Mission Bulgaria Week 7
Week 7 – September 30 – October 6, 2001 – Sofia, BULGARIA
Christian Greetings. Please be assured of our prayers for the people of the United States during this time of war and conflict. We are asking God for the best outcome of this situation. May the Lord bless you and keep you.
IN BULGARIA: I just have returned from a crusade meeting in Varna, Bulgaria.
Varna is the third largest city in Bulgaria. It was an inhabited place even before the Greeks established the colony of Odessos there about 580 B.C. Later, under the Romans and their successors, the Slavs, Varna became a major port trading with Constantinople, Venice and Dubrovnik. In 1393 it was captured by the Turks, who made it an important military centre.
Nowadays it is the main port for both naval and commercial shipping and, adjacent as it is to the coastal resorts of Golden Sands, St. Constantine (Drouzhba) and Albena, it has a cosmopolitan atmosphere. Sailors on shore-leave in unfamiliar ceremonial uniforms, mingle with foreign tourists and locals as they promenade along shady boulevards, lined by dignified 19th and early 20th century buildings. The approximate population is 700,000 people but because of its location during the summer more than 2 million from Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Russia, Ukraine and even from Germany and the Scandinavian countries.
We had two meetings in Varna – on Saturday night in the largest auditorium in the city and on Sunday morning in the Evangelical Pentecostal Church in town. More than 3,000 attended. The Lord touched us all, as the Gospel was preached. Many were healed and testified in the services. A felling of an old time revival filed the hearts of the people as the Glory of the Lord filled the places where we met.
In Sofia a similar crusade is planned for this coming weekend. We have reserved the largest auditorium in Bulgaria – National Palace of Culture #1 for the meetings, expecting more than 12,000 to attend. Our prayer is for God to bring revival again in Bulgaria.
Evangelization meetings, at the end of October at the Yablanitza region, and at the end of November at the Lom-Vidin region, are planned as part of this crusade. Please pray for me as I travel there.
Please, also support me in prayer for the church in Pravetz. This is the church where I first started preaching and worked as a youth pastor for 3 years in the beginning of my ministry. The pastor there is pressed by critical financial situation to move to Israel and work there. He will be leaving in a few weeks, and the church will have no one to take care of it. The Lord has laid it on my heart to begin traveling to Pravetz twice a week and pastor the church there. Unfortunately, at this time I do not have the means of doing this, but please support me in your prayer, as I wait on the Lord for direction.
Mission Bulgaria Week 6
This past week, upon the approval of the Council of Elders of the Bulgarian Church of God, we began a Sunday School program. My personal participation includes the development of the program and its literature, since the Bulgarian Church has never had a Sunday School before. We are hoping that in two months the lessons will be published and sent weekly to all local churches, and the work will grow to a national event.
This past Sunday we started the lessons on the Declaration of Faith in the Central Church. The first lesson was on Water Baptism and the congregation received it very well. Since it has never been done before, we are working with all age groups at once, so the program is structured as a 15-20 minutes lecture right before the worship service. We had more than 1,000 people during the time of the lesson. The number doubled for the worship service. The auditorium was so full that the younger people had to sit on the steps to free some seats.
On Wednesday, upon the recommendation of the National Overseer Pavel Ignatov, I am started a series on the Book of Revelation, which will continue for 10-12 weeks. During the week, I am also working as youth director and spending a few hours every day in the public relations office of the church’s headquarters.
In September and October the Bulgarian Church of God had organized a number of large crusade meetings in different cities in the country each weekend. This weekend the crusade was planned in the city of Samokov (near Sofia), where we have the largest Gipsy Church of God on the Balkanizes (approximately 1,700 of membership). We had planned to have a picnic for about 7,000 on Saturday as a number of worship teams from around the country were going to perform and lead in worship the people. Unfortunately, due to some social tension there, the mayor and the city authorities of Samokov asked us to postpone to a later date. The situation there arose, as the socially weak families have not received their humanitarian aid for several months. Up to 70% of the population of the town is unemployed. The parents have no way to send their children to school. The directors of the social homes, the orphanages and the homes for elderly people call us for help on a daily bases. The tension transformed into physical attacks between teenagers from the minority ghettos and some local students members of skinhead organizations in the town. The initial attack grew to constant street fights and riots to the point that the police had to establish a curfew, as well as the early closing of all bars, clubs and businesses of this sort in the town.
Tomorrow we are continuing with the Sunday School program with a lesson on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. I have been working hard all week to be able to write, edit and produce the materials for the service. Also in the afternoon we will be visiting the Church of God in Yablaniza where I have pastored before. A gentleman from my youth group is assuming the pastoral position there and we were invited to the ceremony.
Mission Bulgaria Week 5
MINISTRY: Since the time I arrived in Bulgaria about a month ago, I have been working closely with the National Overseer Pastor Pavel Ignatov. Besides my responsibilities in the National Youth Movement, for the past two weeks we have been working on the developing of a strategy to increase the level of Pentecostal preaching and ministry among the churches of the denomination. As a tool we have prepared a series of Sunday School lessons as based on the Declaration of Faith, which will be mailed to churches and ministers on a weekly bases. Such ministry, although much needed, has never been introduced to the Bulgarian Christians and we believe that as a historical precedent it will be revolutionary in its results. I will be presenting the full Sunday School Program tomorrow at the Council of Elders meeting in the town of Purvomay.
This coming Sunday I am beginning a 15-minute series on the Book of Acts, which will be held at the Central Church of God before each Sunday prior to the morning worship service. This series will be combined with the lessons on the Church of God Declaration of Faith. Also, beginning on Wednesday, September 26, 2001 I will start a series of expository preaching on the Book of Revelation.
This past Wednesday night I had my first opportunity to preach. I ministered in the Central Church of God in Sofia. Approximately 200 came to the service. Due to the building limitations, the congregation of the Central Church of God attend different local Churches of God during the week Approximately 200-250 come to the national headquarters where services are held daily. Perhaps, very soon this problem will be solved as the new building, called New Home, for the Central Church of God will be finished. We are praying that the weather will permit for the work to continue every day.
WEATHER: The weather in September has been warm. Although it was in the low 50F in the beginning of the month, it has changed to quite warm and nice weather for the latter part of the month. There have been some rainy days, but this is usual for the fall in Bulgaria.
INTERESTING FACTS: Since the Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, 1,200 Pentecostal congregations have been started in Bulgaria. This simply means that for the past 12 years 2 new churches have been started every week. Approximately 350 of these churches belong to the Bulgarian Church of God, as this fact characterizes it as the fastest growing denomination in Bulgaria.
PRAYER NEEDS: Please, pray for the Council of Elders Meeting on Saturday September 22 in the town of Purvomay. Pray also for the National Crusade with Dr. David Hathaway from England, which will be continuing every Sunday for the remaining of September and into October.
Thank you for your kind responses, which I receive every day. Thank you for your interest in our ministry. May the Lord bless you richly for your work in His Kingdom!
Mission Maranatha in Yambol, Bulgaria
For the past three years Mission Maranatha has been labouring in seven of the churches in the area of Yambol, Bulgaria. Two of them were started by the Home Mission Team of Life of Christ Church of God United, where we served as the associate pastor in 1996-97. The humble work with the two small congregations has continuously grown to be a network of seven churches; five of the churches are newly founded and two are in villages where there has never been a Protestant church before. This has been possible through the powerful outreach ministries to orphans and widows that has touched both individuals and communities in a time of deep economical, political and social crises in Bulgaria.
Since none of the seven churches has a pastor, the itinerary of the small team of people comprising Mission Maranatha contains a minimum of four weekly trips to different areas. They often hold up to twelve services a week, and are always open for new opportunities for ministry. Their church meetings are always accompanied with miracles and healings, which has drawn many new converts.
Naturally, the magnitude of the work has drawn much opposition as well. It comes predominantly form Eastern Orthodox authorities, who are part of the traditional religious background in Bulgaria. Acting completely against the laws of Bulgaria, a nationalistic political organization, which deliberately opposes Protestantism of any kind condemning them as sectarians, has brought number of threats against the outreach work of the seven churches. The difficulty of the situation calls for our prayers.
Despite the numerous external obstacles and financial difficulties, the work of Mission Maranatha is continuously growing. The members of the team are regularly interviewed by Christian and secular newspapers informing of their work. They are also often asked to speak at seminars and church meetings. Mission Maranatha holds weekly program called Pentecost Today on the local radio station.
This is only a minimum excerpt of the work in Bulgaria. More detailed information will be soon sent to you from Mission Maranatha. Again, thank you for your continuous prayers and gracious support. May the Lord richly bless you.
