A brief update on our ministry in Romania this month!
We are working in Draganesti-Olt, Romania, with Hope Church. The church is situated in Olt County, serving a large expanse of South Romania. The gospel was first heard in this area just 100 years ago. Our ministry host, Raul, told us that some refer to this area as the graveyard for Christian missionaries and pastors, as only 0.2% of the population in Southern Romania is Christian, and witchcraft and evil is rampant. We’ve been told that many parents will curse their children, and “give them to Satan”.
The largest challenge this month is the spiritual climate. Spiritual warfare is real. I’ve always heard about how strong and influential warfare can be in people’s lives, but living in it is a different story. This is the darkest place I have been to date.
That being said, I am incredibly happy that our entire squad is here serving with Hope Church. Although we have only been at ministry for a week, it is evident that this ministry is infiltrating this area with the gospel and delivering Christ’s hope to people all around this area. The church has a handful of local missionaries serving with them in Draganesti and surrounding villages, as well as a few American missionaries.
So far, ministry has consisted of:
- Street evangelism (going out and talking to people, building relationships with them & sharing Jesus)
- Kids ministry (teaching songs, mini lessons, and soccer of course!)
- Community events (trash pickup in Draganesti)
- Sending teams to Craiova for street evangelism, a larger city that neighbors the village we’re in
- Passing out New Testaments
- Helping missionaries with house maintenance (today we harvested an entire corn field)
In addition to all of those ministry activities, we also spend the entire morning in intercession (prayer) for Draganesti, the long-term missionaries here, and for Hope Church overall.
For the rest of September, please be in fervent prayer for our ministry activities, protection over our squad for the duration of our time here, and for the long-term missionaries here.
Thank you everyone!!
