MISSION 2002: 6 Months in Bulgaria
6 Months in Bulgaria
Six months have passed since I returned to my home country Bulgaria. Although the many difficulties, limited finances and lack of advanced infra structural organization, I was able to:
1. Serve as a pastor of the Pravetz Church of God (40-60 members)
2. Serve as an Associate Pastor of the Central Church of God in Sofia (1,400 members)
3. Developed and integrated a Sunday School Pilot Program with 20 lessons in more than 70 local congregations nationally as more than 30,000 lessons were distributed freely
4. Start a Saturday crusade services and successfully build it up to a 380 attendees
5. Actively help a mission team ministering to 11 churches in the area of my home-town Yambol
6. Organize a chaplaincy seminar for more than 60 Bulgarian chaplains active in hospitals, prisons, military and police force
7. Completed an expository series on the books of Revelation and Galatians
8. Organized and led a Bible-study home group of 12 in the Buxton suburb of Sofia
9. Began weekly services for English-speaking people
10. Preach a total of 61 times in various church services, crusade meetings and ministerial conferences
11. Teach at Pentecostal Department of the Bulgarian Evangelical Theological Institute (BETI) in Sofia
Bulgaria: Politics
Through the past 12 years Bulgaria has become one of what is now known as a Post – Communist countries. This rather explicit name integrates a low life-standard, negative economic status, and the hopelessness of the people. In the summer of 2001 as the Democratic Party lost the elections, a newly formed movement led by the son of the ex-Bulgarian King whose family was expulsed by the communists in 1944, headed the Bulgarian political life. The royal descendant, Simeon Saxcoburggotsky, became the Prime-minister of the Bulgarian Government. Furthermore the Presidential elections that followed shortly were won by a socialist, George Parvanov, who entered the office of President of the Republic of Bulgaria in January 2002.
Bulgaria: Economics
The political changes reflected significantly on the economic situation of Bulgaria. Considerable changes took places in the already high tax-laws in parallel with significant increase followed in the costs of fuel ($2.49 per gallon), electricity, central heat, water and services. Yet, the drastic changes were unable to satisfy the $8 billion external debt and the 3 times higher internal debt of the Bulgarian economics.
Bulgaria: Society
The only hope that the Government gave to the people was to wait until the 800 days program of the Government was fully integrated and the first results were seen. This did not help much the seven million Bulgarians who had to go through a heavy winter with 15 inches of snow and constant temperatures of 20° C bellow zero.
Bulgaria: Church
The past 12 years of democratic government and politics in Bulgaria have created a relatively balanced atmosphere of religious tolerance. Although the Orthodox Church is still the official religious denomination, and that single anti-Protestant actions still exist, the evangelical churches in Bulgaria are experiencing a time of freedom and revival. As a result, the Protestant churches have grown more than 780%. For example, while in the mid 80s the Bulgarian Church of God had only 800 members today there are more than 380 churches with 31,000 members, as 37 churches with 5,200 members are in the capital Sofia alone. This is the context in which we minister every day, preach the Gospel, advance the Kingdom and declare that Jesus is Lord of Bulgaria.
Mission Bulgaria Week 25
NEWS – Week 25 – February 3-10, 2002 – Sofia, BULGARIA
Greetings from Bulgaria: The new crusade/evangelization Saturday service was given an extraordinary start. The meeting was held in an auditorium called “The Bulgarian-Soviet Comradeship” in the building of what used to be called the Russian Club, a building used by the Communist party before the fall of the Berlin Wall. This past Saturday a great more than 340 attended a Pentecostal worship service there. The crusade meetings purpose to gather predominantly teenagers and young families and provide for them Christian fellowship on Saturday. It offers a more alternative style of worship and preaching that targets specific needs and problems of the young people. On Sunday we held a Communion service in the Pravetz Church of God. There, the more traditional for the Bulgarian Church of God style of taking Communion is still preserved, as it includes foot washing and a special prayer for the sick with anointing. After the service two reported instant healing. More than 40 attended, and I am personally encouraged by the church that is being revived by God before my very eyes.
Mission Bulgaria Week 24
NEWS – Week 24 – January 17-February 2, 2002 – Sofia, BULGARIA
Greetings from Bulgaria:
What an exciting and busy week. On Tuesday our regular service for English-speaking people met with great success. On Wednesday we started the service with a new worship team of seven musicians and singers and then I preached on Galatians chapter three. During the altar service we witnessed a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit as many cried, prayed and received miracles from God. On Friday a service was held in the town of Kustendil, about 100 miles south of Sofia in the Bulgarian part of Macedonia. Several at the meeting reported deliverance from the influence of demons. On Sunday the lesson was on “Ministries and Praxis.” The afternoon service in Pravetz was good as many attended from the towns and villages around.
Another good report came from the small village in the Rodopi Mountains (Southern Bulgaria). The village is close to the Turkish border and it is completely Muslim. The only three Christian converts were Pentecostal. In the beginning of this week they were approached by the Muslim imam (local chief of the town mosque), who asked them of their faith. As they explained what they believed, the imam who was in a wheel chair said, “If your God is real he can heal me now, can’t He?” The Christians prayed for him right on the small city squire in front of the mosque and the village people. The imam was instantly and completely healed. It was reported that by the end of the week the mosque was closed because no one attended any longer.
At 5 p.m. on February 9 we are planning a large non-denominational evangelization crusade at the Auditorium of the Bulgarian-Russian Friendship, a building that during the Regime was used for youth meetings Communist Party. It has only 400 seats but we expect many more to attend.
Mission Bulgaria Week 23
NEWS – Week 23 – January 21-27, 2002 – Sofia, BULGARIA
The pope will also visit Bulgaria in May, a week after he turns 82. That trip will be part of his efforts to improve relations with Orthodox Christians, a visit the Vatican hopes will pave the way for a hoped-for trip to Russia. Church officials are also discussing possible trips this year to Belarus and Croatia and a possible stop in the summer in John Paul’s native Poland. Italian press reports suggested that the pope has expressed a desire to visit Ground Zero, the site of the September 11 terrorist attack against the World Trade Center in New York. The Vatican, however, said such a stop was not under consideration.
On Sunday, the Bulgarian Church of God called its ordained ministers in Sofia city and the area. More than 30 churches were represented by their pastors and deacons. Seven of them are newly started. A total membership of 4, 594 was reported for the churches from the denomination in the Sofia area which has an approximate population of 1,5 million people. Compared to the past 5 years, the membership in the Sofia area has doubled and it now represents almost 27% of the membership of the Bulgarian Church of God nationwide. Only 4 of these churches have their own building, while the rest are renting auditoriums in all regions of the city. A decision was taken to begin crusade meetings on Saturday afternoon for evangelization purposes.
Mission Bulgaria Week 22
NEWS – Week 22 – January 13-20, 2002 – Sofia, BULGARIA
Greetings form Bulgaria:
Just wanted to report with a great joy a few new developments in the ministry here in Sofia. On Mondays we have a home group that meats in a suburb of Sofia and studies Pentecostal events and practices in the Bible. On Tuesday we started an English speaking service for foreign students and immigrants who go to our church, but needed some special pastoral care in a language they could understand without any problems.
After finishing the expository series on the book of Revelations, I started a new one on Galatians on Wednesday. The series contain 6 lessons, one on each chapter.
On Thursday nights as well as Sunday afternoons, I have been traveling to the town of Pravetz, where I am now pastoring the local church since the leave of the pastor last December. Pravetz has been on my heart as the town where I preached my first sermon and received my first assignment with the Church of God as a youth pastor in 1990-1993. The church experienced revival in the spring of 1991 and more than 200 young people were saved and baptized in the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately after 1995 the revival quieted down as many of the students graduated and left town.
This past Sunday Pastor Pavel Ignatov and myself traveled to Pravetz together for a coordinating meeting with pastors and members from the area. In the small upper room 64 were present not only from Pravetz but also from the towns of Botevegrad, Yablanitza, Etropole and I brought a short message on the Parable of the Prodigal Son, after which we had prayer for healing. People were coming to the front crying and kneeling wherever they found a place to receive prayer by the pastors. There was hardly any room to walk around the pulpit, as God poured out His Spirit and many were touched.
The Sunday School Pilot program is also continuing and increasing its influence. We have reached the number of 15 thematic Bible lessons, as more than 28,000 individual copies have been distributed. Beside in the more than 50 local churches, the lessons are now taught also in the Sunday morning service at the Central Prison in Sofia. This past week, I turned the lessons in for editing and publication as a book. Meanwhile, some of them have been reprinted in different magazines.
In March, I will be teaching three seminars in the Systematic Theology class at the Bulgarian Theological Evangelical Institute in Sofia. The seminars will be on the topics of Ecclesiology, Pneumatology and Eschatology. This coming Friday morning, I am also giving a brief lecture on Preservation of Pentecostal Primitivism.
Finally, an article, which I wrote in 1999 about the first Bulgarian graduate from Harvard University, will be published in the February/March issue of the “Bulgarian Theology” scholarly magazine.
For all of the above I praise the Lord with all my heart. I thank you for your continuous support, Please pray for us.
Mission Maranatha 2001
Excerpts from the testimonies given by Mission Maranatha ministry members, during the annual ministry retreat.
The village of Poliana: “We hold a regular church service in the village. I travel with two to four people approximately 70 km. (45 miles) when we have a car available. When we do not have a car, we take a bus and walk the last three miles to the village. What makes it hard is the fact that because of the financial crises, the busses of the public transportation have certain limits and they are not on a regular schedule.”
The town of Kamenetz: “The mayor of this little town and his wife just recently received Christ. They and two other ladies travel four times a week on their own expenses to the town Yambol where they attend the Bible seminars organized by the local Assemblies of God Church. Although I have recently graduated from the Bulgarian Bible Academy I go along with them to every seminar and support them in their studies.”
The village of Tchukarovo: “This village is at the border with Turkey, approximately 120 km. (45 miles) from Yambol. For the Bulgarian standards, this is very far away (Bulgaria is approximately 450 km. on the long side). There are three military checkpoints through which we pass in order to get there and we need a special permit to travel in this restricted area. Because of the closeness to the border, the population is predominantly Turkish. What makes it even harder to work there is the fact that a great number of underground mafia groups have interests in the area because it is a key point for commercial traveling, There are always kilometric-long lines of eighteen wheelers that are waiting to pass the border both ways.
Last month while having service in the local congregation, our team was disturbed by an armed group of Orthodox nationalistic fundamentals, part of a local gangster cartel. They surrounded the building with their BMW and Mercedes vehicles and ordered us to stop the services and leave. One of them, a representative of the local branch of the Nationalistic Party, threatened to arrest us using the authority of his office. Of course, we refused to obey and continued our service with the Lord protecting us and giving us great strength and wisdom.
After the meeting, one of the men on my team left our team saying that the work had become too challenging for him. Nevertheless, we increased our visits in Tchukarovo to twice a week, and at every second visit we show free of charge the movie Jesus. Last week we were told that the man who initiated the legal and physical action against us was released from his chairman position with a full majority on to independent electoral votes.”
Two new churches were added during the Christmas holidays. The Mission Maranatha team ministers to a total of ten churches in the Yambol area. Their schedule includes almost constant traveling and preaching, as follows:
Monday Total distance traveled: 138 km. (87 miles)
2:00 p.m. Poliana 20-25 people
Tuesday Total distance traveled: 100 km. (60 miles)
2:00 p.m. Kamenetz 20-25 people (plus children’s church)
4:00 p.m. Leyarovo 8-13 people (home church)
Wednesday Total distance traveled: 240 km. (150 miles)
4:00 p.m. Tchukarovo 5-7 people
Thursday Total distance traveled: 122 km. (76 miles)
1:00 p.m. Liulin 10-12 people
4:00 p.m. Bogorovo 10-12 people
Friday Total distance traveled: 138 km. (87 miles)
1:00 p.m. Poliana 20-25 people
Saturday Total distance traveled: 250 km. (156 miles)
9:00 am Borisovo 10-13 people (home church)
12:00 p.m. Saransko 15 people (plus children’s church)
3:00 p.m. Robovo 3-5 people (home church)
6:00 p.m. Tchukarovo 5-7 people (the movie Jesus)
Sunday: Total distance traveled: 140 km. (87 miles)
10:00 a.m. Tchelnik 25 people (Sunday School)
Leyarovo 54 people (Sunday School)
2:00 p.m. Kamentez 20-25 people (children’s church)
Luilin 10-12 people – Double Team Services
6:00 p.m. Tchelnik 25 people (plus children’s church)
Leyarovo 54 people
Mission Bulgaria Week 21
NEWS – Week 21 – January 7-12, 2002 – Sofia, BULGARIA
This is Kathryn Barton reporting from Bulgaria on behalf of my fiancée, Dony K. Donev and Cup and Cross Ministries International.
Due to the weather conditions here in Bulgaria my flight has been delayed a day and I will be leaving after the Sunday morning church service tomorrow. Dony has finished teaching his Sunday School Lessons on the 14 articles of the Declaration of Faith and this Sunday he will start a new series of lessons beginning with a lesson on fasting and prayer.
This week has been very successful one for the Bulgaria Church of God, because a new outreach ministry has been started. As of now, every Tuesday an English speaking service will be held at 5:00 p.m. which will minister among foreign students studying in Bulgaria, English speaking missionaries and visitors. This Tuesday Dony and I were privileged to participate in the first meeting where 19 were present.
On Wednesday night Dony finished teaching from Revelation. Now, he is planning to begin another series on Galatians. Also, Dony has been working on organizing a Chaplaincy course, which will be held in Sofia at the end of February.
Mission Bulgaria Week 20
Week 20 – December 31, 2001 – January 6, 2002 – Sofia, BULGARIA
Monday we celebrated New Years Eve with an address by the former President of Bulgaria, Peter Stoyanov and with firework displays all through out the capital. Then on Tuesday morning, the first day of the New Year, it is a tradition to “surovak” people. A “surovaknitza ” is a decorated branch used on New Years day to bring health and luck to the receiver of a pat on the back with it.
Wednesday night Dony preached on Revelation 21, a sermon entitled “A Place Called Heaven”. He spoke on how scripture tells us that there will be 12 gates in Heaven and he depicted the picture of 12 equal segments, which visually represents a clock and the center of all is God, the light source. Then on Sunday we moved to a different auditorium in the National Palace of Cultures and Dony’s Sunday School Lesson was on Tithing and Giving.
Some areas in Bulgaria have up to 10 feet of snow and it is extremely difficult to travel. The Danube River, which borders Bulgaria and Romania, is completely frozen and ships cannot travel freely. And because of the excess cold, the student holiday break will be increased by one week.
Dony has been invited to teach three seminars respectively on Pentecostal Ecclesiology, Pneumotology, and Eschatology at the Bulgarian Evangelical Theological Institute (B.E.T.I.) in Sofia. He has also submitted an article to a local Christian magazine called “Bulgarian Theology” in a dialog between different Christian formations in Bulgaria. The magazine will come out in February. We are also preparing to publish in Bulgarian a 14-lesson Sunday School commentary on the Declaration of Faith.
Mission Bulgaria Week 19
NEWS – Week 19 – December 25-30, 2001 – Sofia, BULGARIA
Merry Christmas and happy New Year from Bulgaria:
This is Kathryn Barton reporting on behalf of my fiancée, Dony K. Donev and Cup and Cross Ministries International.
On Monday night, which was Christmas Eve, we celebrated Christmas with a traditional Bulgarian dinner with Banitza, which is a baked strudel like pastry filled with egg and cheese (for the Banitza Recipe click here ). Then for desert we had Baklava with walnuts. The weather permitted for a perfectly white Christmas. Dony said he has not seen so much snow in his whole life. The temperatures were constantly –17C (5F), which is the coldest it has been for the past 30 years here in Bulgaria.
On Tuesday morning we attended a Christmas service, which was held by Rumen Ivanov, the brother of the Overseer of the Bulgarian Church of God, Pavel Ignatov. The service was opened with a skit performed by the youth of the church and afterwards Dony greeted the church, Rumen Ignatov preached and there was a time of testimonials and singing of Christmas chorals.
On Wednesday night Dony preached on Revelation chapter 20. Then on Thursday we where able to go and minister to the Church of God Congregation in Pravetz, where Dony preached a sermon entitled “Christ in Christmas”. Then while in the area we were also able to visit Yablanitza, which is about a 30-minute drive from Pravetz. Here we saw the new building of the Church of God. Dony pastored the Yablanitza church in 1991-1993. Now, one of the former members of Dony’s youth group in Pravetz serves there as a pastor.
On the weekend we went site seeing around Sofia. We visited the Alexander Nevski Cathedral which is also called the Golden Church because of its Golden dome roof. We also saw Sofia University “Clement Ohridsky,” the National Library “Ivan Vazov,” and the Bulgarian Parliament with the monument of “Tzar Osvoboditel” (The Deliverer Czar (King)).
On Sunday morning Dony taught his Sunday School Lesson in the National Palace of Cultures on “Foot Washing”. Afterwards we had dinner with the overseer’s family.
Mission Bulgaria Week 18
NEWS – Week 18 – December 17-24, 2001 – Sofia, BULGARIA
Greeting from Bulgaria:
This is Kathryn Barton reporting on behalf of my fiancée, Dony K. Donev and Cup and Cross Ministries International.
What a true joy it has been to be a guest in the Country of Bulgaria. The people are extremely nice and welcome me with open arms.
On Tuesday Dony registered me with the Bulgarian police department with no problems. In Bulgaria this is the only requirement for visitors without a visa and registering has to be done within forty-eight hours of entering the country.
On Wednesday night Dony preached on Revelations chapters 18 and 19 on a lesson entitled “Behold the Bride Cometh”. About 60 people came to the alters for prayer. Then after the service we enjoyed a traditional Christmas pastry desert called banitza, which one of the ladies in church had prepared.
Dony and his family have been introducing me to many different foods. Some are very interesting, but for the most part I have found them to be very good. Most of the meat here in Bulgaria during the winter season is smoked and therefore do not have to be cooked and a meal would not be complete with out bread.
On Saturday we traveled to Pravetz were Dony showed me the town where he went to school and served as a youth pastor for 3 ½ years in the local Church of God. The temperature has risen 10 degrees since I have been here. The snow is beginning to melt and the roads are clearing. So on Sunday, after church we were able to travel to Borovetz. Borovetz is a ski resort about a two-hour drive southeast of Sofia. The resort has hosted tournaments of Alpine World Cup Championship and its biathlon course is among the best in the world.
Service Sunday morning was absolutely wonderful. Dony began the service with his Sunday School Lesson on the Christmas Story and more than 400 Sunday School pamphlets were handed out. Tedy, Dony’s sister, translated for me during the service, but for most of the service no translation was needed. I could see God moving in the lives of about 50 individuals who came to the altars to receive Christ as their personal Savior. Then after the service, Christmas shoeboxes were distributed to all the children present. It was absolutely wonderful to see the Children’s faces as they received their gifts.
