THE CASE OF UNDERGROUND CHAPLAINCY IN BULGARIA
This book embodies documents, articles and essays dealing with the rediscovering and reestablishing of chaplaincy ministry in Bulgaria after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, including the envisioning and establishment of the Bulgarian Chaplaincy Association and it’s proposal for the reestablishment of chaplaincy within the Bulgarian Armed Forces submitted to NATO’s Manfred Wörner Foundation in 2006, which subsequently led to the envisioning and establishment of the Master’s Program in Chaplaincy Ministry via the Bulgarian Evangelical Theological Institute and New Bulgarian University of Bulgaria in 2009.
Bulgaria in Pictures: Churches
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Bulgaria in Pictures: Streets
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Bulgaria in Pictures: Nature
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John Bevere LIVE from Bulgaria
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In October, John Bevier visited Bulgaria for a powerful Holy Ghost conference. Our team was able to broadcast LIVE the three-day event over the internet to some 20,000 people in and outside of Bulgaria.
Election Results in Bulgaria 2011
October 24, 2011
- Plevneliev, Kalfin to Contest Presidential Run-off
- VP Front-Runner: Bulgaria Said Yes to Reforms in Tough Times
- Bulgaria President Front-Runner: We Promise Active, Non-Partisan Rule
- Borisov: Presidential Election Success Proves Bulgaria’s Fiscal Prowess
- Exit Poll: Bulgaria Candidates Face Run Off
October 23, 2011
- Bulgaria’s 2011 elections update: Of voting, vote-buying and a goat
- International Observers Monitoring Bulgaria Presidential Vote
- 12% of Bulgarians would sell their vote
- No incidents reported at the beginning of the Election Day
- Voting in Plovdiv’s 52 poling station resumed
- 353 observers of the ISI and FEPS to monitor the election process
- Polls open for Bulgaria’s presidential, local election
- Bulgaria to elect new president, mayors, as monitors voice concerns about possible vote-buying
October 22, 2011
- Bulgaria Declares Day of Reflection in Elections Eve
- Bulgaria’s Battle for Mayors – Who? Where? How?
- Strong Police Presence Planned for Bulgaria’s Election Day
- Name of Ex Bulgarian Tsar Saxe-Coburg Missing in Voter Lists
- GERB Presidential Candidate Rosen Plevneliev: Bulgaria’s Goal Must Be Modern European State
- Independent Presidential Candidate Meglena Kuneva: Bulgaria
- Needs Non-Partisanship and Competitiveness
- October 22 – day of reflection ahead of president, local elections in Bulgaria
- Election’s Perspectives for Bulgaria (2011)
- Bulgarian Presidential Election 2011
Election’s Perspectives for Bulgaria
Bulgaria’s fall season has again become a colorful arrangement of political attitudes and campaigns toward the upcoming Presidential Elections on October 23, 2011. To add to the political theater at hand, Prime Minister Boyko Borisov thoughtfully scheduled the shooting of The Expendables 2 to take place in Sofia, Bulgaria a week before the elections.
Sylvester Stallone has been in Sofia for the past month or so, Dolph Lundgren for the past few days. Chuck Norris landed in Bulgaria last week, and now Bulgaria’s Prime Minister patiently is waiting for governor Schwarzenegger to arrive along with Bruce Willis before an official public meeting before the press with the star cast as part of his political campaign.
This time however, the nation’s political and ethnic tensions were rebirth anew after a civil unrest followed the death of two Gipsy boys in the village of Katunutza. The ruling party GERB was strongly criticized by its opponents for the way police handled the wave of protests that followed throughout the country.
Meanwhile, a total of 79 political parties and formations are already registered for the elections on October 23, 2011. Only seven of them are expected to have the necessary electorate to finish the race. They are as follows:
(1) GERB (Bul. “coat of arms”) the Bulgarian abbreviation means Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria took over the parliamentarian elections a few years back with the strong political figure of leader Boyko Borisov, who began his colorful career as fireman and personal bodyguard of ex. king Simeon and Bulgarian communist dictator of over 30 years Todor Zhivkov. Borisov became minister-general of Internal Affairs, mayor of Sofia and serves currently as Bulgaria’s Prime Minister. While he has not taken a much expected place as a presidential candidate, his political strategy has been strongly criticized by his opponents as inadequate and insufficient to answer Bulgaria’s current crises.
(2) BSP, the Bulgarian Socialist Party has followed a leftist communist trend for over a century now, being empowered by economic and structural recourses inherited by the Regime and Russia’s political strategies on the Balkans. Ruled in the triple coalition in the previous government mandate along with the party formed by the ex-king and Turkish minority, it has been represented in the past decade by current president with two consecutive mandates.
(3) Bulgaria’s Democratic Forces, a rightist party of 21 years is now lead by recognized evangelical Martin Dimitrov, but unofficially ruled by ex. prime minister Ivan Kostov. The party has again disappointed their supporters by being a small and inefficient political force, which remains in the periphery of Bulgaria’s political realm with small voting power and virtually no influence on government polices.
(4) NDSV (abr. National Movement for Stability and Progress) formed at the turn of the century by Simeon Saxe Coburg Gotha – Bulgaria’s ex-king returning after a 50-year exile. The party was a major political player since its coming to power in 2001, but has remained virtually uninvolved in recent years boxed by a political coffin created by both socialists and democrats after its last mandate ended. One of their activists, Mrs. Miglena Kuneva, currently serving as EU parliament deputy has launched a campaign as independent presidential candidate.
(5) ATAKA (Bulg. Attack) as always is absorbing the negative vote, which comes from the people disliking current government politics, socialism and minority parties. Their methods have been rightfully characterized as dangerous with extreme pro-Bulgarian chauvinism bordering nationalistic ideologies. The party was involved in a fire-related attack against the central mosque in Sofia and consecutively organized protests flaming ethnic and political unrest in the recent incidents at the village of Katuntza.
(6) RZS (abr. Order, Law and Justice) although keeping away from nationalistic ideologies, it resembles ATAKA, being a minor but scandalous political formation. RZS received sufficient vote in the last parliamentarian elections through presenting a series of compromising publications in major Bulgarian periodicals. These politics have been continued through RZS’s participation in government life, as the party was the first one to start its current campaign branded with the phrase “I’ll fire Boyko Borisov!”
(7) DPS (Bulg. Movement for Rights and Freedom) was formed on ethnic foundation of Bulgarian Turkish and Muslim population. It has remained the constant “balancer” in Bulgaria’s political life providing the necessary votes to one or another formation only to remain in power. DPS was blocked almost permanently after the last parliamentarian elections, but only until now when it is strongly entering Bulgaria’s political scene again.
After almost entering Bulgaria’s parliament in 1997, the Bulgarian Christian Coalition has again remained on the borderline of any political existence. Bulgarian evangelicals have never been able to reach their political legacy again, although the new Bulgarian census showed over 25% increase of evangelical population in Bulgaria to some 65,000 people strong. The alternative party, Christian Democratic Forum has showed no political activity since last election when it was defeated having only some 1,000 votes nationwide. The Bulgarian Christian Coalition has also chosen not to run in the presidential elections.
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
