Knowing without knowing

As we walk down the familiar dirty road toward a poverty stricken Roma (Gypsy) neighborhood, prayers go through our heads requesting that God bring freedom to a people under heavy bondage ranging from spiritual blindness to physical addictions and social discrimination. On the way into the village we greet smiling children, and friendly adults of which the same just over two years earlier threw rocks and cursed us on our first arrival. Our hearts are full of praise for His wonderful changing power. On the way to the small home in which we have church weekly, we are welcomed for a short visit into a home in which we have not yet visited. On entering this house we are greeted with the typical greeting of exchanging kisses on each others cheeks and the single mother of four scantly dressed young children, quickly cleans the room, stokes the fire and apologizes for her lack of supplies to give us a cup of coffee or something sweet to eat. We look around the slightly smoky room and see the typical dirt floor, poorly panted dirt walls decorated by half a dozen small pictures of Jesus, Mary and other Saints of the Bible. Soon our conversation turns toward God and spiritual matters. We ask if she knows God. She tells us that she knows about Jesus and she quickly tells us, in a manner perhaps to impress, that Jesus died on the cross and that if she does good things in this life then she will be received in heaven. The majority of our conversations about God usually ends up at this same place – that of the need to explain salvation being a gift of God and not based upon what we do but only upon our acceptance of His gift. This type of response is so typical here - and we begin to talk with her about Gods grace and the free gift of salvation.

Just as America, Romania is known as a Christian nation. Many Romanians know about God in fact, ninety percent of Romanians claim to be Orthodox and in general, Romanians are very religious. Religion is part of daily life in Romania reminders of its influence is everywhere displayed in the majority of homes with pictures of Jesus and the saints on the walls of their homes, or can be seen with many caring good luck pictures of Jesus or the saints with them in the car or to work, and even one can see numerous life size crosses with Jesus hanging in pain throughout the country side which are said to bring protection and blessing. Many Romanians question why foreign missionaries come to their country, after all many in Romania have been taught since youth Bible stories at church and in the public schools and have become accustomed with the many mystical ceremonies of the Orthodox, as well as miracles and superstitions. For example every Easter the Orthodox priests row a boat of men out into the middle of a very cold lake where a chosen few men prepare themselves to demonstrate God’s power over nature by diving into the frigid waters without getting cold or shivering. This year one of our neighbors told us that even though she was of the Reformed church she was going to go to the Easter service at the Orthodox church because they give a small bottle of specially blessed wine that if used during the year will heal of any sickness during that year. She was hoping to use it again this year to heal any earaches that she might encounter. Romania is a country steeped in religion the majority having heard about God and even knowing that Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the world, but what is lacking many times is the experience of this wonderful relationship that comes from putting ones life in the hands of He who has given us salvation of our souls through faith in Him and not by our works. Simply put, Romania needs to hear the “good news” and this is the message we are given to preach: “do you personally know this wonderful Jesus you have heard so much about.” We do not feel called to proselytize a Christian nation, rather we have come to lead others to experience Whom we love, to come to know Jesus and to hear His voice.

Christianity, not a cold religion, but something that is alive and works

Romania used to be known as the bread basket of Europe, that is, it was Europe’s largest producer of grains and food goods. Even 15 years after communist rule has fallen, Romania remains largely a rural nation. Over twelve million, about half of the population of Romania, live in the many small villages of Romania. Life is simple in these villages and many live off of the land as in the early days of American history. Amazingly within these many villages, over 10,000 villages do not have evangelical churches.

I love to say God has put in our hearts His desires, and in so doing he has given us the desires of our hearts. He fulfilled our hearts desire by directing our family in 2004 to minister in the villages of the foothills of the Mountains of Vladeasa located in North Western Romania. In this mountainous zone there are many scattered villages and many have yet to understand a personal God and His grace. The vision that He gave us for this valley is evangelistic in nature: that He would bring a the good news into Calatele and begin the work there changing hearts from the chill of winter to the warmth of springtime and from the ashes of hopelessness set the people free from their bondages. And from the radical change of this place and testimony of changed lives, His people then would spread the Good News into the surrounding area propagating this transformation. Effectively, change will come through the testimony of the changed lives of the downcast especially of the Roma to dramatically affect the surrounding Roma, Romanian and Hungarian villages for His glory. Praise God we are seeing the fulfillment of this promise through the changed lives of Calatele reaching out to their neighbors and even into different villages! With this in mind it is not a surprise that God has called us to minister to the downcast and outcast of these villages especially those that are Roma. And since we feel that it will be the natives that will be spreading the good news to their neighbors we feel called to focus upon equipping them to do the work of ministry with their fellow countrymen (Eph 4).

Within Romania, as well as many European countries nationalism can been seen within daily life, which causes friction between diverse groups of people. Without distinction we minister with Romanians and Hungarians and Roma. And over the past three and a half years in Romania, God has put into our hearts a special compassion and empowering to work with the Roma (Gypsies) of Romania. As mentioned in the previous article, Roma of Romania, the Roma are not always welcomed into the fabric of society including many of the churches of Romania. In Calatele the government set aside land on the outskirts of town for the very poor Roma with the hopes of alleviating the friction between the Roma and the Romanians, as well as to help with the lack of housing for many of the Roma poor. This neighborhood, whether intentionally or not, serves as a type of exile for the outcast and only hinders the restoration of these people. After much prayer the Holy Spirit lead us to begin the ministry in this village of Calatele. He opened a door in the Gypsy neighborhood, a shantytown of sorts, which could be easily classified as third world conditions. This neighborhood, we found out later, is notorious for its criminal activity and lawlessness. In fact when we first went into this village we were often pick pocketed, stolen from, and even our son’s glasses were stolen right off of his face. Only by the power of the Holy Spirit were doors of ministry opened there. We preached the gospel message to those who wanted to hear, and some received but many had hearts of hard and rocky soil. Over time the Word of God has found a home in some hearts but others who heard the message and who responded quickly, faded away after trials came. Until now only a handful of seeds have taken hold and are now bearing fruit. However this handful have had a strong impact through their testimony upon the hearts and minds of many in this area. The testimony of the their changed lives, so evidently seen, speaks volumes about the supernatural power of God working through a personal relationship in the downcast. It has been a difficult battle often times feeling like we are climbing toward the top of a steep and treacherous mountain, but we are encouraged by witnessing lives truly changed and the softening atmosphere of this neighborhood from hardened and closed towards soft and receptive. It has been wonderful to hear our neighbors, (who live next door to us in Sincraiu, a neighboring village to Calatele), noticing a change in the people of Calatele - to God be all the glory! One evening my wife was over talking with one of our next door neighbors about God’s work in Calatele. A ruckus interrupted their conversation as our neighbors son came back with a surprised face. Earlier that day he had taken a trip into the big city and he dropped his wallet in the van in which he was traveling. He didn’t notice that it was missing until the driver, from Calatele brought back the wallet to his house that evening. He was shocked when he counted his money and it was all there saying, “God must really be doing a work in Calatele.” Through His grace we have had the wonderful opportunity to see the mighty work of the Holy Spirit resulting in changed lives and spreading into the lives of others. These changes have come within the group who would be voted by mainstream Romanian society as, “least likely to change”– giving God even more glory.

For over a year and a half now we have held church at a home of a wonderful Roma lady Maria. Her family has opened the door of their home as well as their hearts for God’s work and she is actively involved in spreading her newfound joy with her neighbors and with the kids of the village and surrounding villages. Maria was the first one to accept Jesus into her heart and we as well as her neighbors have witnessed a miraculous transformation in her heart and life. On Sunday afternoons there is Bible study for the adults, and for the children a separate children’s program. Naturally, the hearts of the children of the village are much more open to God and it has been such a blessing to work with these precious kids. One young teenage girl named Pamela who works all day to help her father and mother as well as other families who will hire her out for cooking and cleaning or to care for their children, likes to sit and listen to the Bible studies. When she can break away from her work, she often times will stand or crouch near the door or stove to hear about Jesus. Many of the children of the village when they were asked if they would like Jesus to come into their hearts gladly received, and in stead of throwing rocks and screaming curses at us they give us such joy with their echoing greetings of “salut” (hello) as we walk through the village.

The Good News

God had put on our hearts to begin evangelism in a neighboring village of Sacuieu. This village is right over the hill from our village and is close to Calatele. This village also has a large Roma population living in third world conditions, not unlike Calatele. I mentioned to Maria and her son Gika about what God was putting on my heart and they jumped at the opportunity to minister to their neighbors. One afternoon we drove out to Sacuieu where Gika and Maria proceeded to introduce us to the villagers and to set the stage for a Bible study which they gladly assured us that they wanted. Gika and Maria told them about what is happening in Calatele and encouraged them to be open to what God would do there as well. They accepted and a door is wide open for ministry among the people there. God has given Maria the heart of evangelism and she wants to be involved with the work there. It is wonderful to witness the beginnings of God’s promises being fulfilled in the church in Calatele spreading the good news to their fellow neighbors and neighboring villages. We ask for prayer as we seek a door of effectual ministry in these villages.

A Call to Prayer

Our primary labor at this point is prayer, spreading the Gospel message of a restored relationship with Jesus, and feeding the sheep whom God has entrusted to us. Please pray with us that 1) the strongman would be bound in this valley, and that his captives would be set free (Matt 12:29); 2) “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.” - Paul’s prayer in Ephesians chapter 1 applied for the people of Romania. Much prayer is needed for this valley as we know that only through His power the rocky soil will be slowly tilled and God’s seed can take root.

We know that the best is yet to come. There is always a time between God giving the promise and the fulfillment of His promise, we are in that time. We are excited to see what God will do within the lives of this community – we are praying for dramatic and supernatural changes. Through His grace, God will build His house among the most unlikely group of people, the out and down cast. God is looking for those whom He can show Himself mighty and He uses the most common and unlikely labors to carry such a precious Message to Romania. “God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty” (1Co 1:27). We expect great things from our Great God, to Him be all the glory.

Download Renew Romania Magazine Sept 2006.