Street. They also invite schoolchildren, passers by and pensioners to their meetings, showing them films with a religious theme and discussing them afterwards. The Mormons speak good Bulgarian and in this way they win the sympathy of all citizens. They stay in Bulgaria on missionary service, cut off from their families, with the sole aim of publicising the work of their church around the world and attracting new members into its ranks, if possible from among young people. If you don’t wish to have contact with them it’s enough to show that you are not interested and that you don’t need their explanations. In the event of a violation of your personal rights and freedoms, you can make a complaint at the nearest police station or telephone direct on 166.
3. EVANGELICAL PENTECOSTAL CHRISTIANS IN BULGARIA
Under this heading can be included all the Protestant churches in the country, known to the general public as evangelical churches and people who are members of them as evangelicals. They can very easily be confused with the country’s traditional Orthodox Church. Their basic book is also the Bible, but they use a different translation and interpret the texts in a different way. They themselves also present themselves on initial contacts as Orthodox. Their differences with the Orthodox faith lie in the fact that they worship only the person of Jesus Christ. They do not acknowledge the divine attributes of the Holy Mother of God and all the other saints such as St George, St Ivan, St Dimitiri, St Nicholas and others that the Orthodox Church reveres. For this reason evangelicals do not celebrate name days and other feast days on the national calendar. For them celebrating a name day, Lazarus Day, Grandmother March [1st March] and other similar feast days is worship of something material and un-Christian, which the evangelical church treats as “sin”. These people lead a rather closed and restricted way of life, subject basically to Christian canons. Their place of worship can look like a very ordinary building, in which there are no icons, no candles are lit, and their priests are ordinary people who expound texts from the Bible to them. At these meetings they sing Christian songs with a popular sound, the louder the noise, the more Jesus is “praised”. Often in these meetings people present have fallen into unnatural states of trance, speaking incoherently, allegedly in ancient languages, and there is very likely a danger of mental aberrations and disorders after such a séance. They dupe their new members with free excursions in the country and abroad, with gifts of clothes, money and medicines, in this way becoming most popular among the weak strata of society. Two years ago a massive campaign of agitation on the part of the evangelical churches was carried out through free showings of the film “Jesus” before the Easter holidays. After the showings question cards were distributed to all who attended on which they filled in their impressions of the film, names, addresses and telephone numbers. In this way the evangelical churches are misusing personal data by disturbing, at their home addresses or by telephone, the persons who filled in the cards. All evangelical churches are financed by their partners abroad and in this way they gain quick and easy popularity. In the event they are misusing the known weakness of the Bulgarian nation – the worship of all things foreign.
It is typical of the sects listed above and other similar religious organisations that they disunite the Bulgarian nation and oppose it on religious principles. A feature often encountered is the disregard for national holidays and holy days, erroneously explained as unnecessary worship. In case of doubt you should in the first instance seek a consultation and personal conversation in the family with a parent; with a suitable trustworthy teacher or educational adviser; and not least with a police officer.
New Bulgarian Translation for Easter
For Christmas 2007 our team released a new Bulgarian translation of the Gospel of John made from the original Greek text. Commentators who were able to review the new translation described it as a “bold step toward the true meaning of the Bible” and “a revolution in Biblical interpretation.”
The great interest among Bulgarian evangelicals toward the translation confirmed our conviction that the time for a new, more literal translation of the Bulgarian Bible has come. In the months that followed, we committed ourselves to produce a translation of the complete Johannine works (the Gospel, Epistles and Revelation). The final work was an 80-page book including a literal translation from the Greek originals, critical apparatus, textual commentary and translators notes which will be out on print for the Bulgarian Easter which this year falls on April 27, 2008.
For us, this is a fulfillment of a long-time dream and the fulfillment of a vision which God put in our hearts many years ago. After over a decade of studies and preparation, the first fruits of this work is finally an undeniable reality – a text of a new translation which can be put in the hands of the Bulgarian people who are hungry for the Word of God. We thank everyone who helped us, prayed for and supported this project and believed with us that this is only the beginning of something new which God is doing in Bulgaria in 2008.
Status of Church of God Theological College in Stara Zagora
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After years of hard work and patience, the Bulgarian Evangelical Theological Institute is finalizing its arrangement with the Bulgarian Government for legal state accreditation. As one of its departments, the Church of God Theological College in Stara Zagora is complimenting the accreditation process as well. Nevertheless, a clear assessment of the school’s status and effectiveness based on its funding program is needed before its accreditation with the Bulgaria’s Ministry of Education as a Department of the Bulgarian Evangelical Theological Institute. The educational strategy also has to be redesigned to focus on training ministers for the Bulgarian Church of God. For it is the opinion of many Bulgarian pastors, that despite its numerous activities and accomplishments, the Stara Zagora Theological College struggles to fulfill its purpose to train and place ministers within the Bulgarian Church of God.
Therefore, a clear and responsible plan of how and when the Bulgarian Church of God should be able to recognize and benefit from the said changes must be produced soon. The official spring 2008 semester schedule of the Church of God Theological College in Stara Zagora sheds light on the above observations concerning its status, prior to the expected accreditation with the Bulgaria’s Ministry of Education as one of the departments of the Bulgarian Evangelical Theological Institute.
Academic Calendar: Spring 2008 (March 4-May 28, 2008)
A. Weekly Classes
1. English taught to second and third year students by M. Zheliazkova (Degree not specified).
2. New Testament Greek II taught to second and third year students by D. Dimitrov (Degree not specified).
3. Omiletics (sic., Homiletics) II taught to second and third year students by T. Ivanova (M.A. in Philology).
4. Theology of Cults and Religions taught to second and third year students by R. Koleva (M.A. in Comparative Religions).
5. Patrology taught to second and third year students by P. Zlatarova (Ph.D. candidate).
B. Three-day Seminars
1. March 5-7, 2008 Church Administration taught by R. and P. Bruton (Degree not specified)
2. March 22-24, 2008 Missiology by pastor S. Thomas (Degree not specified)
3. March 31-April 4, 2008 Church Growth and Planting by missionary R. Smidth (Degree not specified)
Pray for Miroslav Atanasov
Please pray for Church of God minister Miroslav Atanasov who was involved in an automobile accident on March 25, 2008. He was taken to the UK Hospital in Lexington, KY where he remained for two weeks until his condition was stabilized. Although, he was released from the hospital last week and is recovering at home, he is going back for another surgery on April 15, 2008. Miroslav, who is a native of Bulgaria and a graduate of East Coast Bible College and the Church of God Theological Seminary, is currently finishing his doctorate at the Asbury Theological Seminary. Please join us in prayer for the touch of God upon his health and his complete recovery.
Church of God Theological College in Stara Zagora
The recent developments within the Bulgarian Church of God have resulted in a reassessment of the role of the Church of God Theological College in Stara Zagora beyond its educational scope as a faculty department of the Bulgarian Evangelical Theological Institute (BETI). This realization has become even more perplexed with the ongoing accreditation process of the Evangelical Institute with the Bulgarian Ministry of Education, as it remains unclear if the school in Stara Zagora will be included in the final registration as a theological institution of the Bulgarian Church of God or if it will be forced to follow an alternative registration. This lack of transparency leaves the Bulgarian Church of God in jeopardy of its educational representation within the Bulgarian Evangelical Alliance and the Bulgarian Ministry of Education.
Meanwhile, it has been generally noted by other theological institutions in Bulgaria that the number of Bible students has gradually decreased in the past years. This process has been dictated by a number of internal and external factors, as the main one among them is that some two decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the evangelical denominations in Bulgaria are unable to implement an adequate process of professional placement within their structures for graduates with religious education. The Assemblies of God in Bulgaria realized this trend and moved their training center from the Danube river town of Russe to the capital Sofia early in their educational endeavor. The Church of God College in Stara Zagora is yet to initiate such action, although it is becoming clearer that this move is simply inevitable. The timing for repositioning also remains under question.
It is unfortunate to notice that the school, as it operates today, is neither a leading theological center nor a provision of ministers for the denomination with which it is affiliated. This status raises the valid question of why, after a decade of operation through a substantial investment on the part of the denomination, the Church of God Theological College in Stara Zagora was unable to become a theological center. Not merely a school or educational institution, but a place where theology is envisioned, born and practiced. The reasons for this inability can be found in three major factors: location, people and communication.
The location of the Church of God Theological College in the Bulgarian town of Stara Zagora has proven to be insufficient for the global mission of the school. However, the location of the school on the territory of Bulgaria still remains one of its strongest characteristics. In the early part of its history, the Church of God Theological College was the only operational Church of God affiliated educational institution in the former Communist Block, including the vast territory of Russia. It was placed in the superb geographical location of the Balkan Peninsula with open access to three world continents, three world religions and over one hundred ethnic groups. It was the only Church of God School operating in an Eastern Orthodox country, thus monopolizing the opportunity to research the theological relationship between Eastern mysticism and the Pentecostal experience. And finally, based on the gateway between Europe and the Middle East, the school had an opportunity to effectively engage in the on-going international dialogue between Christianity and Islam. But for a decade of fully sponsored denominational existence, the college has not offered, within the perimeter of its educational strategy, any major research conferences, international round tables, global seminars, public discussions, publication of research papers or books to involve the international scholastic community within the theological trends offered by its unique context of ministry.
Besides its location, the people of the school have also played a major role within its development. Since the early strategy to provide scholarship for students was difficult to maintain, the interest toward the college decreased, as many students preferred the more convenient and prominent location of other schools within the Evangelical Institute operating in the capital Sofia. A similar trend took place among the faculty members, as many relocated only a few years after the school began operating. This was only natural as the initial faculty selection ignored a number of leading Bulgarian theologians with Pentecostal background and degrees from Harvard, Yale, Princeton Columbia, Regent, Fuller, Dallas and Duke who had a clearly expressed interest in Bulgarian religious education. Naturally, the theologians participating in the educational process of the Stara Zagora school were never able to embrace the school as their alma-matter of theological thought and their context of ministry.
This lack of communication between identity and practice remained a constant struggle for the school not only in the context of its location and people, but in its realization as a ministry training school for the Bulgarian Church of God. The denomination was press to accommodate the strife toward educational excellence on part of the college, on one hand and the plan for a ministry training center on part of the Church of God, on the other. Unfortunately, these two visions, as common as they may be portrayed, never reached a point of merge thus dictating the eventual, if not immediate, separation of the school from the mainline movement. In this context the Bulgarian Church of God was both unprepared and unable to embrace the school as its own. Regardless of its support before government authorities and representation with board of directors of BETI the denomination fell short to fully embrace the college in Stara Zagora and to communicate this relationship clearly to members and ministers seeking higher education. In this context, it can be understood why majority of the school graduates never return to minister in their home churches after completing the educational program at the Church of God Theological College in Stara Zagora.
Today, the separation of church and school remains a leading source of tensions, while the Church of God Theological College in Stara Zagora is in the process of receiving its official accreditation with the Bulgaria’s Ministry of Education as a Department of BETI. The unresolved tensions within the denominations contribute further to the dilemma leaving members, ministries as well as the Bulgarian Ministry of Education with one open question: Will the Theological College in Stara Zagora continue to be the ministry training center for the Bulgarian Church of God when it is granted official government accreditation.
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.
