Service at the Church Burnt in Yambol

Upon receiving word that the Shalom Church in the Gipsy ghetto of Yambol had been set on fire, our team immediately traveled on-site to interview the pastor and document the results of the tragedy. This video material from the interview was released on one of our ministry’s website for pastors and received great attention. As a result, several churches committed to support the project of rebuilding the church.

Our team, along with the youth group of the local Pentecostal church, traveled back to the Ghetto several days later to hold a service for the Shalom Church outside next to the burnt building. No services have been held in the church since the fire due to the building being structurally unsound. Even as our team was setting up the sound equipment, the street was blocked by the great number of people who came for the service. Entire families brought stools from their homes and sat on their rooftops to listen to the preaching. The pastor of the Shalom Church opened with prayer and we followed with praise and worship. About 50 gipsy children sat up front singing along with the praise team. At sunset, we delivered a message entitled “Some through the fire, but some through the blood …” The message was followed by a alter service in which people joined hands in prayer as they were standing in the dark street. We left the site of the burnt church late in the night.

The very next morning the pastor of the church called us to report that shortly after our team has departed, a truck loaded with bricks arrived at the church site. They were able to unload the precious cargo and intended to begin reconstruction of the church walls immediately. We will continue to support the efforts of the congregation to recover from the church fire, as they will need to replace the roof in the next few days before the rainy season in Bulgaria begins.