Chaplaincy Perspectives for Bulgaria
With the crises within the Bible College system of Bulgaria and the potential change of status for the Bulgarian Evangelical Theological Institute (Theological Seminary) in Sofia, the professional programs offered thus far will have to be assimilated into some liberal art schools with a newly evaluated perspective on Christian education in Bulgaria or they will be forever lost. In this context, some modifications may be required in the process to reflect more on these changes and their effects for the Chaplaincy Program as well as on the social role of chaplaincy in Bulgaria. Such search for equilibrium is only normal given that historically Bulgaria has placed chaplaincy ministry only within the perimeter of army, prisons and hospitals.
The final goal in our educational strategy, which directly targets legislation and practical implementation of chaplain ministry within various levels of government infrastructure, now remains for for the student chaplains graduating with a masters degree specifically designed for their area of ministry from our Program. Cooperation with a vast social network for this task is a must, and our students are already well trained through a practicum that strongly demands their cooperative work together. And while the Bulgarian armed forces still remain the only one within the structures of NATO that has no chaplaincy whatsoever, professional Chaplaincy, as we foresaw it a decade ago, will most probably begin with a new vision within the reformed infrastructure of the Bulgarian army and shortly afterwards move to other professional branches as well.
Chaplaincy Education for Bulgaria
The completion of the first Master of Chaplaincy Ministry Program in Bulgaria and its official accreditation with New Bulgarian University in Sofia has raised interest about the educational strategy implemented in the task.
As early as 2001, Cup & Cross Ministries International in partnership with the Bulgarian Church of God invited the Church of God Chaplaincy Commission and implemented the first short-term chaplaincy training in the country since the Fall of the Berlin Wall. Even then it was clear that if chaplaincy was to remain a national focus, a clear educational strategy must be in place. As a result, with the establishment of the Bulgarian Chaplaincy Association in 2005-2006, our team set course toward a three-level national educational strategy on the subject of chaplaincy targeting:
(1) local churches and denominations,
(2) ministers with a calling for chaplain ministry, who are willing to dedicated time and effort in earning a masters degree in the filed,
(3) and last, but not least Bulgarian government agencies who in part would be instrumental in the reestablishment of chaplaincy in all relative areas.
The first of these three tasks was completed fairly easily as churches and evangelical denominations were open toward understanding and embracing chaplaincy, while many pastors and ministers within them had already experienced the need or had served in a similar context. The Bulgarian Chaplaincy Association and Cup & Cross Ministries partnered with the Military Ministry of Agape-Bulgaria, a regional wing of Campus Crusade, and for a bit longer than a year lectures, media materials and personal meeting were brought to several hundred local congregations, as well as national leaders of various denominations, among which the Assemblies of God and the Church of God. As a result virtually all evangelical denominations in Bulgaria were brought in position of supporting chaplaincy, a term which was once foreign, now well informed of its usage and strengths. It was time for step number two.
As early as 2006, students from various church backgrounds and active ministers were invited to participate in the first ever Master’s of Chaplaincy Ministry in the country. Four years later with the partnership of the United Theological Faculty of the Bulgarian Theological Institute in Sofia we were able to bring one of the few complete master’s program in chaplaincy in the world fully contextualized for the Bulgarian cultural and after much work and anticipation with a very timely and necessary international government accredited with the New Bulgarian University. Within the perimeter of the program are the follow modules:
(1) Module 1 was presented by the International Association of Evangelical Chaplains for the intro level module of chaplaincy ministry with special focus on military, police and prison work,
(2) Module 2 was presented by selected faculty members in the filed of Theological Studies from the Bulgarian Evangelical Theological Institute.
(3) While Module 3 in counseling, practicum and thesis completion was finalized by Cup & Cross Ministries International in cooperation with professors from New Bulgarian University.
Now the third level of education is at hand as chaplaincy is already being enforced by NATO and various EU agencies along with the realization on part of the Bulgarian government for the need of chaplaincy in various areas of administration even outside the armed forces, correctional institutions and the medical field. The role of our graduate students, who are now part of a well established and deeply rooted in the Bulgarian history and identity school of thought on how to do chaplaincy ministry, is imperative in this final task. To all that have taken it wholeheartedly, God speed and God bless.
BC/AD 2011 (Bible Camp/All Denominations) in Bulgaria – A New Paradigm for Ministry in the Spirit
6:00 AM The Day Begins with Prayer
10:00 AM General Training Session
2:00 PM General Discussion/Water Baptism
4:00 PM Workshops in (1) Prayer, (2) Preaching, (3) Deliverance and (4) Missions
8:00 PM Evening Service followed by prayer at the alters until midnight
ALL ABOUT BIBLE CAMP 2011 BULGARIA:
BC/AD 2011 (Bible Camp/All Denominations) in Bulgaria – A Vision of Purpose
BC/AD 2011 (Bible Camp/All Denominations) – God’s Favor Realized
BC/AD 2011 (Bible Camp/All Denominations) in Bulgaria – A New Generation Called to the Presence of God
In order to provide spiritual upbringing for the young ministers, each day followed a carefully prepared schedule beginning with prayer at 6:00am. Dr. Dony Donev delivered the morning messages at 10:00am which continued with a personal time of prayer and reflection. Every afternoon at 4:00pm the youth broke into small groups on the topics of preaching, prayer and fasting, leading worship and healing and deliverance. Missionary Ivo Shatrovsky who has been a guest speaker at previous meetings held a group on Tuesday and spoke about foreign missions. Regional Bishop Vassil Petrov of the Gabrovo Church of God led a study group on the subject of Spiritual Ministry through Healing and Deliverance, Pastor Anton Penev of Reformation Church in Haskovo taught on prayer and praise, while Dr. Dony Donev lectured on preaching and teaching from the Word of God.
During our morning fellowship after prayer, the youth shared their unique calling for the ministry. Some where called to be worship leaders, others to be preachers, several even had a prophetic calling upon their lives and three shared their calling to missions in the Middle East. One of them received a confirmation during the camp that she was accepted to an Arab language studies program at the Bulgarian University of Velik Tarnovo, where she would receive further preparation for her calling.
On Wednesday afternoon six young ministers from our group displayed the results of their week of training and delivered a sermonet on Psalms 23. It was encouraging to see the dedication of these young men and women as throughout the day you would see them reading their Bibles in preparation and hear their prayers coming from unknown places.
A water baptism service was held at 2:00pm on Wednesday where after receiving instruction, 17 were baptized while all sang a Bulgarian hymn with the words “Come to the river with waters of life…”
The water baptism and all other results from the camp came with a direct testimony of experiencing the Glory of the Lord on the mountain. During the alter call following the service on Tuesday night in particular, the presence of God was so evident and powerful that prayers continued long after closing into the night. It was a moment like we have never seen before in our ministry of 21 years. This is a report which is not given lightly and was confirmed by various testimonies. A few follow:
“It has been a long time since I have witnessed a time like this and have felt God’s Glory so powerfully.” ~ Young minister from Haskovo
“From small to large were all one, and Jesus himself was among us. I personally am encouraged by this camp.”~ Regional Bishop Vassil Petrov of the Gabrovo Church of God
“I have never in my life experienced the presence of God so powerfully” ~ Panayot Budinov, Youth Pastor from the Assemblies of God Church in Yambol
“I am certain that the Word that was delivered at this camp will have global results”~ Young person with a Calling for Missions
“Mightily blessed! Outpouring of the Holy Spirit! Prayer, worship and anointing! Baptisms in the Holy Spirit and 17 water baptisms! What else could be said?” ~Pastor Anton Penev
We are waiting and believe that we will continue to receive praise reports from miracles and transformations that happened as a result of Bible Camp 2011. We thank all of those who made this camp a success and as always extend a special thanks to the Eco Complex Katunishte for graciously hosting our event and allowing us to use their facilities.
ALL ABOUT BIBLE CAMP 2011 BULGARIA:
BC/AD 2011 (Bible Camp/All Denominations) in Bulgaria – A Vision of Purpose
BC/AD 2011 (Bible Camp/All Denominations) – God’s Favor Realized
BC/AD 2011 (Bible Camp/All Denominations) in Bulgaria – A New Paradigm for Ministry in the Spirit
BC/AD 2011 (Bible Camp/All Denominations) in Bulgaria – A Vision of Purpose
Since 2008, when we began the Mobile School of Ministry in Bulgaria, our team has been able to organize an annual youth camp purposing the training and equipping young ministers for the harvest of God in Bulgaria. Just recently, our training model has been featured by youth outreach organizations like Youth for Christ via their European regional office in Barcelona, Spain.
When you hear about a youth camp you have a certain picture in mind like a reunion of friends who haven’t seen each other since last summer or times of fun, of games and so forth. But Bible Camp is not your typical youth camp. It was specifically designed for a select group of young people called and involved in the ministry.
This may sound strange at first, however, today in Bulgaria there are plenty of Christian camps for kids to hang out, play games and enjoy themselves. This camp is for young people who have accepted a calling for ministry on their lives. It is a time of prayer and fasting; a time of being one on one in a quiet place seeking the face of God, hearing His voice and seeing His Glory abide in a genuine Biblical and personal experience.
As early as 2008, this unique opportunity to train workers for the Harvest has been in the planning. It began with a Word that the Lord is calling a new generation to a new level of ministry in Bulgaria. This vision was casted among the churches and as a result teams from various towns were formed and we began having monthly leadership training seminars in the village Katunishte in the Balkan mountain in 2009.
Then, 2010 marked the first year of having an organized camp. Now, several years latter, we are able to announce that the second national annual Bible Camp in Bulgaria was a reality and a success. This is a camp that did not just spring up over night. Much prayer, planning and partnership went into making the vision a reality. (Continues)
ALL ABOUT BIBLE CAMP 2011 BULGARIA:
BC/AD 2011 (Bible Camp/All Denominations) – God’s Favor Realized
BC/AD 2011 (Bible Camp/All Denominations) in Bulgaria – A New Paradigm for Ministry in the Spirit
Masters in Chaplaincy Program in Bulgaria Continues
Just this past week our students of the first Masters in Chaplaincy Program in Bulgaria finished their classes of the Theology Module. This is the second of three sets of courses designed to equip active chaplains in Bulgaria for a new level of ministry in the armed forces, medical establishments and correctional institutions. The theology module incorporated various subjects from several schools of thought giving the students a solid theological background on a master’s seminary level for their future ministry. We are now ready to approach the last of the three modules, which deals with clinical psychology and Christian counseling, which will involve the students in a set of research assignments and practicum curriculum contributing directly to the writing and defense of their masters’ thesis prior to graduation from the chaplaincy program. Selected thesis will be published by the university’s press as a new volume in their innovative series and turned to NATO’s research foundation as a proposal to consider chaplaincy within the Bulgarian Army, which still remains the only armed force within the Alliance’ structure which does not implement chaplaincy into their missions.
2011 Historic Pentecostal Revival Tour in Bulgaria Continues
We continued our Historic Pentecostal Revival Tour in celebration of the 90th anniversary of the First Bulgarian Pentecostal Revival with the Church Leadership Summit in Silistra – an event that has been in prayerful planning for almost two years now. It involved a day of leadership training for the pastors and workers of all churches in the Silistra region. Silistra – is a port city of northeastern Bulgaria, lying on the southern bank of the lower Danube at the country’s border with Romania. The town is a major cultural, industrial, transportation and educational center with many historical landmarks including a Roman port, remains of the Medieval fortress and a Turkish Ottoman fort. But our purpose there was not religious tourism, but rather to bring valued principles of church leadership and growth to the heart of this major educational center of north-eastern Bulgaria.
The training took place all day on Saturday with breaks in between for fellowship and discussion. We started the morning sessions with an introduction to the subject of Church Leadership and Team Work, while the afternoon brought in a major way the lecture of Structuring the Church for Growth with a review and consecutive discussion groups. It was well received and time for questions at the end was very inviting. As always, it was encouraging to watch church leaders from various denominational groups and religious backgrounds opening for learning and change, while engaging in a healthy dialogue together. Many inquiries regarded concerns of motivation which lead to an invitation to return and hold another training event specifically on the subject of Internal Motivation within Church Leadership. Then in the Sunday service, we brought a message on the Last Day Prophecies.
The trip was also very important to our ministry, as last time when we were in Silistra six years ago we signed the contract for publishing the New Bulgarian Translation of the Bible beginning with Gospel of John. It was a great joy and even greater blessing to be back and meet with our friends at Eagle Publishers. There, we discussed recent and future projects as well as new ministry opportunities in light of their new technological capabilities. We hope to partner together on several projects including a 140th anniversary of the first Bulgarian Bible of 1871, the new translation of the Gospel of Mark, our research essays on Bulgarian Protestant history and of course the long awaited Sunday School project for the Church of God. We were able to pick up several containers of Christian materials including our new translation of Matthew, which will be given to the participants at our 2011 Ministry Camp in July.
While in Silistra, we also received a special invitation to view the art gallery of one lady from the church. Her husband and she spent over 40 years painting Christian oriented murals, portraits and so forth, which have been preserved over these years and put on display. With every piece came a story and the story will continue to live on for years to come.
After the morning service on Sunday we left immediately and traveled to the old Bulgarian capital city of Veliko Tarnovo where we ministered to the newly formed Bulgarian Church of God congregation there. Although still relatively small in numbers, they have grown in size since our previous fellowship together last year, moving from home group meetings to a rented conference room in the city center. Regional Bishop, Pastor Vassil Petrov, shared with us of their search for a new method of ministry in which we were able to offer some suggestions for such transformation. From there we traveled to Gabrovo where we where able to further fellowship in the regional bishop’s meeting.
Late Monday morning we traveled to Kuzanluk where the first Baptist church in Bulgaria was established in the 19th century and where some of the first baptisms with the Holy Spirit in Bulgaria occurred in the early 1920s. We were able to inspect the ongoing church renovation there while meeting with leaders of various churches.
Please keep us in your prayers as our journey is long and the days are but few here in Bulgaria. Yet the reward of the ministry is great and the satisfaction makes things easier watching this great nation awaking for a revival with God once again. We have noticed great spiritual change since we returned with the effects of the economic crises here. And with over 400 miles driven, 4 days traveled, 5 lectures delivered, 2 sermons preached in this part of our commemorative Pentecostal Tour, you still cannot put a price on the salvation of a human soul. Go to the ends of the world to preach the Gospel is still the command. Whatever the cost.
NEW REVIVAL in BULGARIA
Unprecedented revival is sweeping the country of Bulgaria again and has started among the Pentecostal Church of God. We have spent the last full month in traveling and preaching in key churches crossing the country from the capital Sofia to the Black Sea and from the Danube River through the Balkan Mountains to the Thracian Valley.
While people in general are struggling with the economic and political crises and the church is in continuous leadership dilemmas, God is on the move with a new revival mainly among the new generation of young people. We saw this in recent national youth events like our spring 2011 youth leaders gathering near Yambol and the regional youth revival in Silistra during Easter. Similar meetings were reported in Eastern Bulgaria in May and in the capital Sofia in June with the arrival of praise team from Hillsong, which gathered over 7,000 people in one single event. And last but not least, various meetings of Roma leaders and youth, to which we had the privilege to contribute as well.
We are now looking forward to combining these experiences within our national Bible Camp which we hold for young ministers and youth leaders, followed by the New Wave camp at the Black Sea and the traditional Karandila Youth Camp in the Balkan Mountain. For when one generation looses touch with God, as described in Jeremiah 5:31, God always brings a new generation to serve Him. Today, God is raising a generation of young and faithful people full with the Holy Ghost, and we simply cannot afford to stay out of this great move of God in the last days.
2011 Historic Pentecostal Revival Tour in Bulgaria
Celebrating 90 years since the first Pentecostal revival in Bulgaria
Exactly 400 years ago, the first King James Bible was printed in June, 1611. The first Bulgarian Bible was printed 140 years ago in June, 1871. The first Pentecostal Revival in Bulgaria took place between Easter and Pentecost of 1921. And finally, exactly 20 years the Pravetz youth group, where I had the privilege to begin my ministry, experienced a spiritual revival in which hundreds of young people were reached and saved.
To commemorate this great heritage, we undertook a historic revival tour during the month of June in Bulgaria. We started at the Black Sea with the momentous ordination of presbyters in the church of Aheloy – one of the few Church of God congregations with the original doctrine and practice. The special ordination service on Saturday night went on with prayer and praise, communion and foot washing until 2am.
Then on Sunday we gathered at 6:30am for prayer and followed with the morning service. We continued with services in Pravetz, where our youth group celebrated its 20-year anniversary, then at the church in Verdical near Sofia with a special foot washing and communion service, and finally in Sofia with a prophetic word to the Church of God in the Obelya suburb.
Bulgaria in the Archives of the British and Foreign Bible Society in Cambridge
For the past 15 years, which we have dedicated to the study and translation of the Bulgarian Bible, it has been a personal dream of ours to visit and work with the Cambridge Library and more specifically with the historical documents which are related to the translation and publication of the Bulgarian Bible through the 18-19 centuries.
The closest we had come to examining the archives was back in 2005-2007 while searching for the lost copy of Theodocy Bistritzky’s 1820 translation of the Gospel of Mathew. We then found the only two copies left of that translation, one located in St. Petersburg (with a reproduction at the U.S. Library of Congress) and the other at the Cambridge Library.
Therefore, it was a great pleasure to receive an invitation to visit the Cambridge Library in connection with the 400-year anniversary of the King James Bible (1611) and use the opportunity to examine the available documents related to Bulgaria. The main difficulty with this task comes from the fact that during the 19th century Bulgaria was under Ottoman occupancy and documents related to the Bulgarian Bible are cataloged under various locations: European Turkey, Near East Mission, New Bulgarian Kingdom, Western Turkey, Bulgarian Kingdom or the Balkans. For this reason, many documents are yet not cataloged and remain the library’s stacks, which makes their discovery both difficult and exciting. Successfully completing our initial survey of the archives, we were able to take over 1,000 pages in pictures with the library’s permission. This first look at archives that have remain hidden for more than a century reveled three groups of documents containing the following items:
Catalog series BSA/E3/1/4 contains some 30 volumes with whole or partial copies of letters and documents. For the lack of copy machines back then, the items in the archive were written by hand. Eighteen of these volumes listed bellow, contain information about Bulgaria.
BSA/E3/1/3 (p. 23, 54, 69, 70, 107, 185, 190, 211-12, 229) – letters from 1859 to and from Rev. Dr. Chauffer, Benjamin Barker, Dr. Van Dayk, Dr. Riggs, etc., predominantly referring to the revision of the Bulgarian New Testament.
BSA/E3/1/4/2 (p. 60, 75, 96-99, 107-109, 160-166, 272, 305) – letters from 1862-63 of Rev. Баркър, Thomson, etc., about the translation of the Pentateuch including an important index of the corrections in revision of the Bulgarian New Testament (p. 162).
BSA/E3/1/4/3 (p. 48, 64, 102, 111, 114, 149, 160-1, 172, 185, 222, 227) – letters from 1861-62, 1865 на Benjamin Barker, Dr. Riggs, J.W. Muller, Thomson and others. This correspondence set discusses the importance of changing the Bulgarian translation to the Eastern (Tarnovo) dialect.
BSA/E3/1/4/4 (p. 3) – letter by Dr. Thomson about Dr. Riggs work on the Bulgarian Bible.
BSA/E3/1/4/5 (p. 302, 311) – letters from 1867 about Dr. Long’s work on the Bulgarian Bible.
BSA/E3/1/4/6 (p. 150) – letter from Dr. Riggs to Dr. Thomson from October 3-29 1868, about the measurements in the Bulgarian translation.
BSA/E3/1/4/7 (p. 127, 136, 156) – letters from 1870.
BSA/E3/1/4/8 (p. 21, 24-25, 78, 102, 124-25, 129, 238) – letters from 1870-71 by Riggs, Thomson and others. Contains a fully revised table of the measurements in the Bulgarian Bible translation.
BSA/E3/1/4/9 (p. 275-76) – letter by Dr. Thomson about Dr. Riggs’s work on the translation of the Bulgarian Bible.
BSA/E3/1/4/10 (p. 150) – letter from 1874.
BSA/E3/1/4/11 (p. 66, 129, 199, 213, 237) – letters from 1874.
BSA/E3/1/4/12 (p. 40, 185, 248, 253, 260-61, 265) – 1876 letters to and from Dr. Thomson with a request to receive 200-300 copies of the Bulgarian edition of the Psalms. The collection ends with a parallel of several translations in a printed edition for the revising committee. (p. 265ff).
BSA/E3/1/4/13 (p. 13, 63, 73, 90, 304-05) – 1877-78 letters to Dr. Thomson.
BSA/E3/1/4/14 (p. 113) – letter to Dr. Thomson.
BSA/E3/1/4/16 (p. 181, 279) – letters by Dr. Thomson.
BSA/E3/1/4/20 (p. 232-35) – letter to Dr. Thomson from August 29 recommending a 3,000 copy publication of the Four Gospels with the Book of Acts in one volume in parallel with the Slavic text.
BSA/E3/1/4/25 (p. 196, 333) – letters from 1887-90.
BSA/E3/1/4/30 (p. 16-17, 51, 350) – letters from 1892.
Two additional folders marked with “Bulgarian” and catalog series BSA/83/3/67/1-2 has the complete BFBS correspondence from the first half of the 20th century. It refeers predominantly to the new revision of the text prepared for the 1924 Royal Publishing House edition of the Bulgarian Bible. Various other items are included as well, many of which related to the Evangelical School in Samokov (near the capital Sofia) and its full operational publishing house, along with many more documents important for the Bulgarian protestant history. A third and final item of interest is catalog series BSA/E3/2/19-20, BSA/E3/2/23 and BSA/E3/2/24-26.
