Romania May 2010

Earlier this year Judith and I were invited to join Dave and Liz Holden on a ministry trip to Romania. The specific aim was to visit the Newfrontiers Churches there, meet with pastors and leaders, speak at various gatherings, and to generally encourage and build stronger support-links for our brothers and sisters in this isolated and somewhat forgotten part of Europe.

Newfrontiers apostolic and prophetic teams have been involved with churches in Romania since the 1990s. Dave has a strong affinity with the nation which goes back a couple of decades before this. His parents used to take him along with the rest of their children on ‘family holidays’ to Romania in the early 1970s travelling overland in their trusty VW camper. It was one of the few communist countries that would let westerners in like this, and of course these Holden holidays were really thinly disguised mission trips, Dave’s parents possessing a zeal to support the spread of the Gospel in Eastern Europe in any way they could. Dave remembers the state of the nation then as being extremely impoverished compared to Western Europe, virtually no cars on the roads, what transport there was instead seemed almost medieval, and the society consisted of either labour-intensive agriculture in the rural areas, and ugly state manufacturing industries in the cities. Not much seems to have changed today, except perhaps that back in the ‘good old Marxist days’ everyone had the semblance of a job whereas now so many are long-term unemployed. The Romanian Orthodox church which has the allegiance of the majority of the population, at least nominally, portrays a very dark faith, there seems to be a cult of death and people queue miserably to kiss a saint's icon or bone in the vain hope that God will have mercy on them because of their 'penance'. 

Liz and Judith outside an Orthodox shrine in Iasi - slightly happier than the saint!

How far removed from such superstition is the main Newfrontiers church - Centrul Crestin Brasov

(Brasov Christian Centre) – a church of around 350 joyful, enthusiastic, worshippers which is situated a city strategically placed in the centre of the nation.

Dani, Dave & Jürgen in Brasov

Dani Rusu-Witting is the leading pastor, pictured here with Dave Holden and Jürgen Siegel (on the right) who is also a full-time elder.  We also made a 6 hour journey north to Iasi [pronounced ‘Yash’] which is near the Ukrainian and Moldova borders passing through various Hungarian and Gypsy communities en route. Romania has historically been a multi-cultural nation where east meets west and where there are distinct towns and villages with different cultures and languages. In Iasi we spent time with a smaller church reaching a city of around half a million where unemployment is very high and still rising. During our time with these great pioneering grace-filled churches we all spoke at a variety of gatherings for men & women, leaders, etc. and each time we met wonderful, faithful, generous, hungry people, who have had a bleak history, yet whose hope in Jesus shines through. We made some dear friendships.

The Iasi Church Leadership Team

One of the hopes we encountered is that the Brasov church can complete a community centre & training base project which would enable them to continue to grow a large metropolitan church, develop and train future leaders nationally, run large-scale conferences and reach out to the heart of this historic nation. Work has already begun - the site is pictured in the photo of Dave, Dani and Jürgen above. We have now returned with a challenge to join with several other Newfrontiers churches in Western Europe in raising the few hundred thousand £s needed to help them complete this strategic Christian Centre and make it a functioning tool in the mission we all share together. Let’s pray and plan to partner with our brothers and sisters in the months ahead. Watch this space!