Romania

Land & People

During the days of the Roman Empire, Rome conquered the Dacians, ancestors of the Romanian people, and made the region a Romanian province. When the Roman Empire fell, the people of the area mixed with Germanic, Magyar, and Slavic peoples to form the Romanian people.

Religion

The Romanian Orthodox Church is the largest religious organization in the country. From 1948-1989, atheistic Communist ideology ruled the land.

Year Established

1990

Past & Current Work

During Communist rule, a Baptist Mid-Missions missionary made numerous trips into Romania and made valuable contacts with Romanian Christian leaders.

In the spring of 1990—just a few months after the execution of President Nicolae Ceaușecu and the subsequent fall of Communism—this missionary took two BMM administrators into Romania to learn what the believers considered to be their greatest needs. These persecuted believers declared that their greatest need was teaching. Of approximately 1,100 Baptist churches, only about 150 had pastors.

In 1993, a Romanian pastor of a Romanian Baptist church in the US was burdened for the Roma population in his homeland. He and his wife returned to Romania to evangelize and plant churches among the Roma people. Churches were planted in Tinca, Batar, Giriș, Tamajda, Oșand, Salonta, Gepiu, Ciumeghiu, Olcea, Gepiș, and Cefa.

Tim and Sandy Fink arrived in 2001 to assist in further Roma church planting and leadership training. They planted churches in Oșorhei, Cheriu, and Marțihaz before God called them to different ministry. Luke and Kimberly Warner, who arrived in 2009, started a church plant amongst the Roma in the village of Luncșoara and have begun a literacy ministry to meet the literacy needs of the Roma. Also on the field are Dave and Ruth Kimmel, whose ministry is to assist the other missionaries in the area of discipleship. Travis and Becky Gravley, formerly served in leadership training before joining the BMM home office staff.

All missionaries are praying that God will use this team to reach the people of Romania for Christ and to encourage more workers to join this team in harvesting souls for Jesus Christ.

Goals

There are about 2.5 million Roma in Romania who are open to the gospel. There is freedom now in Romania to preach, teach, and print Bibles and tracts. The doors are wide open and the harvest is white.

Workers Needed

There is a great need for more missionaries to work with Roma, especially as church planters and instructors for the Bible institute. One of the greatest needs the team currently has is to find personnel with medical backgrounds to serve as liaisons within the Romanian medical system to aid the Roma with their healthcare needs.


View the Romania field's video here.

Additional Facts

http://www.britannica.com/plac...