School of Mission: Missions Week in Bulgaria
School is in Session: Young Leaders Ministry Retreat with Special Focus on Missions
It is Missions week in Bulgaria following Thanksgiving. A time to meet with Bulgarian missionaries who travel abroad, discuss their needs and pray for the success of their respective ministries. Our Thanksgiving weekend involved a ministry team retreat in the Balkan Mountains as part of the education program initiated several months ago by our Bible School initiative for the Bulgarian Church of God. As usual, this event was dedicated to training young ministers and their teams and this time the focus of our meeting was missions. Ministry teams represented the Plovdiv, Yambol and Sliven regions. A missionary from Spain was also present for the training.
Keynote speaker of the event was the president of the Bulgarian Missionary Network (BMN), Rev. Ivo Shatrovsky, who shared his calling from God for missions and a personal vision for Bulgarian missions abroad. In his address, he presented several valuable lessons he has learned in his own missionary experience in the West Indies. Two workshops on the topics of Conflict Resolution and Structuring for Growth were further presented by our team. And while various activities were taking place in the midst of extensive discussions, sharing on the part of the missionaries and strategic planning for the future of the represented regions, the time of fellowship turned to a prayerful reflection on God’s calling upon our own lives.
For the mission of the church cannot exist apart from God. It is a calling, not merely a career. It is a cost, not simply a concern. It is a burden, not just a belief. Its focus is care and compassion. And yes, even in the 21st century, it still remains a Holy Ghost uttering, through which one remains blind for the world around until obeying to the vision of heaven (Acts 26:19) and begins seeing the world through the eyes of the Savior.
Mission Bulgaria 2009: Ministering at First Assemblies of God in Sofia
From ministering in the Ghetto, we traveled to the heart of the capital to preach at the First Assemblies of God in Sofia located in the downtown area of Sofia. This is the oldest Pentecostal church in town, which was established in the 1930s as a direct result of the Pentecostal revival which has swept through Bulgaria. Today, the church is pastured by Rev. Victor Virchev, who also currently serves as the President of the Bulgarian Pentecostal Union. In recent years, the old building was remodeled to create a modern ministry center which serves as headquarters of the Bulgarian Pentecostal Union in its partnership with the Assemblies of God and has become an important religious symbol of Sofia in its downtown location. We ministered in the main service on Sunday morning and were able to present Pastor Virchev with a copy of the revised Constantinople Bible, which our ministry published in the beginning of 2009.
Mission Bulgaria 2009: Ministering at the Gipsy Ghetto of Phakulteta
The Gipsy ghetto of Phakulteta is located in the northeast side of the capital Sofia with a population of some 120,000 people, which makes it larger than the average Bulgarian town. It comprises a substantial part of the population of Sofia, which now numbers over two million people. In recent years, Phakulteta has been a place of ethnic tensions produced in the middle of extreme poverty and the war of local crime clans which rule the area.
There, we have focused our ministry efforts in the past several years through regular preaching, prayer meetings, and leadership seminars for pastors, youth rallies and music fests. As many have noticed in the recent months while we have ministered at the Life Church of God in the Sofia gipsy ghetto, the extremeness of the context in which we minister there and the deep needs of the people, often draw the attention of God with powerful anointing and supernatural miracles. However, this last service was so powerful in the Spirit that it put all present on their knees for prayer in the alter service which followed the message. We were able to broadcast live the event and we are grateful that video recorded from the service can be now watched by many showing the heavy presence of the Holy Spirit, which no words can truly describe. We are scheduled to return to Philpovtsy soon for a series of revival services, which will reunite the local churches in a regional seminar on Last Day Prophecy.
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Mission Bulgaria 2009: Ministering at Samokov Church of God
It is always a delight to return to the city of Samokov near Sofia and minister there. Recent developments have dictated that two Church of God congregation in near-by locations minister to over 3,000 Spirit filled members from the gipsy ethnos in the area. The growth is so tremendous, that one of the congregations have baptized in water 207 people last month alone. The other congregation is led by the national overseer of the Bulgarian Church of God, Pastor Alexander Todorov. We ministered in Samokov on the subject: 20 Signs of the Last Days and were also able to schedule other ministry appointments with the churches in the area. The regional leadership seminar was also discussed for a
time convenient for all pastors in the region, as it has been in the plans for sometime now due to our ongoing ministry in other areas of the country. It is our heartily desire that this ministry event combined with the prayers of the saints will result in the union of the Spirit-filled believers in the city of Samokov producing a mighty wave of revival in the lives of the people which will change the spiritual landscape of this area forever.
Mission Bulgaria 2009: Ministering Along the Black Sea Coast
Our recent ministry appointments have taken us beyond the borders of Bulgaria and we have thoroughly enjoyed and celebrated this event. However, from the moment we landed in Bulgaria our phones have been ringing with back to back invitations for ministry. Some unfortunately overlapped and we had to respectfully decline, but we are thankful for the many doors which are opening. We continue to ask for your prayers of wisdom and support as we need much strength to take on what has been set before us.
After successfully arriving at our base location, Yambol nearly 48 hours after leaving the states due to missing our connecting flight in Germany, we headed for ministry at the Black Sea coast. In the town of Aheloi, where we have anticipated going for sometime now, we were able to minister and fellowship with the local church over the weekend.
Among the topics we discussed with the congregation were: (1) the new Constantinople Bible publication and its upcoming jubilee 2011 edition, (2) the new Bulgarian literal translation of the New Testament, which we have now completed for publication in 2010 and (3) the role of media and live broadcast in the life of the traditional Bulgarian Pentecostal church. Of course, we shared from the word as well, a message from Philemon on Paul being a Prisoner of Christ over which the Secular Empire has no authority.
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Mission Maranatha in Revival
Mission Maranatha, a Bulgarian local mission’s branch of Cup & Cross Ministries continues services at the Black Sea. Close to 100 revival services have been held during the past four months by various team members in the Black Sea towns of Ahtopol, Pomorie, Sinemoretz, Varna, Bourgas, Chernomoretz, Sinemoretz and Varvara. The mission’s attempt to establish a ground for future work in towns with no evangelical church presence has been rendered successful and we trust that the initiated strategy will be brought to completion in 2007.
Are you Mission Ready?
Evaluation is the act of finding out if a person or groups has accomplished what it set out to do. Sincere evaluation of the local church missions program is a problem. We avoid such evaluation by assuming people automatically incorporate new learning in their lives and by assuming that programs cannot be improved very much even if they were evaluated. Too often they are labeled as good or bad by one person or by those who manage or plan the program. Both learners and administrators must cooperate in organized evaluation. [more]
Mission Bulgaria Week 31
NEWS – Week 31 – March 18-24, 2002 – Sofia, BULGARIA
Greetings from Bulgaria:
This morning Bulgaria woke up covered with snow. The temperatures are in the 20s, but the weather is expected to be very warm by the end of the week. This is a usual March weather for Bulgaria.
On Thursday and Friday I traveled to the Yambol area where several churches are in revival. We had a really good time rejoicing in the Lord. The trip coming back was more difficult as a strike of 10,000 Bulgarians had gathered in downtown Sofia to protest against the politics of the present government. None of the politicians at the Bulgarian Parliament came out to speak with the crowd, which stayed for hours under the pouring rain. This is perhaps only the first of many strikes, which are expected to follow.
On Saturday, March 23 the ministers of the Sofia region gathered together at the Bulina Livada Church of God to take important decisions on the development and the future of the region. The Sofia region includes 1/3 of the total membership of the Bulgarian Church of God and extends to an area of approximately 20,000 sq. km. The Sofia region includes 37 churches and more than 5,000 members.
A new strategy was developed for providing for the needs of the churches, and a regional government was elected. It included 14 men plus the regional overseer. Among them were elected men to work with the Roma communities in the region, Social Work Regional Pastor, Evangelism Regional Director and Educational Regional Director.
I was elected for the position of Educational Regional director for the Sofia region. This election comes in time with the organization of the first of its kind round table for Evangelicals. It will occur on March 29, 2002 in the Aula of the University of Sofia as Orthodox and Protestant scholars and pastors will present lectures on “The Influence of the Protestant Missionaries for the Spiritual Upbringing and Political Liberation of the Bulgarian Nation.”
Mission Bulgaria Week 30
NEWS – Week 30 – March 12-17, 2002 – Sofia, BULGARIA
Greetings from Bulgaria:
This Sunday marks the 50 days (actually 7 weeks) before the Orthodox Easter (Easter in Bulgaria this year will be on May 5th). This also marks the beginning of the Easter fast which starts on Monday. As an old national custom tonight every household in Bulgaria gets together and has a nice big dinner in preparation for the fasts. The tradition also includes a request for forgiveness from relatives, friends and enemies. While as Protestants we do not observe the Orthodox holidays, in our church today we did request forgiveness for our mistakes, errors and sin. We had a wonderful time of seeking the Lord, worshiping and calling upon Him.
The week was exciting for our ministries. I finished teaching the three-weeks systematic theology module at the Department of Pentecostal Studies at the Bulgarian Evangelical Theological Institute in Sofia. I praise the Lord for this opportunity and the successes of the students. Our studies on Pneumatology, Ecclesiology and Eschatology ended with a revival service that moved from Sofia to the Pravetz Church of God, where we went with 2 vans loaded with students and ministered to the people there.
On another note, Pastor Doneva just came back from Yambol on Friday, where they had revival services with prayer and fasting at the churches she pastors. The church in the village of Polyana, where they shot at Mom and her team, officially reopened for services. Filled with great joy the people have restored the building to its original state and are having three services a day. I am planning to travel there this week and participate in the revival, which is going on there.
Mission Bulgaria Week 29
NEWS – Week 29 – March 4-11, 2002 – Sofia, BULGARIA
Greetings from Bulgaria:
Our ministry was again mentioned in the chaplaincy report Church of God Chaplaincy Commission. However, the best news is that the church, which I asked you to pray for, has its building back. Not only that the man who wanted it gave up on the idea, but he and the mayor will personally give the keys to the congregation this week. My mother is traveling tomorrow for the service at which this will be done. We are praying that the church will have the opportunity to purchase the building for the price at which it was originally offered.
Again I had the opportunity to speak 19 times this past week. It has been a time of self-examination and consecration as the whole institute, students, teachers and administration have devoted ourselves to prayer and fasting through the week. The time of seeking God continues as more pray for afresh anointing, power from above and a vision of the glory of God. We are also planning a trip to Pravetz on Thursday, with some 10 students who have had a desire in their hearts to travel with me.
