Christian outreach in Romania by Les Taylor
April 2021
Nearly 30 years ago when I first visited Romania (and primarily Ploiesti) I was part of a group of 25 from the USA, Canada and the UK who went to take medicines, toys etc. to orphanages and local churches. My visits have continued ever since, although currently suspended because of the pandemic.
In 1992, there were long queues for bread with very little fresh vegetables or consumer products available. The churches were coming out from “the underground” and growing/multiplying. Today the situation is very different. Supermarkets, shopping malls, mobile phones, cars everywhere (more cars in Bucharest than people who live there), but sadly church attendance has not grown. Unemployment is still a big problem and in country villages many homes still do not have mains water.
During the mid 90’s Radio SOS (http://liveonlineradio.net/radio-sos or http://www.radiosos.info/) started broadcasting from Ploiesti and over the last 20 years I have been working primarily with CEO Mihail in preparing programmes and preaching in the local churches. Mihail is also the Vice President of the Assemblies of God denomination and a major issue for the churches is how to train and equip local pastors, most of whom are unpaid, and many have only a limited education.
In the last 10 years I have been helping Mihail to translate the Growing Leaders training course into Romanian and to make it culturally relevant. Whilst it was no small task, the course was successfully delivered on several occasions. Subsequently, in order to overcome the problem of people not being able to attend seminars, we developed a series of Radio programmes enabling leaders and potential leaders to “attend” the course and to run it locally, all the more significant during a pandemic.
This past year has presented new challenges for the Radio Station but enabling staff to work from home prior to the onset of the pandemic has been a real answer to prayer. All key staff are now able to work from home, giving the Radio five “mini studios”. The Radio Station’s programmes became even more important with churches unable to meet indoors. With more churches using the internet for online services, the demand for video recording has increased and the Radio Station has managed to create a new video studio to produce video programmes. The grounds of the Radio Station have also been very useful, enabling several local churches to hold services in the open air while complying with social distancing regulations.
Mihail and other Church Pastors have had to cope with a significant change to funeral arrangements, now requiring bodies to be buried within 24 hours of death instead of three days. The need to comply with funeral regulations for victims of the virus continues to be a challenge for churches. Respecting the needs of the grieving families and providing a Godly ceremony has not been easy but one that has continued to be a witness to the family and local communities.
Please hold Mihail in your prayers as the country emerges from Covid-19 and as we continue to work together to bring the Christian message to the Romanian people.
Graduates of the first Growing Leaders Course.
Three members of the family having just been baptised!