School is in Session: Bible School in Bulgaria 2009
Through the years, the team of Cup & Cross Ministries International has published reports about various educational courses we have taught across the country of Bulgaria. The ministry context, which comprises this need, is a complex combination of political, economical, religious, ethnical and even legal factors. But above all, education through discipleship programs for church congregations as well as for the training of ministry teams is becoming a very essential and growing need in Bulgaria.
This year, we have been pressed by this need to organize a practical Bible School for ministry teams which being mobile itself and combing modern technology has been able to serve hundreds of ministers across the country. Just this year, our team has been able to hold ministry team training events for the Church of God congregations within the Dupnitsa, Sofia, Yambol, Samokov, Gabrovo, Veliko Tarnovo, and Sliven regions. Additionally, we have gathered ministers in regional training events in the Northwest (Sofia), Northeast (Varna), Central (Gabrovo), Southeast (Yambol) and Southwest (Dupnitsa, Samokov, Bansko) regions.
These teaching events and ongoing ministry training have proven to be a great aid for ministers nationwide. For example, in the month of September, we were able to team with the Church of God of Prophecy in a nationwide, week-long course on church leadership involving the topics of conflict resolution, team formation, ministry training, use of new technologies in ministry and many other important topics. We held two similar seminars in the cities of Yambol (September 16-19, 2009) and Sliven (September 29, 2009).
During the month of October alone, we led ministry training events in the following schedule:
October 3-5, 2009 Dupnitza Church of God
October 6, 2009 Seminar on internal motivation for Yambol & Sliven
October 13, 2009 Conflict management styles for Yambol & Sliven
October 14, 2009 Bible study on the Epistle to Philemon
October 17, 2009 Regional conference for the Yambol & Sliven regions with some 200 delegates from over 20 various locations.
October 20, 2009 Ministry team formation and leadership for Yambol & Sliven
October 21, 2009 Starting a new Bible book study on the Gospel of Matthew
Our team is continuing teaching and training in the same tempo in various locations in Bulgaria for the remaining of the school year. Overall, we have been able to prepare and offer to the churches and their leaders 12 complete training courses as follows:
1. History of the Bible: Paleography (beginners), Translation Theories (intermediate) and Manuscript Analyses (advanced)
2. Internal Motivation and Stress Management
3. Ministry on the Internet for Pastors and Ministers
4. Parenting Course (various contextualized topics)
5. Practical Church Leadership for the 21st Century (two levels)
6. Sunday School – Doctrinal teachings on the articles of the Church of God Declaration of Faith
7. The Book of Nehemiah (a verse by verse Bible study for church builders)
8. The Book of Revelation (a verse by verse Bible study)
9. The Complete Johanine Writings: Gospel, Epistles and Apocalypse (a practical course for Bible translators)
10. The Epistle to the Galatians (a verse by verse Bible study)
11. The Gospel of Mark (a verse by verse Bible study)
12. The Pastoral Epistles (a verse by verse Bible study)
The Story of the Bulgarian Bible
Bulgarian Video Bible
Cup & Cross Ministries is proud to announce the beginning of a new media project entitled Bulgarian Video Bible. The project purposes the production of a Bulgarian language Bible in video format. The project is hosted by the Bibliata.TV video website also directed and administered by Cup & Cross team members.
The video website was released in September, 2008 to promote Christian education and spiritual upbringing through creative arts and new technologies. For the past several months it has become a dynamic internet community for Christians in Bulgaria and abroad. The project will be presented at the upcoming BibleTech 2009 conference organized by Logos Bible Software with which Cup & Cross Ministries have partnered in various Bible study related projects.
The first Bulgarian Video Bible is expected to be released by 2010. The completed modules of the projects can be viewed now at: http://video.bibliata.tv/
New Printed Revised Edition of the Constantinople Bible Published
Day of the Bible: December 7, 2008
180 Anniversary of the New Bulgarian Translation of Peter Sapunov
Year of the Bible in Bulgaria
Christian web mega portal Bibliata.com, with the partnership of Duh-i-istina.net and Bibles.org.uk websites, published a new printed revision of the first Bible in the new Bulgarian vernacular originally published in Constantinople in 1871. The complete text has been revised according to the modern Bulgarian alphabet in the period from 2004 to 2008. All words and their order have been preserved as in the original edition.
This first complete printed revision of the text was published on December 7, 2008 – Day of the Bible for the 180 Anniversary of the New Bulgarian Translation of Peter Sapunov. It is one of the 10 projects of Bibliata.com proposed for the Year of the Bible in Bulgaria. The others follow:
November 2008: Days of the Bible in schools of Kardzhali
September 2008: Bibliata.TV – Bulgarian Christian video portal
July 2008: Newly revised printed edition of the Bible of 1940 in partnership with Bibles.org.uk
June 2008: Children’s Bible 2.0 (audio, video and images for the little ones)
April 2008 (Easter): JOHN: Gospel, Epistles and the Apocalypse (New Bulgarian Translation) in partnership with the Eagle Publishing House
March 2008: New Bible Software CrossBgBible in partnership with Cross.Bibliata.com
December 2007 (Christmas): JOHN: New Bulgarian Translation (pilot edition) in partnership with the Eagle Publishing House
August 2007: Palm/PDA Bible 7.23 complete with three Bulgarian translations of the Bible Constantinople (1871), Revised Edition (1940) and WBTC (2000) in partnership with Bulgarian-American software company GMP Soft
March 2007: Revised digital edition of the Constantinople Bible of 1871 in partnership with Christian web portal Duh-i-Istina.net
Bulgarian Constantinople (Tsarigradska) Bible of 1871 can be ordered at: http://stores.lulu.com/Bibliata
New Bulgarian Translation of the Bible Released
Cup & Cross Ministries has released a new translation of the complete Johannine works (the Gospel, Epistles and Revelation) for the Bulgarian Easter on April 27, 2008.The final result of this project is a 90-page book including Bulgarian literal translation from the Greek originals NA 27/28, critical apparatus, textual commentary and translators notes. The book is successful in its purposes to provide a literal translation in the Bulgarian vernacular, exact preservation of the word order from the original text, translation of the Greek grammatical forms, as well as the Hebrew and Aramaic linguistic uniqueness of the text and a preservation of the original parts of speech and verb tenses. 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
The Fire Bible in Bulgarian
Bulgaria, a former communist country in Eastern Europe, is the focus for Bible Sunday 2003 purposing to provide the “Fire Bible” (also known as the “Life in the Spirit Study Bible,” formerly the “Full Life Study Bible”) in the Bulgarian language for pastors and lay workers in that nation of 8 million people. For the past decade and more, a Pentecostal revival has swept Bulgaria. Since 1989 when the communist era ended, the Pentecostal Assemblies of Bulgaria has grown from 35 churches to more than 600. It is the largest Protestant church in the nation! This growth has created a critical shortage of trained leaders. At this time there are only 100 trained leaders to lead the 600 churches. Therefore, deacons and lay workers who have little or no training are serving as pastors. “There are few books available to the Bulgarians to help them become better pastors,” says Kevin Beery, A/G missionary in Bulgaria. “The ‘Fire Bible’ with its Pentecostal study notes, commentary, concordance and many study helps is an all-in-one tool for the pastor who is doing his best to pastor a church without much training.” Kevin and his wife, Wendy, are managing editors for the Bulgarian “Fire Bible” project and have served nearly a decade in Bulgaria.
Usage of the Bulgarian Bible
One out of three Bulgarians who read the Bible regularly read a version published after 1989.
One out of three reads less than one chapter from the Bible per day.
One out of ten (11%) read over ten chapters per day.
Nearly half (48%) read the Protestant versions of the Bulgarian Bible published in 1924 and 1940.
Other translations are also used as shown on the figure below.
