Church of God Eastern Europe Missions: Leadership, Economics and Culture
By the end of 2003, in a dissertation proposal for the Church of God Theological Seminary, which dealt with Bulgarian American congregation from an evangelical point of view, we suggested that there is not just one single problem that contributes to the struggle of these congregations to establish themselves permanently in the North American culture. The research which followed in the next couple of years, further showed that a multilayered dilemma consisting of economical, cultural and leadership factors was the reason for both the success or failure for the church communities established by Christians emerging from a postcommunist context.
The research results confirmed the originally proposed problem in ministry, not only within Eastern European congregations in North America, but also by partnering ministries, research foundations and practicing colleagues working in the former Soviet satellites. The majority agreed, that not only the existence of the described tridementional dilemma, but the lack of a properly applied solution for it, constrained Christian congregations emerging from this context from reaching their potential in their respective communities. Rather symbolic in this discussion still remains the remark made by one of the leading Bulgarian experts in religious freedom and human rights, who elaborated our statement that Bulgarian evangelical congregations remain “beggars in a land of plenty” not only in America, but in the European Union as well, being held prisoners of their own mentality formed by the communist past.
Our work in the Bulgarian evangelical context, gave us the opportunity to extend this research beyond the North American scope into Bulgarian immigrant communities in Great Britain, Italy, Spain, Germany and Switzerland. The study repeatedly confirmed that these congregations struggled with the same dynamics we had proposed originally, which naturally led to applying the research model in a native Bulgarian context.
Our direct work in the past five years with over 400 hundred Bulgarian congregations from various evangelical denominations has confirmed that the problem of ministry for the majority of Bulgarian protestant churches both in and outside of Bulgaria, emerges from three groups of factors related to (1) leadership, (2) economics and (3) culture. Problems and solutions of this nature or their lack thereof, conforms the work of any missional organization ministering in an Eastern European context. The work of the Church of God European Mission makes no exception to this rule, as the proper timely address of these issues with applicable and unambiguous resolutions defines the very foundation of the state of the Bulgarian evangelical church in the beginning of the 21st century.
Practice and Politics
By Kathryn Donev, M.S.
Most of Bulgarian protestant believers pray (88%) and read the Bible (77%) on a daily basis. Over half (59%) have read the whole Bible at least once and own more than 50 Christian books. Only a third fast more than once a week. The majority recognize the use of alcohol as sin (60%) and only a tenth have ever tried drugs. Thus, Bulgarian evangelicals are more traditional than contemporary in conviction, more practical than theoretical in teaching and more conservative than liberal in practice.
A certain level of negativism regarding politics and political order is inherited among Bulgarian evangelicals from the times of the Communist Regime. This feeling may be represented in the broader Bulgarian context by the fact that 80% agree that the average Bulgarian has lost faith in general. The church is not a political organization for most Bulgarian evangelicals (62%) and 57% claim it is not Biblical for a Christian to be a politician. Perhaps, this is the reason why over half (53%) would not vote for the Bulgarian Christian Coalition as a political force formed to represent evangelicals in Bulgaria. The same attitude applies to the broader political scene, as almost half (42%) of Bulgarian evangelicals did not intend to vote in the 2006 Presidential Elections and 48% actually did not vote. However, a much larger number (79%) intend to vote for an evangelical candidate for president. Perhaps, this is the number which the Bulgarian Evangelical Coalition should take into consideration when modeling their future political platform to gain much needed support within the evangelical churches.
Such a political alternative has been much awaited as the majority of evangelicals (64%) feel there is no religious freedom in Bulgaria. As in many other areas of the Bulgarian reality, true religious tolerance is replaced by the monopoly of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Evangelicals have not been heard in the legalization of a number of issues like chaplaincy, capital punishment, euthanasia, abortion, organ donation and so forth. Perhaps, this is the reason why attempts to constitutionalize Eastern Orthodox monopoly are generally met with strong resistant from evangelical circles. This is why a large majority (80%) demand a new Bulgarian law of religion.
X Event: Ten Analyses and Perspectives
by Dony & Kathryn Donev
X at the Black Sea 2007 was a spiritual breakthrough for Cup & Cross Ministries. At the same time the event served as a reality check for our abilities, strategies and expectations. As we approached the event as a spiritual encounter and experienced fully its developmental process and aftereffects, our ministry team was able to assess the advantages and downfalls of our active ministry strategy. Several observations were made.
1. The Gospel is stronger when preached to sinners who have not been saved.
2. Spiritual hunger in Bulgaria, which is expressed predominantly in the need for street evangelism and spiritual revival, has not changed or weekend in the years since the Fall of the Berlin Wall. It has only shifted perspectives from a strictly postcommunist to a rather westernized postmodern context. It has become the spiritual duty of the church to discover where and how this shift has occurred and to provide pastoral care for the unchurched in the new context through all applicable means.
3. Only unconventional ways of presenting the Gospel will draw people who have not yet been drawn by conventional methods.
4. It may not be easy for conventional pastors and churches to accept new methods of preaching the Gospel. Therefore, adequate contemporary training in ministry and leadership must be proposed beforehand in order to train local churches and leaders how to recognize, embrace and utilize new waves of spiritual revival. This is indeed an obstacle which has often remained forgotten while receiving training and leadership on a weekly basis within the comfort zone of the local church.
5. Since all transitions described above are deeply rooted in one’s personal spirituality and the spirituality of the church itself, a leap of faith is needed on every level of church leadership and ministry in order for the church to be transformed back to its original image of a movement testifying of the story of Christ and witnessing how others are being transformed by the power of the story.
6. Team work based on Biblical covenant relationships is the natural continuation of the revival initiated by the Holy Spirit and a key factor in the formation of the discipleship process among the newly converted.
7. Structural flexibility of the church, designed with the purpose of transforming it from a community organization to a community movement, complete obedience to the move of the Holy Spirit, as well as training in doctrinal reformation of methods and praxis are necessary to accomplish the said transition.
8. Following of the leadership of the Holy Spirit will not only help the church to return to being a movement again, but in fact will spark, motivate and inspire movements of fragmented religious groups, churches and denominations to return to the basic mission of the church namely: salvation of eternal human souls
9. Resistance to such movements, within and without, must be accepted as a normal reaction and must be embraced as the solemn way through which new spiritual movements and fresh waves of revival come to existence.
10. Finally, personal lives, carrier goals, and ministry objectives may need to be compromised before one fully surrenders to the move of the Spirit; beyond a shadow of a doubt, however, Gods response to one’s full surrender is undoubtedly supernatural confirmation of the Word through signs, miracles and wonders while fulfilling the Missio Dei: salvation of human souls for eternity.
Prayer, Fasting and Spirituality
Nearly seven out of ten (69%) of the surveyed Bulgarians strongly affirm the expectation that the Bulgarian Church is a prayer center. In contrast, only 17% believe that prayer should be the primary function of the church.
Prayer
One out of two unchurched Bulgarians do not see a connection between prayer and spirituality.
One out of two church members affirm prayer and home groups as priority ministries for the church.
Every second church member prays twice or more daily
One out of four (25.53%) church members do not pray in the morning, noon nor evening, but do pray every day at another appointed time
Every fourth (25.5 %) church member has no set time for prayer.
Fasting
40% do not fast
24% fast sometimes
18% fast once or twice weekly
18% fast more than two days per week
Spirituality is defined by church members as:
Walking in the Spirit (40%)
Closeness to God (31%)
Operating under the gifts of the Spirit (11%)
Love toward neighbor (10%)
Works of faith (5%)
Care for widows and orphans (2%)
Humbleness (1%)
None of the surveyed, defines spirituality as resulting from prayer and fasting or standing under persecutions
