Churches Worked With in Bulgaria
Conference of Bulgarian Churches in America
The Annual Conference of Bulgarian Churches in North America will be held May 28, 2010 in Huston, TX. More information is available via the website of the Bulgarian Church in Houston at: http://twitterchurch.us/
Download the brochure as PDF
Ministering at the Bulgarian Churches of Chicago
With the Annual Conference of Bulgarian Churches in North America being just around the corner, we were invited to minister with the Bulgarian Church of God in Chicago. Last year we were able to hold a weekend training event for their leadership as well as to assist them in the area of web development as a cyber platform for their church. In postmodernity it is ever important that the church has a voice in every field of ministry. Since then they have been able to broadcast their services LIVE which have been viewed by Bulgarian in the States and abroad.
This year we were also able to meet with their web development and pastoral team to offer further suggestions of how to better implement and modernize their church website to more effectively meet their unique needs. Being directed by the Spirit under the leadership of Pastor Vladimir Georgiev, the church has witnessed tremendous success. They are currently in a building project to expand their existing building to accommodate this new growth. It is our prayer that the Lord continues to bless the efforts of the New Life Bulgarian Church of God in Chicago. We were also able to minister at the Bulgarian Baptist Church before we left the Windy City.
HERALDS OF THE TRUTH: A History of the Evangelical Churches in Bulgaria
From the author of “Imprisoned for Christ”, now the first comprehensive history of Evangelical Christianity in Bulgaria is available in English. With the arrival of the first Congregationalist missionaries in 1844, more Bulgarians heard the Gospel than ever before. Despite resistance from the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Evangelicals increased both in number and in favor with royal officials after the overthrow of the Ottoman Turkish Empire in 1888. The era of Communism brought new waves of persecution, but the Church in Bulgaria stood strong. This is her story.
Regional Prayer Conference for the Yambol Village Churches
Some 200 people from over a dozen regional churches gathered in the village of Malomir on Saturday at a regional prayer conference. Several ministers and representatives from the Bourgas, Stara Zagora, Haskovo and Sliven regions attended as well. This is the third of four prayer meetings held each year in the area to encourage the village churches, gather the people together for time of rejuvenation and set quarterly goals for each season of the year.
The churches that gathered were congregations with which our teams have worked and ministered with for some 15 years now. Many of the congregations were started and registered during this term of ministry, while others continued their operation having gone through the trials and tribulation of Communism. Unfortunately, the last 20 years of economical, political and social crises in Bulgaria have left their scar on the both the people and the churches. The villages, once flourishing and prospering, are now left to the elderly as the young generation has moved in search for a better life in the big city or in many cases in a foreign land. Thus, the evangelical churches in the Bulgarian villages remain one of the few strongholds of moral encouragement, family values and life as we know it.
The answer to such a great spiritual need is rooted in deep prayer and personal piety, which is exactly what our teams have been trying to accomplish through these quarterly prayer conferences. As the attendance in years past has gradually grown, the Lord has called these people to the ministry and they have faithfully helped our teams in the progress of the work. Therefore, they were all encouraged to gather once again while we shared the Word in several sessions throughout the day. Our message focused on the subject of personal prayer and its leading role within the life of the local church. The efforts of all were well rewarded by a powerful move of the Spirit during the time of prayer, after which people were encouraged by the announcement of one more regional prayer conference for this year, which will probably take place during the holiday season.
Bulgarian Evangelical Churches in America
The annual conference of Bulgarian Evangelical churches in North America was held May 25-28, 2007 at the Christian Life Church in Chicago’s suburb Des Planes where the largest number of Bulgarian immigrants is locating. This year the event was hosted by the Bulgarian Evangelical Church of God “New Life” pastored by Stan Tanev. The conference gathered Bulgarian immigrants from all parts of America. The churches from Minneapolis, Dallas, Huston and Los Angelis participated. Representatives from New York City, Tennessee and Las Vegas reported growth of newly started Bulgarian congregations in their respective areas. Special guest of the conference was Martha Zaplishny Jackson, daughter of the first Pentecostal missionaries to Bulgaria, Rev. Dionesey and Olga Zaplishny.
Gateway Cities for Bulgarian Evangelical Churches
Bulgarian Evangelical Churches are located in cities which have a high concentration of foreign-born immigrants. Such cities are called gateway cities, a large immigrant point-of-entry city to the United States. Immigrants typically enter the United States through one of these cities and settle there. Such cities contain over half of the foreign-born population in the United States. There are Bulgarian Evangelical Churches active in five of the seven gateway cities as follows:
Bulgarian Evangelical Churches in Gateway Cities
| Gateway City | Foreign Born | Percent of Foreign Born | Bulgarian Church |
| 1. New York, NY | 3,657,269 | 18.7% | Yes |
| 2. Los Angeles, CA | 3,944,828 | 27.1% | Yes |
| 3. Houston, TX | 460,380 | 12.3% | Yes |
| 4. Washington, DC | 578,786 | 8.6% | No |
| 5. Miami, FL | 1,072,843 | 33.6% | Yes |
| 6. Chicago, IL | 914,58 | 11.1% | Yes |
| 7. San Francisco, CA | 1,250,693 | 20.0% | No |
Geographical Location of Bulgarian American Churches and Gateway Cities.
Several facts are obvious from the above comparison. It is apparent that Bulgarian immigrants come to North America in ways similar to other immigrant groups, channeled through the listed gateway cities. Large cities which are gateways are more probable to become a settlement for Bulgarian immigrants due to the availability of jobs, lodging and other immigrants from the same ethnic group. The emerging Bulgarian immigrant communities share religious similarities and belongingness which are factors helping to form the communities. As a result of this process of formation of Bulgarian immigrant communities, the Bulgarian Evangelical Churches in North America emerge. It also seems natural to suggest that as this process continues, Bulgarian Evangelical Churches will be formed in the remaining two gateway cities (Washington, D.C. and San Francisco) and other large cities which meet the requirements to become a gateway city (for example, the city Atlanta). If this is true, it should be proposed that the Bulgarian Churches in North America follow a strategy for church planting and growth which targets this type of cities.
Mississippi Triumph Churches
The Mississippi Triumph Churches have chosen Cup & Cross ministry’s training materials for the development of their ministers and congregations. Our ministry has offered a series of training materials including 20 Ways to Kill Your Church, 30 Ways to Kill Your Youth Ministry, etc.
Bulgarian Churches in America
For almost ten years, Cup & Cross Ministries has worked extensively in providing research and strategy materials for the growing number of Bulgarian Protestant churches across the United States. We are proud to announce that our team has been chosen to conduct this year’s annual conference for the Bulgarian American Churches which will taka place in Minneapolis.
How to Start a Bulgarian Church A-Z
Dissertation: Statement of Problem
Dissertation: Contextual Assessment
Bulgarian Evangelical Churches in America
According to the Bulgarian National Statistical Institute more than one million people have left Bulgaria in the past 13 years to find jobs and better life in another country. The largest Bulgarian immigrant group lives in Germany (23%), while another 20% are in North America. As a result, in the 1990s, several large Bulgarian communities have emerged in the United States: Chicago with close to 60, 000 Bulgarians is followed by New York and the Washington, D.C. – Maryland area. On the West Coast, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas have been choices for immigration for several years. Besides these cities Bulgarian communities have grown in less expected places like deep-south Atlanta, northern Seattle, coastal Miami and deep in the heart of Texas (Dallas, Houston), etc. Respectfully, Bulgarian protestant churches have appeared in these centers of concentration of Bulgarian immigrants. They have begun their existence as a home prayer group, cross-cultural outreach of a large local church, or even as independent ethnic works under the umbrella of an established denomination. At this present time the Bulgarian protestant churches in America are represented by 14 churches and groups in nine states. They have become the forming historical factor for the Network of Bulgarian Churches in America.
Since 1994, Cup & Cross Ministries International has actively observed the formation of Bulgarian Evangelical Churches in America. In 2003, we are completing a survey to evaluate and study the processes within these churches. This particular portion of the survey explores the American cultural context in which Bulgarian congregations may emerge. The survey is anonymous and confidential. It contains 15 questions and it takes less than a minute to complete online. Please take the time to fill out survey by going to the following link:
http://www.cupandcross.com/survey
Thank you for helping us advance the Kingdom.
