52 DAYS AWAY
The Nehemiah Experience: Devil, did you hear, I done built the wall!
2018 Revival Harvest Campaign: The Nehemiah Experience
Nehemiah 1: Who cries, fasts and prays for the desolated church?
Nehemiah 2: Dear, devil, I am back!
Nehemiah 3: 12 gates of Jerusalem
Nehemiah 4: Devil, did you hear, I done built the wall…
(1)Time to enter through the Door
(2) Time for junk no more
(3) Time to wage war
Calling on the Nehemiah Generation
Strangers will come in the Church
And the walls need to be fortified…
10 Things to Considering When Attempting to Express Cultural Sensitivity
- Be informed about the cultural differences of the people you are trying to reach because your good intentions may be misunderstood and even offend.
- Keep in mind you are not going on a site-seeing tour nor are you going to see a tourist attraction.
- Just because something makes sense in your language doesn’t mean it will make sense interpreted into a foreign language. Clichés are to be avoided.
- “One man’s meat is another man’s poison”
- “There are two ways to skin a cat”
- Consider that the people you are ministering to are not objects to be put on display in a savvy PowerPoint when returning home from your trip.
- Respect their right to privacy
- Ask permission to take pictures
- Just because you going or have been to a foreign country doesn’t make you a missionary. Don’t let one trip abroad make you forget who you are or make you arrogant.
- It is when you put yourself in the shoes of the people you are helping that you learn some do not even have shoes to wear. But this does not mean you are better than others.
- Aid is not the answer to all problems. Sometimes the people you are going to assist have real problems and spiritual needs. Socks don’t save souls.
- Aid should be given freely without any strings attached
- Don’t make them feel less by giving scraps
- Don’t make them feel like beggars
- It is not the power of earthly money that saves souls, but the power of a Heavenly Father.
- No amount of money will buy a soul
- Raised funds will not make you a missionary
- Being the missionary of the one-way ticket is a true test of your commitment towards the Kingdom
- There is a major difference between being “mission-minded” and being an international worker.
- The people you are ministering to are real human beings with dignity.
- Treat all with respect
- Don’t assume they know less than you or have less than you
Integration of Learning and Faith
The believers within our Pentecostal tradition, despite some historical presupposition against education, have generally strived to receive and impart knowledge much higher than what secular science can offer. Our paradigm of integration of faith and learning has come from a personal experience of knowing God rather than scientific method, and in a way it has become our own scientific method of testing truth beyond our religious context into daily life.
Similarly, being formed in the Spirit impacts our lives holistically, even the areas of our deepest doubts, our most serious suspicions and our greatest fears. It is there that true discoveries occur and where we realize that we know not the cosmos, the earth, our land, our families and even ourselves unless we first know God. Faith and learning become a personal spiritual quest, which reaches beyond just a Christian worldview or interpretation of faith and reason, to our very beings and change us.
In my case, faith and learning developed from my personal experience as a fifth generation Pentecostal believer and Spirit-filled minister. I can truly say that it has been a journey of reaching and a quest of finding, one that has changed me forever. Education did not make me a minister of the Gospel, nor did it have the power to do so, but it most certainly made me a better minister and a servant of the Kingdom.
Along the way, God used teachers who did much more than just deliver content in classrooms, but established the faith into our hearts and minds. In my journey, they have become road markers who knew God and made Him known to others. The passion to become personally such a milestone in the spiritual journey of others has been the greatest challenge for integration of faith and learning within both our ministry and personal Pentecostal experience. For our journey with God should not be without a destination or an end. It should be about actually getting there, at the place and reality where Scripture declares with most definite certainty that “we shall know.”
The Restoration of Chaplaincy in Bulgaria (History of Events)
We are proud to announce that the Master’s of Chaplaincy Ministry Program, we designed and launched in Bulgaria in 2006, has been selected to be part of the Social Service Program of New Bulgarian University. After being for years a valuable part of the regular curriculum of the Bulgarian Evangelical Theological Institute and the St. Trivelius Institute in the capital Sofia, the chaplaincy program has received the highest level of recognition as successful graduates will be finally able to receive government recognized degrees and apply their knowledge and training in chaplaincy on a professional level. The chaplaincy program can also serve within the Integration Proposal of local NATO programs and be instrumental in dealing with the enormous wave of Middle East migrants crossing through Bulgaria today.
05/12 Anticipated Date for Graduation of the First Cohort of Master’s Program of Chaplaincy Ministry in Bulgaria
2011
09/11 – Master’s of Chaplaincy Ministry Program Module 3: Counseling Completed
07/11 – Master’s of Chaplaincy Ministry Program Module 2: Theology Completed
03/11 – Master’s of Chaplaincy Ministry Program approved by the Educational Committee of the Bulgarian Evangelical Theological Institute
01/11 – Master’s of Chaplaincy Ministry Program Continues
2010
10/10 – Master’s of Chaplaincy Ministry Program Module 1: Chaplaincy Completed
09/10 Master’s of Chaplaincy Ministry Program begins in Sofia, Bulgaria
06/10 Chaplaincy Conference and Master’s of Chaplaincy for Bulgaria
01/10 Proposal masters program finalized and submitted for approval to the Educational Committee of the Bulgarian Evangelical Theological Institute
2009
10/09 Bulgarian Chaplaincy Association holds an introductory chaplaincy course in Yambol, Bulgaria
2008
12/08 Family Seminar for Military Men and Women held in Yambol
11/08 Bulgarian Chaplaincy Association Annual Meeting
09/08 – Bulgarian Chaplaincy Associations noted in Church of God publications
06/08 – The Case of a NATO Chaplaincy Model within the Bulgarian Army released
06/08 – Celebrating 10 Years of Military Ministry in Bulgaria
2007
10/07 – Bulgarian Chaplaincy Associations Recognized by U.S. Department of State
07/07 – National Chaplaincy Conference in Yambol, Bulgaria
03/07 – Bulgarian Chaplaincy Association was officially registered
02/07 – Bulgarian Chaplaincy Association gains legal status
01/07 – Bulgarian Chaplaincy Assassination noted by international religious freedom watch dog Forum 18
2006
12/06 – Registration Rejected Bulgarian Chaplaincy Association by Bulgarian court
11/06 – A master program in chaplaincy ministry has been proposed for the Bulgarian Evangelical Theological Institute in Sofia
10/06 – Bulgarian Chaplaincy Association Founder’s Meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria
10/06 – A contextualized course for chaplaincy ministry is offered at the Bulgarian Evangelical Theological Institute in Sofia
08/06 – Bulgarian Chaplaincy Association’s Resolution No. 1 sets course toward chaplaincy in churches, education and government institutions
07/06 – National Chaplaincy Meeting in Yambol, Bulgaria
06/06 – Meeting with NATO Chaplains
05/06 – Cup & Cross Ministries submitted a research paper to NATO’s Manfred Wörner Foundation dealing with the case of underground chaplaincy within the Bulgarian Armed Forces
03/06 – A contextualized course for chaplaincy ministry was offered in Veliko Turnovo
02/06 – www.kapelanstvo.com was released to serve as the official website of the chaplaincy movement in Bulgaria
2005
10/05 – A national training seminar held in Veliko Turnovo
10/05 – The Bulgarian Chaplaincy Association was presented before the Bulgarian Evangelical Alliance
09/05 – Regional meeting in Nova Zagora which addressed the current issues
08/05 – A regional chaplaincy meeting in Sliven
07/05 – Publication of camouflage New Testaments and Bibles, some of which we distributed to Bulgarian army personal including the divisions currently serving in Iraq.
Also important [click to read]:
- U.S. Department of State recognizes our chaplaincy efforts in Bulgaria
- Bulgarian Chaplaincy Association: Integration Proposal with Local NATO Programs
- Bulgarian Chaplaincy Association: Vision and Resolution
- Chronology of our role and involvement in developing Church of God chaplaincy in Bulgaria since 2001
- Master’s of Chaplaincy Ministry Program in Bulgaria Reflections
- The Past Decade of Chaplaincy in Bulgaria (2006-2016)
- Related Publications and Presentations by Cup & Cross Ministries International
Pacifism as a Social Stand for Holiness among Early Bulgarian Pentecostals
Historical and Doctrinal Formation of Holiness Teachings and Praxis among Bulgarian Pentecostals (Research presentation prepared for the Society of Pentecostal Studies, Seattle, 2013 – Lakeland, 2015, thesis in partial fulfillment of the degree of D. Phil., Trinity College)
When Pentecostalism began to spread rapidly in Bulgaria in the 1920s, it was viewed hostile as by both Protestant and Orthodox traditions. Not fasting during lent and not sacrificing for the dead, not honoring Mary or the saints was all detrimental in the formation of the identity of Pentecostal churches in Bulgaria. Even insignificant things like not wearing a cross, or not making the sign of the cross and not lighting candles and incense were noticed and severely criticized by the surrounding culture. And of course not drinking alcohol in Bulgaria and the Pentecostal abstinence was met with enormous opposition from other religious groups. Along with that any benevolence, social involvement, spiritual upbringing of minors (including sport actives) was all condemned as harmful protestant propaganda.
But one specific evangelical stand could never be forgiven – the protestant pacifism in the form of conscientious objection against carrying arms. For the newly re-born Balkan state, in a place where war has been ongoing for centuries, to refusal to go to war was essentially to refuse to be a Bulgarian.
The pacifism of Bulgaria’s evangelicals was silent but powerful against both Hitler’s fascism and the militant atheism of the coming Communist Regime. Their deep Christian conviction simply did not allow them to kill, carry a weapon, imprison another human being, swear allegiance to the communist state or take orders from another authority but God. And for their stand, many ministers and believers paid a heavy price. About 40 ministers and members of the Bulgarian Church of God alone were sentenced to hard prison labor for noncompliance with the mandatory military service. Hundreds more known and unknown believers from other evangelical churches followed.
Chaplaincy Counseling Module Completed
During the month of September 2011 the Counseling Module of the first Bulgarian Master of Chaplaincy Ministry Program in Bulgaria was successfully completed. This was the last of three modules, which further included two semesters’ long study of chaplaincy and theology taught at the United Theological Faculty of the Bulgarian Evangelical Theological Institute in Sofia, Bulgaria.
A total of fifteen students attended this final module. Ten of these students successfully finished their masters’ level studies and are now set forth for practicum in their respective areas of ministry and consecutive thesis defense prior to their graduation in the spring of 2012. Many of them are already ministering in hospital and prison settings, as well as among military and police personnel.
During the course of the program, we were able to finalize the long awaited negotiations with New Bulgarian University and signed an agreement with which every student chaplain will be able to graduate with a government accredited diploma from the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and New Bulgarian University.
This program in its entirety was only made possible through the personal efforts and tireless teaching of the following friends and partners in the ministry: Major General Clay Buckingham, USA (ret), Chaplain Colonel Rich Young of the IAEC, Dr. Jim Ellis from Union University, legal consultant on European Union religious issues, Dr. Hristo Berov from the Potsdam University in Germany, Dr. Roumen Bostandjiev from the Psychology Department of New Bulgarian University in Sofia, Bulgaria, Dr. Dona-Gene Mitchell from the Political Science Department of the University of Nebraska and professors from the United Theological Faculty under the supervision of Dr. Dony & Kathryn Donev from the Bulgarian Chaplaincy Association.
Read more about chaplaincy in Bulgaria in the following HISTORY of EVENTS
My First Free Easter
I remember my First Free Easter. It was in the spring of 1991 immediately after the Fall of the Berlin Wall. The Bulgarian Church of God had just emerged from its underground status taking its respectful place in the Bulgarian social life. As a powerful transformational force, literally over night, the denomination rapidly grew from 800 to some 8,000 members. The First Free Easter was to be held in the largest auditorium in Bulgaria, the National Palace of Culture and Rev. Floyd Louhan traveled all the way from the United States to deliver the Easter message. Read more
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.
Christmas for Evangelicals
Christmas for Evangelicals
Communism changed a lot in the Bulgarian mentality. For 45 years Christian holidays like Christmas and Easter were strictly forbidden. Christmas symbols and words were changed in an anti-Christian propaganda. For example, the traditional Bulgarian Christmas greeting Tchestito Rozdestvo Hristovo (Happy Birth of Christ) was replaced with Vesela Koleda (Joyfull Koleda – the word koleda derives from the Bulgarian word “kolia” which means to kill, to slay, and symbolizes the Bulgarian custom of slaying a pig in the preparation of the Christmas dinner). The name of Santa Claus was replaced with Grandpa Frost – again an old man with red clothing, long white beard and bag with presents; however, completely separated from the Christian meaning of the holiday. Even the traditional Orthodox Church was limited in their practice of Christmas.
Nevertheless, regardless of the persecution, secretly or openly, Christmas has always been present among the Bulgarian Protestants. Usually the church congregation would gather for a special Christmas service on Christmas Eve. In the Underground Church this event was one of the few occasions where the local congregation would come together and remain unnoticed by the secret police because of the celebration going on. Using the rare opportunity the church would not only use the time for fellowship but also for Communion and Baptism services. Since the churches did not own buildings, the baptismal would usually be performed in a river after the ice had been broken.
With the Fall of the Berlin Wall the situation changed dramatically. Through the largest spiritual revival Eastern Europe has ever known, in 10 years millions came to Christ. In the midst of the severe national economic crises, for protestants Christmas became not only a time of celebration, but also a time to reach to the ones in need. Thus the renewed Christmas became more powerful as it not only reflected on the Christian tradition but a real-life inspired practice of Christianity.
The Bulgarian Church of God is no stranger to these events. Every Christmas is seen as a ministry opportunity, as several activities take place. There are Christmas dinners for the needy which take place in the churches that sponsor social centers across the country. There is also a Christmas gift service for children from homes for children.
Christmas is a time when the church congregation comes together for reconciliation and recognition of the Birth of Christ. As the Christmas message is preached and Silent Night is sung, this holiday also becomes a celebration of the liberation of spirit and soul, provided by God through His Son. Thus for the church in a post-Communist context Christmas is the gift of liberty to come together and to worship. Remembering the Son of God who came to liberate us from sin and death we also wish you a Marry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
