Romania (MNN) – World Missionary Press’s (WMP) impact is growing in Romania.
WMP’s Helen Williams recently visited distributor partners in the country. She reports that sharing the Gospel amongst the people is difficult, especially in the southern region of the nation.
Southern Romania
“In Romania, we were in the southern part, and there are seven-thousand villages and cities in the southern part of Romania without a Gospel presence,” she says.
“There’s poverty. There’s a lot of alcoholism and just idleness that creates problems. Families are in distress. There’s little opportunity for work. They are still operating much under the old mindset and of communism from so many years [back].”
When communism had a grip on the nation, Christians and other religious followers were heavily persecuted. The regime’s wanted to create an atheistic society.
Hundreds of priests were arrested or killed and the Church was completely taken over by the government.
That fear from the past still remains in the culture in southern Romania.
“So, when you try to present the Gospel of Jesus there, it’s so different than anything that they know in so many ways. And there’s a fear of stepping out and taking on something new or something different, and perhaps losing something that they’ve got that they’ve been hanging onto for years. It’s a very difficult area.”
Breaking Hard Ground
While in Romania, Williams spoke with missionary partners who were from the northern part of the nation. There, the Gospel is more prevalent and there’s a stronger Christian presence. These missionaries also said that breaking ground with their neighbors to share the Truth is a challenge.
Some missionaries had been there for years and only saw a handful of people who chose to become followers of Christ.
Working toward sharing opportunities means befriended their neighbors and being patient. They have persistently shown Christ’s love and shared the Gospel one-on-one when the opportunity presented itself.
Williams says one couple particularly stuck out to her. The husband had been saved as a teenager. Later, he and his family had moved south so they could share the Gospel.
He had often seen WMP booklets in the north when he was a child and used them in his work in the south.
He told Williams that he became discouraged after several years of his work because he didn’t see any results. As he prayed, however, he understood that he was called to plant the seeds of the Gospel in people’s hearts. God would do the rest.
He and other WMP partners in Romania told Williams that they believe the time is right to take bold steps forward, “and the literature will help them do that.”
Partners would like to start doing wider distributions of scripture booklets and street ministry.
(Photo courtesy of World Missionary Press via Facebook)
Ministry leaders told Williams that, “people may shake their heads at us, but they’ll take a booklet, put it in their pocket, and who knows when they’re going to read it?”
WMP currently has a shipment ready to be sent to Romania; however, they have many more requests for booklets.
With just $1, you can send 25 booklets. Often, each booklet is read by more than one person. Imagine the difference you can make with just a small gift.
Support WMP’s work in Romania by sending more booklets. Get started here.
Header photo by Alisa Anton on Unsplash.
