GOD’S HEART FOR ROMANIA · Twelve steps toward fulfilling the Great Commission in Romania...

GOD’S HEARTFOR ROMANIAReport on the State of the Evangelical

Churches in Romania 2001

OC International and Misiunea Mondială Unită

Copyright © 2001 OC International and Misiunea Mondială Unită

All rights to this report belong to OC International and Misiunea Mondială Unită.Reproduction in part or in whole of the text or illustrations in this report is possibleonly with written permission of the respective organizations.

OC INTERNATIONALC.P. 57-93Bucharest, RomaniaTelephone/Fax: (01) 323.77.10E-mail: [email protected]: www.oci.ro

MISIUNEA MONDIALĂ UNITĂStr. Iuliu Maniu, Nr. 12Cluj-Napoca, RomaniaTelephone/Fax: (064) 19.82.29E-mail: [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.oci.ro


CREDITSA project of this magnitude could not be realized without the help of many

organizations and individuals. We would like to thank the following:

The Romania Evangelical Alliancewho first saw the need for this project and invited OC International to Romania.

Misiunea Mondială Unităour partners in this work

who collected all the data and have provided good advice along the way.Without you this work may have never been done.

The Evangelical Denominations in Romania:The Baptist Union of Romania,

The Union of Pentecostal Churches in Romania,The Brethren Churches of Romania,The Romanian Evangelical Church,

and other independent churcheswho trusted us and gave us permission to gather data from their churches.

Dorin Dobrincuwho contributed the article

“A Short History of the Evangelism of Romania”.

Russell Mitchellwho oversaw the management and analysis of the church data,wrote several chapters of this report and edited the publication.

Donna Downes and Stan Downeswho wrote several chapters of this report.

Ion Achimwho proofread the manuscript

and made many valuable suggestions.

Alina Maiorwho entered all the data into the computer

and assisted in innumerable ways.

Daniel Munteanuwho designed the cover.

And most of all to God,to Him be the glory forever!

CONTENTS

1 WHAT IS GOD’S HEART FOR ROMANIA?An introduction to this report

6 WE HAVE COME THIS FAR BY GRACEHow the Church in Romania has grown until the present

18 SURVEYING THE LANDThe state of the evangelical churches in each of Romania’s provinces

30 DOES YOUR HEART BEAT FOR ROMANIA?Seven challenges before Romania’s evangelical churches

38 PLANTING RELEVANT CHURCHES IN A NEWSOCIAL CONTEXTThe affect of the modern social context on church planting

48 NOW IS THE TIME TO ACTTwelve steps toward fulfilling the Great Commission in Romania

Appendix 1. Tables

Appendix 2. Research forms

Appendix 3. Spiritual resources for church planting

Appendix 4. Organizations involved in church planting in Romania

GOD’S HEART FOR ROMANIA

What is God’s heart forRomania? When the Lord

looks at Romania what does hesee? What does he feel? What is the longing of his heart?

Scripture gives us many vividexamples of God’s heart. Godloves the whole world (John3:16)! He does not delight in thedeath of the wicked but ratherthat they turn from theirwickedness and live (Ezekiel18:23,32). In writing to Timothy, Paul emphasized the need to pray for all men because “This is good and pleases God our Savior, whowants all men to be saved and tocome to a knowledge of thetruth” (1 Timothy 2:3-4). Explaining the seemingly longdelay of the Lord’s coming, Peter refers to God’s heart for the lost. “He [the Lord] is patient withyou, not wanting anyone toperish, but everyone to come torepentance" (2 Peter 3:9). Godhas a passionate desire that allmight be saved.

Perhaps the most vivid image ofGod’s heart in the Old Testamentis found in the book of Jonah. Why didn’t Jonah want to go toNineveh? Because he knewGod’s heart! He knew God was“a gracious and compassionateGod, slow to anger andabounding in love, a God whorelents from sending calamity”(Jonah 4:2). The last thing thispatriot-prophet wanted was forGod to relent and spare Nineveh– Israel’s archenemy! Yet God’sheart for this wicked, pagan cityshines through. God says toJonah, “‘Nineveh has more thana hundred and twenty thousandpeople who cannot tell their righthand from their left...Should I not be concerned about that greatcity’” (Jonah 4:11)?

GOD’S HEART FOR ROMANIA 1

What isGod’s

heart forRomania?

Introduction to this report

God has incredible love forrebellious, wicked people whodon’t even acknowledge him. Jesus taught that his heavenlyFather is “kind to the ungratefuland selfish” (Luke 6:35). Hemakes the sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust (Matthew5:45). God has the heart of ashepherd who leaves the 99 sheep in the fold and goes to search forthe one lost sheep. He is thefather of the prodigal who yearnsfor his son to return – andwelcomes him back with openarms and great rejoicing!

Isn’t God’s heart for the lostamazing?

If God wants all people to cometo repentance, shouldn’t this beour desire as well? What wouldhappen if all the Christians in acountry, region, city, village oreven a neighborhood were fullyconvinced that God wantseveryone there to know him andto see Christians living like Jesusin their midst? Would there notbe a great harvest of souls forGod’s kingdom?

Our Mission: TheGreat Commission

The salvation of the lost is somuch on God’s heart that he calls every Christian to join the harvest force (Matthew 9:38). Are you aChristian? You are called tohasten the coming of the LordJesus Christ by completing thetask of world evangelism(Matthew 24:14; 2 Peter 3:12).

The Great Commission explicitlydefines Jesus’ purpose for theChurch until he returns: to makedisciples of all nations (Matthew28:19-20). Just sending outmissionaries does not fulfill theGreat Commission. It is notfulfilled even when peoplerespond positively to the Gospeland are baptized. The GreatCommission is not fulfilled when people are taught all that Jesuscommanded. No! The GreatCommission is fulfilled whendisciples are taught to obeyeverything that Jesuscommanded. Making discipleswho obey all that Jesuscommanded is the heart of theGreat Commission.

We must also understandanother aspect of the GreatCommission. Is the GreatCommission fulfilled wheneveryone in our village ortown has turned to the Lord? Is it fulfilled when everyonein our county or region hasheard the Gospel? Is theGreat Commission fulfilledwhen those in our ethnicgroup or our nation have hadthe opportunity to hear theGospel? Is not the GreatCommission to makedisciples of all nations, allpeoples? To fulfill the GreatCommission, people from allethnic groups, all nations, allwalks of life need to hear thegood news and have theopportunity to become faithful disciples of Jesus Christ.

The New Testament teachesthat the local church is God’schosen means of makingdisciples who will in turnreproduce, making otherdisciples (2 Timothy 2:2). Tofulfill the Great Commission,a disciple-making center –commonly known as a localchurch – must be accessible to each man, woman and childwithin a geographical area.

The goal of fulfilling theGreat Commission inRomania means that thereshould be a witnessingfellowship of believers withinreach of every person so thateveryone will be able to hearthe Gospel and becomefaithful disciples of JesusChrist. Ideally, every villageand every neighborhood ofevery city should have a group of believers who regularlymeet to fulfill the three-foldpurpose of the church:worship, equipping andmultiplication.

2 GOD’S HEART FOR ROMANIA

For God soloved theworld thathe gave...

If the local church is God’schosen means of makingdisciples, then church planting is the best method forfulfilling the GreatCommission.

Is this an impossible mission? Certainly it is large task –beyond our ability to fulfill inour own strength. But thelove of God compels us toreach the lost (2 Cor. 5:14). And Jesus’ authority andpromise that he will be withus until the end of the age isthe surety of our success.

Jesus promised that when hispeople fulfill the GreatCommission, then the end will come (Matthew 24:14). Then the kingdom of this world will become the kingdom of ourLord and of his Christ and wewill reign with him foreverand ever (Revelation 11:15).

Let us hasten the coming ofthis day (2 Peter 3:12)!

How far have wecome towardfulfilling the GreatCommission inRomania?

The evangelical churches inRomania have maderemarkable progress towardfulfilling Jesus’ commissionsince the fall of communismin 1989. Today there are atleast 5,000 evangelicalchurches and 500,000believers – more than everbefore! In comparison withother nations in Europe,Romania has the third largestnumber of evangelicalChristians. There are more

evangelical Christians inRomania that in all of the nationsof Eastern Europe combined. Surely God has blessed thepreaching of the Gospel inRomania!

However, there remains much todo. Over 22 million people inRomania do not attendevangelical churches. Only 2%of the population attendslife-giving churches. Sevenmillion people live in more than10,000 villages that do not have a single evangelical church. Romania’s cities have very fewchurches in comparison with their populations. God’s will that“none should perish but that allshould reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9) motivates us to see that eachperson in Romania has anopportunity to become a faithfuldisciple of Jesus Christ.

Building on the growth of the last decade, we believe thatRomania’s evangelical Christians are now positioned to makesignificant progress towardfulfilling the Great Commission.

Just how manychurches are neededto fulfill the GreatCommission?

If the goal is to have a witnessing fellowship of believers withinreach of every person so thateveryone will be able to hear theGospel and become faithfuldisciples of Jesus Christ, just how many churches are needed toreach this goal? How manychurches are needed to fulfill theGreat Commission in Romania?

In 1998 Misiunea Mondialã Unitã and OC International began a

research project to answer thisvery question.

The history andpurpose of thisresearch project

The need for this type of research became clear in the middle of the1990s at the Global Consultationon World Evangelism II held inSeoul, South Korea. Delegatesfrom the Romanian EvangelicalAlliance heard three reports about Romania. Although they did notagree with these reports, theythemselves were not sure of theexact situation. After thiscongress, the RomanianEvangelical Alliance invited OCInternational – since this missionhad experience with similarworks in other countries – tobegin a national research projectto determine the state of theevangelical churches in Romania.

In 1997 several Romanians fromMisiunea Mondialã Unitã (United World Mission) attended asaturation church plantingconference in Switzerlandsponsored by DAWN Europe. These men had already begun asaturation church plantingmovement in Romania, but at this conference they realized that for a saturation church plantingmovement to succeed theyneeded accurate informationabout the state of the Church. Afterward Misiunea MondialãUnitã and OC Internationalestablished a partnership toconduct this research. In thesummer of 1998, the process ofgathering data began.

The research was limited to those denominations that are includedin the Romanian EvangelicalAlliance and to those independent


churches that have similardoctrinal positions. In doing sowe certainly passed over someevangelical Christians andcongregations from otherconfessions, most notably theLord’s Army movement withinthe Orthodox Church, andevangelical believers in theReformed, Lutheran and SeventhDay Adventist churches. Weknow that there are true believersin these denominations, but it was not possible to include them inthis particular study. Together,we all have a part to play infulfilling the Great Commission. We hope this report will motivate all true believers in Romania towork toward this end.

This report features data collected from the Baptist, Pentecostal andBrethren denominations as wellas from the RomanianEvangelical Church and severalindependent evangelicalchurches. At the time ofpublication of this report, ourdatabase contained information on 4,880 evangelical churches inRomania. We have attempted toinclude only churches that havereceived authorization from theirdenomination. We have notincluded preaching points ormission stations. For everychurch, we requested information about its exact location, the yearit was started, the number ofmembers and adherents, theregular attendance at the Sundayworship service, and the name ofits pastor. Copies of the researchforms are found in Appendix 2. We have cross-referenced thisdata with demographicinformation from the NationalStatistics Commission.

The majority of our data wasgathered in 1998-99. However,in preparing this report weupdated our database to include

churches begun in 1999 and 2000 for the Brethren and Pentecostaldenominations. We receivedpartial information about Baptistchurches started in 1999-2000. Other reliable sources ofinformation indicate that there are approximately 130 Baptistchurches (primarily in thecounties of Arad, Bihor,Caraº-Severin, Cluj, Suceava and Timiº), 100-200 independentchurches, and at least 10Pentecostal churches that are notyet included in our data base. Itwould be unrealistic to claim thatwe have information about everyevangelical church in Romania. However, the informationcontained in this report represents 95% of the evangelical churchesin Romania and is sufficientlyaccurate to better understand thecondition of the church inRomania and cast vision forplanting new, life-givingchurches.

The scope of thisreport

This report will address twoprimary questions:

HOW HAS THE CHURCHGROWN IN ROMANIA?

It is an incontestable fact that theevangelical churches in Romaniahave grown significantly since1989. The first chapter willexamine how the church inRomania has grown. We willbriefly look at how evangelicalchurches started in Romaniaroughly 100 years ago and howthey passed through variousperiods of severe trial. We willespecially focus on how thechurch has developed since thefall of Communism in 1989.

WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO FULFILL THE GREATCOMMISSION INROMANIA?

We will address this questionfrom three perspectives:

First, we will examine thestatus of evangelicalChristianity in Romania. We will take a province byprovince tour of Romania,examining both the HarvestForce and the Harvest Field. The Harvest Force refers tothe Church or to “God’speople.” We will examine the state of the church in eachprovince, how it is growingand its potential to fulfill theGreat Commission. TheHarvest Field refers to thosewho are not yet obedientdisciples of Christ. We willsee how many locations arewithout evangelical churchesand how many additionalchurches are needed to giveevery man, woman and childin Romania an opportunity tohear the Gospel and becomefaithful disciples of JesusChrist.

Second, we will look at theGreat Commission from asocial perspective. We wantto see what bridges andbarriers to discipling thenation exist in modernRomanian culture.

Third, we will look at thestrategic perspective. Takinga realistic view of thesituation, we will suggeststrategic steps that evangelical churches can take to fulfill the Great Commission inRomania.

We have placed additionalinformation related to these


subjects in the Appendices. For example tables inAppendix 1 containinformation for everyprovince, county and city inRomania. OC Internationalhas more detailed informationabout the population and stateof the church in every county,city and village, especiallycolor maps for every county. Anyone involved in church

planting can contact OCInternational or MisiuneaMondialã Unitã to receive theinformation that best assists thiswork.

It is not our purpose in thispublication to write an academicresearch report. We are GreatCommission-driven Christians! Rather we envision this report asa tool to help Jesus’ followers to

better understand what musthappen in Romania to fulfill theGreat Commission.

This is not a report to sit on ashelf and gather dust. Use it tocast vision, strategize, intercedefor and mobilize others – thatRomania would be filled with the knowledge of the glory of theLord as the waters cover the sea(Habakkuk 2:14).


OUR FATHER, WHOART IN HEAVEN,

Be gracious unto us and bless us.

Cause your face to shine upon us that yourways may be known on the earth and yoursalvation among all peoples.

How marvelous are your plans!

How wonderful are your works!

Renew the passion of our first love; forgiveus for our complacency.

Send out workers into your harvest fieldswhite unto harvest.

Provide for all our needs according to yourriches in glory.

Grant your servants boldness to speak your word with all confidence.

Confirm your message by the power of the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.

Grant that we may we be brought into perfect unity so that the world may knowthat you love them and sent your son Jesus to be the atoning sacrifice for theirsins.

Bless the proclamation of Gospel of the Kingdom that multitudes – from everytribe and tongue and nation and people – will bow before your throne and ascribe to you blessing and honor and glory and power forever and ever!

Amen!

The appearance ofChristianity North of the

Danube, in the region nowknow as Romania, is stilldisputed among historians. Romanian nationalists seizedupon the idea that“Romanians were bornChristian” or “Romanianshave been Christians for 2000years.” This idea, thoughattractive, is hard to prove asit presumes the existence ofChristianity long beforewritten record. There existsevidence that Christians –missionaries or simplebelievers, fugitives frompersecution – did arrive Northof the Danube before and after the Roman withdrawal frompresent-day Romania at theend of the third century.

This brings us to the type ofChristianity practiced in thisregion during the first 15centuries of the Christian era.Christianity was an illicitreligion in Roman territoriesduring the first three centuries. In the fourth century,following complexcircumstances, Christianitybecame a recognized religion,equal with the pagan religions, and then the single permittedreligion. The Roman Statesymbolized through its leader, the emperor, came to play anextremely important role inChristianity. The longconcubinage of the Churchwith the State had begun. Whole populations,superficially instructed,became “Christian”.

Political as well as religiousfactors played an importantrole in the “christianization”of Romania during the middleages. Romania became adisputed territory with the


We havecome this

far by grace!How the Church in Romaniahas grown until the present

“I will build my church

and thegates of

Hell will not overcome

it.”

Dorin Dobrincu, historical researcher at the Institutul de Istorie “A.D. Xenopol,” in Iaºi wrote the first part of this chapter. He wishes to produce a detailed history of evangelical Christians in Romania andseeks sponsorship for this work. If you wish to find out more about this project contact him at thisaddress: Str. Ciric, nr. 34, Bl. X3, et. 4, ap. 34, Iaºi, Romania. Email: [email protected]


division of Christendom intoEastern and Western parts, the West based in Rome and theEast in Constantinople. Under the influence of the Hungarian monarchy, Transylvania wasconsidered Catholic from the12th century, although asignificant part of thepopulation embraced EasternOrthodoxy. Wallachia andMoldova (the Southern andEastern provinces ofRomania) came under theinfluence of the GreekOrthodoxy by the end of the14th century. The RomanCatholic churches used theLatin language and theWestern rites while theOrthodox Church used theSlavic language and theEastern rites. The peopleunderstood neither language. Still they considered thecomplicated rites practiced byboth churches attractive andsalvific.

The influence of theReformation in Romania

Great changes were felt in thereligious configuration ofEurope in the first half of the16th century. Scholasticdisputes entered into public

consciousness under the name ofthe Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther in Germany,Ulrich Zwingly and John Calvinin Switzerland, plus Anabaptists,such as Meno Simons andBalthzar Hubmayer, shook thefoundations of the medieval order of the Roman Catholic Church. Through the biblical principles of Sola Scriptura, Sola Gratia, SolaFide, the way was opened for thereintroduction of a simple, NewTestament faith.

The influence of the Reformationwas felt in Romania, especially in Transylvania. The Germanpopulation in this province wasdrawn to Lutheranism. JohannesHonters played an important role. The Germans had to integratetheir new faith with the privileged medieval system that theHungarian kings established. Asignificant part of Transylvania’spopulation was drawn to theCalvinist part of the Reformation. Likewise, Unitarianism spreadamong the Hungarians.

The Reformation also influencedRomanians, though to a lesserdegree. For example DeaconCoresi printed in the Germancities portions of the scriptures inthe Romanian language. Thesetranslations used Cyrilliccharacters which the Romaniansused until the time of A.I. Cuza(mid 19th century). This was agreat step for spreading themessage of the Gospel amongRomanians and marked thebeginning of the use of theRomanian language in thechurch.

The Reformation influencedRomanians not only throughtranslated religious works, butalso through the conversion ofsome of them to Protestantism. In the second half of the 16th

century a prince of Greek originand Lutheran faith, IacobHeraclid, occupied the throne ofMoldova for a short time. Although he favoredProtestantism, his short reign didnot have significant effects. Groups of Calvinistic Romaniansexisted in Transylvania in the 17th

century. Calvinistic synods inTransylvania contributed to thetranslation and publication ofseveral religious works in theRomanian language, for examplethe Calvinist catechism.

When Transylvania came underthe rule of the HabsburghCatholics, the RomanianProtestant communitiesdisappeared by absorption intothe Greco-Catholic church or thestronger Hungarian Reformedcommunities. By the second halfof the 18th century theAnabaptists disappeared fromTransylvania. The principlecolonies of Gabriel Bethlen inTransylvania, North of AlbaIulia, were subjected topersecutions by the state andreligious authorities of theHabsburghs. Some wereconverted by force toCatholicism. Others werepermitted by Catherine II ofRussia to settle North of theBlack Sea. From here theywould later play an important role in the spread of evangelicaldenominations in the 19th

century.

Perhaps the isolation ofWallachia and Moldova from theProtestant regions of Central andWestern Europe and the weakemphasis placed upon missionary activity by Protestantism in itsfirst three centuries explains thenegligible success of theReformation among theRomanian population.


Christianity at thebeginning of the 20thcentury

Strong evangelical communitiesbegan to appear in Romania atthe end of the 19th and thebeginning of the 20th centuries. The Baptists were the first toappear. German Baptists werecame to Bucharest in the 1850sand 1860s. They had a closerelationship with J.G. Onken, awell-known Baptist missionaryfrom Germany. German Baptistchurches were also founded inDobrogea. Romanian Baptistchurches began in the zone ofOradea under the influence ofGerman and Hungarian Baptists. German preachers Anton Novakand Henrick Meyer played important roles. Two of theirconverts, Mihaly Cornya andMihaly Toth, became importantHungarian preachers. In 1875 the first baptisms were held by theBaptists among the Hungarians in the area of Salonta Mare; in 1886the first baptisms were recordedamong the Romanians in the zone of Oradea. The number ofBaptists also grew rapidly in theareas of Cluj and Arad. BeforeWorld War I, the first Romanian

Baptist Church was founded inBucharest. Ioan Branea andConstantin Adorian played animportant role in establishing this church. After the war, theBaptists flourished in Basarabiawhere strong communities werestarted among Romanians,Russians, Germans andBulgarians.

At the end of the 19th century theBrethren began missionary workin Bucharest. Through the call of E. H. Broadbent, an Englishmissionary, and the work ofFrancis Berney, a Swissmissionary, the first Brethrenchurch was founded in the capital in 1899. Among the firstRomanian converts were GrigoreConstantinescu, Florea Moisescuand David Teodorescu. Themission of the Brethren extendedinto the area of Ploieºti and overthe Carpathian Mountains whereit spread among the Germans. During the First World War, dueto migration caused by militaryoperations, an important Brethren missionary center was established in Iaºi.

The first Pentecostal communities appeared immediately afterWWI. In 1922 Gheorghe Bradin,

influenced by the Pentecostalmovement in the UnitedStates, started the firstPentecostal Church in Pãuliºnear Arad. Independent of the Pentecostals in WesternRomania, Pentecostalcommunities also appeared inBucovina (NortheasternRomania). Although thePentecostals appeared severaldecades after the Baptists andBrethren this movementspread rapidly, especially inthe provinces of Banat,Criºana, Transylvania,Bucovina and NorthernMoldova.

Also after World War I, areform movement withevangelical nuances appearedinside the Romanian Orthodox Church. Tudor Popescu, aninfluential priest from the“Stork’s Nest” Church inBucharest, and deaconDumitru Cornilescu, translator of the Bible used in Romanian evangelical churches today,promoted this movement. Inthe face of strong oppositionthey were compelled to leavethe Orthodox Church. Thosethat followed them wereknown under the name of “The Christians according tothe Scripture.” Later theywere forced by the authoritiesto unite with the Brethren,who were known as “TheChristians according to theGospel.” After 1989, theirfollowers took the name of the Romanian EvangelicalChurch.

Iosif Trifia, a priest, initiatedanother revival movement inthe Orthodox Church knownas the Lord’s Army. Beginning in the 1920s thismovement reached it zenith in the 1930s. But because it


I know your deeds. Behold I have putbefore you an opendoor which no onecan shut. . .

started to escape from underthe control of the Orthodoxhierarchy, measures were taken to temper the lay people drawn into this movement. Theadherents of the Lord’s Armywere subject to persecution inthe communist era. Patriarchal decision Nr. 98, October 24,1949, disbanded the Lord’sArmy. This decision wasratified by the Synod onDecember 12, 1951. Thosewho should have defended thebelievers involved in thismovement became instruments of the communist regime todestroy it.

With the formation of“Greater Romania” in theaftermath of WWI,Romanians found themselvesin the situation where theyneeded to live with fellowcitizens who had diverseethnic and religiousbackgrounds. Although thestate called itself democratic,political, national andreligious exclusivismflourished in the periodbetween the World Wars. Although the Constitution of1923 promoted freedom ofconscience, there existedseveral articles that actuallyrestricted it. The OrthodoxChurch and the Greco-Catholic Church wereestablished as “RomanianChurches,” the OrthodoxChurch raised to the level of“dominant.” These twoconstitutional articles playedan important role, throughtheir literal interpretation, inthe discriminatory treatmentof the other denominations. Additionally, the slogan of the extreme right, “to beRomanian is to be Orthodox,”appeared in the 1930s. Thisslogan became famous as play

write Eugene Ionescu popularized it and gave it respectability.

On this basis, evangelicalconfessions along with otherreligious groups were subject tolegislative discrimination. Aftermuch insistence, includinginternational protest, the Baptistsand Brethren obtained the statusof religious associations, whichgave them minimal religiousrights. Still, persecutions weredaily occurrences amongevangelical Christians in

Romania. The Pentecostals werenever recognized as a religiousassociation. This forced them tocome under the umbrella of therecognized evangelicalconfessions, especially theBaptists. Persecutions againstevangelicals between the twoworld wars were recognized bythe press. For example thenewspapers Adevãrul andDimineaþa on November 21,1931, pointed out the horriblepersecutions against the


The data for the above graphs is taken from Atlasul Religiilor by Dr.Constantin Cuciuc, Bucharest: Editura Gnossis, 1997.


evangelical minorities thatbrought to mind the Dark Ages.

These persecutions climaxedduring the military dictatorship of Marshel Ion Antonescu. Law927 published in the MonitorulOficial, nr. 305, December 30,1942, abolished all religiousassociations (considered “sects”)in the country. Their property,funds and archives becamepossessions of the state. Churches were closed. Somewere transformed intodormitories, stores or evenstables. Any gathering ofevangelical believers wasforbidden. The enforcement ofthese laws was entrusted to thelocal administrative authorities,especially the mayors andconstables in rural areas, or thepolice in the cities. TheOrthodox priests had animportant role in the“destruction” – a term thatappears in official documents – of evangelical communities.

Because evangelical Christiansrefused to renounce their faith,many were tried and condemnedto severe punishments by military courts. Some were sent to battlefronts in discipline units; otherswere imprisoned, many dying injail. Official documents attestthat one means of repression wasinternment in concentrationcamps. Numerous examplescould be cited but we can onlygeneralize here because oflimited space. According tosome sources there even existed a plan to deport evangelicalbelievers from Transnistra (theterritory beyond the Nistru River, taken by Romania from Russiaand ruled between the years1941-1944), as happened to a part of the Jews and Gypsies.

Remembering the unimaginablepersecutions of the inter-warperiod and the years of WorldWar II explains the existence ofwhat could be called the “martyrculture” among Romanianevangelicals.

Christianity after theSecond World War

After World War II, theevangelical confessions enteredinto a period of reorganization. The Baptists, Brethren andPentecostals obtained legal statusas religious denominations. Still,problems did not bypass theevangelical churches during the40 years of the communist regime that systematically attackedreligion, especially Christianity. Many evangelical believersexperienced the Romanian gulag. Here are only a few examples,though many could be given. Richard Wurmbrand, a Lutheranpastor from Bucharest, convertedfrom Judaism, was imprisoned 14 years. His wife, Sabina, alsoexperienced communist prisons. Simion Cure, a Baptist pastor,was imprisoned many years forhis open opposition to the State’sinterference in church matters. Constantin Caraman, aPentecostal preacher, was

imprisoned many times inthe 1950s and alsoexperienced the atrociousconditions of theDanube-Black Sea Canal inthe 1970s.

In the communist periodthere were numerous casesof churches beingdemolished or closed undervarious pretexts. Forexample, many churches inBucovina (NortheasternRomania) were closed underthe accusation of helping theanti-communists or becausebelievers did not want toregister in the collectives.

Printing of religiousliterature was not permitted,so many believers riskedsmuggling Bibles, books and tracts. Some werecondemned for this.

Evangelicals reacteddifferently to these violations of their liberty and faith. Most kept to themselves, butthere were a few resoundingactions of protest. In the1970s the persecutions of the communist state were openly denounced. Baptist PastorIosif Þon led this initiative. Among the better known

ones who joined him werePavel Nicolescu, RaduDumitrescu, and AurelianPopescu (Baptist), ConstantinCaraman (Pentecostal), andSilviu Cioatã (Brethren).

A protest movement ofevangelical Christians wasstarted in the fall of 1977 andin May of 1978 was namedComitetul Român de Apãre aLibertãþii Religioase ºi deConºtiinþã (The RomanianCommittee for the Defense ofReligious and ConscientiousLiberty). At this time thedenunciation of the anti-Christian character and humanrights abuses of the communist regime in Ceauºescu’sRomania probably reached itshighest level.

Romanian evangelicals hadthe support of several foreignevangelicals. For example,John Funderburk Jr., a Baptist, appointed by Ronald Reaganas the U.S. ambassador toRomania at the beginning ofthe 1980s, openly supportedRomania’s evangelicals. Butas a sign of protest against human rights violations and lack of support from theDepartment of State, heresigned his post.

Christianity in thepost-communist era

Under four decades ofcommunism, God’s peoplesuffered persecution,imprisonment and sometimeseven death. Churches weredemolished. Property wasconfiscated; new constructions were forbidden. Althoughevangelical Christians wereconstitutionally allowed thefreedom to meet and to

practice their faith, the pressuresto conform to the secular idealsof the communist State werestrong. Many Christians feltforced to keep their faith secretrather than risk persecution oftheir families. Certainly,evangelism and church plantingwere discouraged and severelyrestricted. Many Christianswondered if the evangelicalchurch in Romania could survivesuch persecution and restriction.

But survive it did! Praise God!

After the bloody fall of theCommunist regime in December1989, evangelicals faced a newbeginning. There was greatreceptiveness to the Gospel. Spurning the atheistic ideology of the past, the Romanian peopleturned out in mass to learn aboutspiritual matters. After decadesof restrictions they were able toopen new churches, schools andcharitable foundations. Freedomto travel resulted in direct contact with evangelical churches fromall over the world.

The Romanian EvangelicalAlliance was founded by theBaptist, Brethren and Pentecostaldenominations, a part of theLord’s Army movement and agroup of Lutherans fromBucharest, to work moreeffectively in the areas ofevangelism and the defense ofreligious liberty.

The decade of the 1990s wasmarked with tensions with theOrthodox Church. Some tensions were due to different perspectives about evangelism or proselytism. Due the Orthodox Church’sdesire to maintain a religiousmonopoly over the Romanianpeople, the decade following thefall of Communism sawnumerous negative press

campaigns and infractions uponreligious liberty in the areas ofeducation and civil administration through the denial or slowapproval of building permits fornew churches. Occasionallyevangelical Christians weremaltreated, as for example in thevillage of Ruginoasa in March1997. The Orthodox Church also manifested its long held desire tobe recognized as the “nationalchurch” of Romania. Thisofficial recognition wouldinfringe the religious liberty ofother denominations.

Having a predominantly rural mentality, Romanian society ischaracterized by a reduced civicsense that upholds many aspectsincompatible with a democraticsociety, including religiousintolerance. These historical andsocial realities, briefly presentedhere, must certainly be taken intoconsideration both whenanalyzing the situation of theevangelical churches and whenmaking future plans.

Growth of theChurch in the 1990s

What has happened in Romaniain the first decade of freedomafter the fall of communistoppression?

When the results from the firstpost-communist nationwidecensus were revealed in 1992,evangelical Christians rejoiced tosee that 380,086 people countedthemselves as members ofevangelical churches. Over thenext eight years, that numberincreased to approximately440,000.

We can approximate the numberof people who were born againand became involved in the life


of the Church in the 1990s. TheRomanian census conductedJanuary 7, 1992, registered380,086 Baptists, Pentecostalsand Brethren. By the year 2000there are approximately 440,000members and adherents in thesedenominations, including thosewho participate in independentevangelical churches. Thisrepresents a growth of about60,000 people. However, we can reasonably assume that in the last eight years even more than60,000 people were added to thechurch. For example, we knowthat some Christians have left thecountry and that others have died. In order to cover these losses it ismore likely that at least 100,000people were added to theevangelical churches in the pastnine years.

When we talk about the numberof evangelical Christians inRomania we must also take intoconsideration the Lord’s Armymovement within the RomanianOrthodox Church. The Lord’sArmy is a member of theRomanian Evangelical Allianceand considers itself anevangelical movement within theOrthodox Church. A

conservative estimate of thismovement’s size is 125,000adherents. Thus, we canconservatively say that there areover 500,000 evangelicalChristians in Romania, the thirdlargest number of evangelicalChristians in all of Europe afterEngland and Germany!

The number of evangelicalchurches has grown tremendously during the 1990s. At the fall ofcommunism, 66 cities inRomania did not have evangelical churches; today there are onlyeleven. Fifty-five more citieshave evangelical churches! In1989, there were evangelicalchurches in 1,886 villages. Today the evangelical churchesexist in 3,023 villages – a 60%increase! In 1989, over 8.5million people did not haveaccess to an evangelical church;today this number is under 7million. In 1989, there werebetween 1,800 and 2,400evangelical churches in Romania; today there are at least 5,000.

This means that in the last tenyears approximately five newchurches have opened eachweek!

After the fall of communismin 1989, dozens of Christiangroups rushed into Romaniato help strengthen the church. Today, well over 200Christian parachurchorganizations exist inRomania to assist evangelicalefforts in evangelism, churchplanting, leadership trainingand discipleship, literatureproduction, and ministries that help disadvantaged children.

Dozens of Bible institutes andChristian training programsare preparing present andfuture leaders for the churchin Romania. In the lastdecade tens of thousands ofRomanians have beenequipped for ministry. Hundreds of new churcheshave been built, and hundredsof mission points around thecountry are on their way tobecoming organized churches.

Since 1990, over 2 millionpeople have been exposed tothe good news of the Gospelthrough 7,800 presentations of the “Jesus Film." RadioVocea Evangelia broadcaststhroughout Romania from sixlocations. Trans World Radio produces Christianprogramming heardthroughout the country. Arapidly growing number ofChristian films and videos arebeing produced for theRomanian audience.

Romanians are also taking themessage of the Gospel aroundthe world as God is stirringincreasing numbers ofChristians towardcross-cultural missions.

All over Romania the gospelis bearing fruit and is growing (Col. 1:6). Let’s look at the



GROWTH OF THENUMBER OFCHURCHES

In our database at OCInternational, we have thefounding year for 4,242churches. Based on thisinformation these graphs showthe number of churchesplanted by year. Observe theapparent explosion of churchstarts in 1990. It is importantto know that some of thesechurches existed during theCommunist era and receivedtheir legal authorization in1990-1991. In other words,they existed before 1990 andwere legally registered in1990-91. However, we cansee that in every year,beginning with 1990, morechurches were started eachyear than in the years undercommunism.

The data shows a decline inthe number of church startsafter 1994, but the rate ofchurch planting again beganto climb in 1999-2000. In1999 the Average AnnualGrowth Rate (AAGR) was4.57%. This is encouraging!

Here are some averagegrowth rates for variousperiods:

• The Decadal Growth Rate(DGR) for 1990-1999 is atleast 80%. • We estimate that at thebeginning of the 1990s therewere at most 2,400evangelical churches incomparison to 4,489churches in 1999. AAGR for the decade is 6.05%.• The DGR for 1991-2000 is 60%. This represents anAAGR of 4.81%.• The AAGR for 1991-1995is 5.71%.• The AAGR for 1996-2000is 3.88%.• The AAGR for 1999 was4.57%.

eight historic provinces ofRomania to see how Christ isbuilding his church. (Detailedinformation regarding Romania’s eight historical provinces is found in Table 1 in Appendix 1.)

Criºana

Criºana has the highestpercentage of evangelicalChristians in Romania with over6.5% of the population attendingevangelical churches. Since1989, 329 churches have beenstarted in this province (83 inArad, 103 in Sãlaj and 143 inBihor). After 1995, 59 newchurches were started in both Bihor and Sãlaj, the largestnumber of new churches percounty during this period. In1996-2000 the Pentecostalsstarted 40 new churches in Bihor– the most in comparison with the other counties – and 34 in Sãlaj. Also in this period, the Baptistsstarted most of their newchurches per county in Sãlaj (24)and in Bihor (17). There are alsosignificant increases in thenumber of people attendingPentecostal churches in Arad(from 18,501 to 20,890) and Sãlaj (from 5,464 to 8,240) since the1992 census.

Banat

The condition of the evangelicalchurches is also very good in theBanat province. Here 5% of thepopulation is evangelical. After1989, the largest number of newchurches of any county in Romania were started in Timiºcounty – at least 160 new

churches, of which thePentecostals started 129. Likewise, the number ofPentecostals in Timiº hasincreased over 5,000 personssince 1992, from 19,042 toapproximately 24,300 today. Atleast 77 new churches were stated in Caraº-Severin since 1989.

Oltenia

In the entire province of Olteniathe number of churches hasgrown 260% since 1989, from 73 to 263 churches. This is thehighest growth rate in thecountry. The number of evangelical Christians has morethan doubled since January 1992,growing by 7,430 persons (from5,272 to 12,702). The Brethrenand Baptists have experiencedgood growth. However, thePentecostals have doneexceptionally well, planting more than half of the new churches. Beginning with 24 churches in1989, today they have at least 101 churches, a growth of 320%. Since 1995, all counties in thisprovince have continued toexperience above average churchplanting growth rates.

Transylvania

In Transylvania 526 newchurches were started since 1989, the most of any province. Likewise, Transylvania has themost churches (1,255) and the most evangelical Christians (over 100,000). The rates of churchplanting in Bistriþa Nãsãud,Braºov, Mureº and Sibiu counties have been over 100% since 1989. Over 100 new churches were

started in Hunedoara and 64 in Alba. Since 1995, BistriþaNãsãud and Braºov havecontinued to have aboveaverage church planting rates.

Maramureº

Maramureº is the onlyprovince in Romania wherethe rate of church planting isgreater for the period1996-2000 in comparison with 1991-1995. After 1995, 41new churches were started inMaramureº and 22 in SatuMare. Since 1989, 131 newchurches were started in thisprovince, a 142% increase.

Muntenia

Spectacular things arehappening in Muntenia! Thenumber of churches hasincreased dramatically inCãlãraºi (500%), Brãila(400%), Bucharest (255%)and Ialomiþa (225%) counties. In Cãlãraºi the number ofChristians has grown from307% since January 1992(378 to 1,539). Brãila has the highest rate of church planting in all the country for theperiod after 1995, the Average Annual Growth Rate being11.84%; but the Baptists havestarted churches at a rate ofover 20% per year! The cityof Bucharest has seen thenumber of churches growfrom 18 to 64 (255%), and the number of people attendingevangelical churches inBucharest has increase nearly40%. In Prahova 61 churcheshave been started and the



CHURCH SIZE ACCORDING TO DENOMINATION AND LOCATIONThe average size of an evangelical church in Romania depends on its location and whether it was started before or after1989. Churches in municipal areas are two to three times larger than city churches. Village churches are about half thesize of city churches. Churches started after 1989 are not as large as those started prior. The number in parenthesesfor the Pentecostal denomination refers to the number of members. The other number includes members and adherents.

DENOMINATION BAPTIST BRETHREN PENTECOSTAL AVERAGE SIZE

Average size of churches startedbefore 1990

81 111 169 (103) 123

Average size of municipal churchesstarted before 1990 340 301 586 (358) 425

Average size of city churches started before1990 107 99 213 (129) 148

Average size of churches in villagesstarted before 1990 45 68 121 (72) 82

Average size of churches startedafter 1989

25 45 71 (43) 54

Average size of municipal churchesstarted after 1989

67 106 222 (134) 150

Average size of city churches started after 1989 26 39 106 (68) 65

Average size of village churchesstarted after 1989 17 25 51 (30) 39

number of members hasincreased 45% since 1991(from 8,754 to 12,691, anincrease of nearly 4,000people). In Dâmboviþa, 71churches have been startedsince 1989 and the rate ofchurch planting for 1996-2000 is greater than 1991-1995. Giurgiu has the highest church planting rate for thePentecostal denominationsince 1995, an incredible 27% per year! Ilfov and Buzãualso have better than averagechurch planting rates since1995. Since 1989, 387 newchurches were started inMuntenia.

Dobrogea

Dobrogea has the secondhighest rate of growth in thecountry, that is 185%. Fiftynew churches have beenstarted. Both Baptists andPentecostals have grown at asignificant rate. Morechurches were started inDobrogea after 1996 than1991-95 (24 compared to 19). Dobrogea has the highestaverage church-planting ratein all of Romania since 1995with an Average AnnualGrowth Rate of 8.76% peryear.

Moldova

In Moldova 32% more peopleare involved in Evangelicalchurches in comparison to theJanuary 1992 Census (from63,685 to 84,339). Everycounty has shown goodgrowth in the numbers of

churches and people. Suceava isthird in the number of churchstarts in all the country, with 107. In Botoºani, 77 new churcheswere started. Since 1995, thelargest number of Brethrenchurches per county have beenstarted in Botoºani and Bacãu (15 and 12 churches respective). In all at least 442 new churcheshave been started in Moldovasince 1989 (a 139% increase)!

lllllllllllllllllllll

In all of Romania the number ofchurches has grown from1,800-2,400 churches in 1989 toat least 5,000 today. Thisrepresents a growth rate of between 108% and 177%!

Indeed, God has been doing awonderful work in Romania. The nation ranks third in all of Europe in the number of evangelicalChristians, behind England andGermany.

Christ has been faithful to hisword: “I will build my churchand the gates of Hell will notovercome it” (Matthew 16:18). The gates of Hell did notovercome it during the dark years of communism. Christ hascaused his church to growremarkably in Romania duringthe 1990s.

Let us thank God for the mercieshe has shown to Romania and for the great work he has done in this nation!


OUR FATHER INHEAVEN,

Praised be your name for thewon ders you have wrought.

You have en larged yourKing dom, O Lord,

You have gained glory foryour self!

Not to us but to your name bethe glory.

All that we have ac com plished you have done for us.

You have es tab lished peacefor us.

Other lords be sides you haveruled over us, but your name

alone do we honor.They are now dead, they liveno more. You pun ished themand brought them to naught.We thank you for those who

first brought the gos pel to thisland.

We thank you that the gates ofHell did not over come your

church as she passed throughfi ery tri als.

We thank you for the opendoor that you placed be fore

your faith ful ser vants.They planted and wa tered, butyou have caused the growth.

You have en larged the har vestof our righ teous ness.

We praise you that you havepro vided seed for the sower

and bread for food.We praise you that the Gos pel

is bear ing fruit in all ofRo ma nia and is grow ing.

We praise you that – in yourgreat mercy – you have givennew birth to tens of thou sands

of souls in the last de cade.We praise you that your grace

is over flow ing our bor ders,reach ing more and more

peo ple. For all these bless ings wepraise your glo ri ous grace,

which you have freely given us through Je sus Christ our Lord,

both now and for ever more.Amen!

Frequently people ask me what I do in Romania. When I

respond that I am a missionaryinvolved in research, I getquestioning looks that ask, “What does research have to do with thechurch?” Fortunately I cananswer that question.

Research in the Bible

You will not find the wordresearch in the Bible, but research has biblical precedent. Often

when God called people to newministries, he directed them togather information and evaluatetheir resources. Today we callthat research. In each of thefollowing cases, we will see howresearch serves an importantpurpose in God’s plan.

• In the Book of Numbers, Godcommanded Moses to take acensus of the whole Israelitecommunity (Numbers 1:1-46). The purpose of this census was to count all the men who were able

to fight in the army. Thisenabled the Israelites to knowthe strength of their forces and organize themselves for battle. Likewise church plantingresearch gathers informationabout the Harvest Force sothat the church can betterorganize itself for the task ofmaking disciples.

• Also in the Book ofNumbers, God commandedMoses to send twelve men toexplore the promised land(13:1). Moses instructed these twelve spies to bring backinformation about the land,the people who lived there and the condition of their cities. Likewise, good churchplanting research will identifywhat groups of people live inthe target area, where they live and what obstacles need to beovercome to make disciplesamong those peoples.

• Twice Joshua sent men into the Promised Land to surveythe land (Joshua 2:1;18:3-19:48). As a result ofthese reconnaissance missions Joshua received detailedinformation about the cities,villages and the people’sperception of God. For thechurch planter this sameinformation is crucial.

• Nehemiah found out thecondition of Jerusalem beforehe ever proposed the task ofrebuilding the walls of the city (1:2,3; 2:11-16). He wiselyevaluated the morale of thepeople who would do thework as well as the conditionof the wall. With thisinformation, he successfullymotivated the people for theextensive work of rebuildingthe walls of Jerusalem. Likewise, we can better


Surveyingthe land

The state of the evangelicalchurches in each of

Romania’s provinces

motivate people to start newchurches if we know theirmorale and the size of the task before them.

• Jesus ministered throughout all of Judea’s cities andvillages (Matthew 9:35-10:1). Matthew tells us that, “Whenhe saw the crowds he hadcompassion for them, becausethey were harassed, andhelpless, like sheep without ashepherd.” (Matthew 9:36). Jesus’ “barefoot research”filled him with compassion;this motivated Jesus to call his disciples to prayer andministry. First-hand researchalso generates compassion and mobilizes people for prayerand ministry.

• The early church kept trackof the numerical growth as the Lord added to their number(Acts 2:41,47; 4:4; 6:7; 9:31). For church planting this kindof information helps us knowwhere and how God isworking; it helps us see which methods work best.

These examples show us thatthere is good, biblicalprecedent for research. Information is a powerful toolthat motivates and helps thechurch to fulfill its task ofmaking disciples of allnations.

Researchers “survey the land”so that God’s people can make more and more disciples whoglorify God. We do notgather information to decidewhether or not to start newchurches. Just as Godcommanded Joshua to possess the Promised Land (Joshua1:1-11), Jesus commands us to make disciples of all nations! Therefore church planting, as

one objective toward that goal, isnot optional. Research helps usmake the best use of theresources we have to accomplishthe task of fulfilling the GreatCommission.

Important Terms

But before we can survey theland in Romania, we must definesix terms. Every discipline usesspecial terms to communicateimportant ideas. The work of surveying the land with saturation church planting in view also usesa number of special terms. Clarifying the meaning of theseterms will help us betterunderstand the task before us.

The Harvest Force

The Harvest Force refers topeople in the church who areGod’s work force for gathering in the harvest (Matthew 9:38). TheHarvest Force includes thenumber of local, life-givingchurches, Christian workers,parachurch organizations andbelievers in a zone. We call these resources the Harvest Force. Inexamining the Harvest Force wewant to answer the question:How adequate is the HarvestForce to accomplish God’spurpose in the Harvest Field?

The Harvest Field

The Harvest Field refers topeople in the world who have not yet become faithful followers ofJesus Christ. In this report thiswill be the number of people who do not regularly attendevangelical churches although we recognize that there are truebelievers in other confessions. When we examine the HarvestField we want to know: Whoneeds to hear the Gospel? What

language do they speak? Whatethnic and social group do theybelong to? Where do they live? Do they have a witnessingfellowship of believers in theirlocality? How many cities andvillages have evangelicalchurches? How many do nothave an evangelical church?

Churches with Church PlantingPotential

Churches that have goodpotential to start other churchesare an important part of theHarvest Force. MisiuneaMondială Unită has discoveredthat a church in Romania with 50members can generally send outat least one church planting team. They have also observed thatchurches started after 1989 canoften send out a church plantingteam if they have just 30members. Larger churches, ofcourse, have greater potential and can send out multiple teams ofchurch planters. Using thesestandards we can estimate thenumber of churches that can beinvolved in starting newchurches.

The Average Annual GrowthRate

The Average Annual GrowthRate (abbreviated AAGR) alsotells us something important


about the Harvest Force, namely,how fast the church is growing. The AAGR is expressed as apercentage (%). To determinehow long it would take for thenumber of churches to double,divide 72 by the AAGR. AnAAGR of 7.2% means that thenumber of churches will doublein 10 years; but AAGR of 3%means that it would take the 24years to double in number. Withan AAGR of 12% the number ofchurches would double in 6years. Likewise the percentageof growth for a ten-year period iscalled the Decade Growth Rate(DGR).

The Population to Church Ratio

One statistic that we use todetermine the saturation of a zone with churches is the population to church ratio (abbreviated PCR). This figure shows us how manypeople each church has to reachwith the Gospel. A ratio of 1,055 people for every evangelicalchurch – as in Sălaj – is verygood. A ratio of 31,394 peoplefor every evangelical church – asit is in Bucharest – is quite poor. This Population to Church Ratiois calculated by dividing the

population of a zone by thenumber of evangelical churches. For example, Dobrogea has apopulation of 1,008,733 peopleand 77 evangelical churches. This produces a ratio of 13,100people for every church. Forcomparison, the average PCR forall of Romania is 4,500 peoplefor every evangelical church.

Saturation

When we speak of saturation wewant to project how manychurches are needed so that every man, woman and child inRomania will be within thesphere of influence of anevangelical church. Then eachperson in Romania will have theopportunity to hear the Gospeland become a disciple of JesusChrist through the incarnationalwitness of a local church. Missiologists call this objective“saturation church planting” orsimply “saturation.”

The objective of a SaturationChurch Planting Movement is toestablish a church within reach of every person in a geographicalregion to give them theopportunity to hear the Gospel

and to see the lifetransforming power of Jesusat work in the lives of theirneighbors. The message ofthe Gospel is more“believable” when it isconfirmed by transformedlives. Also, when a region issaturated with churches thelocal church is present as adisciple-making center to help new believers become faithfuldisciples of Jesus Christ –who will reproduce, makingstill more disciples. Thus,“saturation” in itself is not thefinal goal, but a method tofulfill our mission of makingdisciples. Just as evangelismis necessary for planting achurch, church planting isnecessary to make disciples.

Once the objective ofsaturation is reached, localchurches will still have a great deal of work to do toevangelize and make faithfuldisciples of Jesus Christ. It ispossible for a county to be“saturated” with churches, but yet only 10-20% of thepopulation is born again. Avillage of 1,000 people istechnically saturated when ithas one church – althoughthere may be only 30 peoplewho are born again. After theobjective of “saturation” isachieved, there still remainsmuch to do to make discipleswho will obey all that Jesuscommanded.

When we start to plan to“saturate” a zone withchurches, we need to answer two questions:

üWhere are new churchesneeded?

üHow many churches areneeded?


In answering these questionssome emphasize geography,claiming a church withinnormal travel distance ofevery person would be a goodgoal. Ideally, every villageand every neighborhood ofevery city should have a group of believers who regularlymeet to fulfill the three-foldpurpose of the church:worship, equipping andmultiplication. Every villageand neighborhood of everycity needs a group ofChristians who act as salt andlight (Matthew 5:13-16).

Others set goals of one church for every 1,000 inhabitants. This is based on the theorythat an average size churchcan impact 1,000 people.

Another point of view takescultural and ethnic realitiesinto consideration, proposingthat churches must beestablished for every ethnicgroup in every region. Wemust keep in mind thatdifferent ethnic and socialgroups may need churchesthat worship in their mothertongue and reflect theircultural sensitivities. Forexample, Christians inWestern Europe see a need tostart churches oriented toyounger people. Or, in avillage of 800 people it ispossible that two churcheswould be needed if there weretwo distinctly different ethnicor language groups in thevillage, such as Gypsies andHungarians.

To estimate how manywitnessing churches areneeded in Romania to giveevery person the opportunityto become a faithful discipleof Jesus Christ, we have taken

a geographical approach. InRomania we believe that thepractical implications ofsaturation church planting require that:

• Every village should have achurch where believers regularlymeet to fulfill the three-foldpurpose of the church: worship,equipping and multiplication.

• Larger villages should have atleast a church for every1,000-1,500 people. Thus avillage with 4,000 people wouldneed at least three churches.

• In Romania’s cities weenvision one church for every1,500 people.

• In Romania’s larger cities,because the population is sodense, we project that one churchfor every 5,000 people will beinitially sufficient. The largercity churches could use a cellchurch structure to saturate everyneighborhood with an evangelical witness.

With this background, we willsurvey the land in Romania,province by province. We willlook at the population’s ethnicand religious structure. We willlook at the condition of theevangelical churches. We willexamine how deeply the Gospelhas penetrated each province. Believing that saturation churchplanting is the most efficientmethod of fulfilling the GreatCommission, we will project how many churches are needed to give every man, woman and child theopportunity to participate in agathering of believers where theGospel is proclaimed and faithfuldisciples are made. We will alsoproject how quickly the churchcould reach this objective basedon the number of churches thathave good potential for churchplanting and the recent growthrate.

Jesus commands us to makedisciples of all nations! Therefore, church planting, asone objective toward that goal, isnot optional. Our purpose inpresenting this information is tohelp us grasp the most realisticand responsible manner to fulfillthe mission of the Church, theGreat Commission, and thusglorify God.


After theobjective of

“saturation” isachieved, there

still remainsmuch to do tomake disciples

who will obey allthat Jesus

commanded.

Surveying the land in Romania

Criºana

Saturation is in sight!

Criºana consists of three counties, Bihor, Sãlaj, and Arad. In 2000it’s population was 1,353,096. The majority of people live inrural areas (51.2%). Major citiesare Oradea (population in 2000,220,626), Arad (182,846) andZalãu (77,015). According to the 1992 Census, Criºana’s ethniccomposition is 72.5% Romanian,22% Hungarian, 3.1% Gypsy,1.1% Slovak and 0.8% German. Also according to the Census66.2% of the people considerthemselves Orthodox; 13.9% Reformed; 9.4% RomanCatholic; 3.5% Pentecostal; 3.2% Baptist; 2.1% Greek Catholic,and 1.7% have other religiousaffiliations.

The Harvest Force

According to our research,Criºana has the highestpercentage of evangelicalChristians in Romania (at least6.5% or 88,421 people). Thereare 1,043 churches in Criºana,mostly Baptist (517) andPentecostal (508). Since 1989329 churches have been started in this province (growth 46.1%). Yet the AAGR for 1996-2000 isjust 2.83%, next to the lowest inall the country. According to theinformation in our database, there are over 450 churches withpotential to start new churches. (Research Note: other sourcesindicate that there are additionalBaptist churches in this province).

The Harvest Field

Crişana has the best population to evangelical church ratio in all ofRomania, that is 1,297 people forevery evangelical church. Already 644 locations are“saturated”! Only six townshipsout of 208 do not haveevangelical churches. However,1,264,675 people in this zone donot attend evangelical churches! And there could be as many as356 villages that do not have asingle evangelical church. Nearly 150,000 people in rural areas donot have access to an evangelicalchurch.

What needs to be done toachieve the objective ofsaturation in Crişana?

The cities need 59 additionalchurches. In the cities of Oradea, Arad and Zalău alone, 37additional churches are needed. We calculate that at most 487new churches are needed forsaturation. Taking into accountthat there are 450 churches withgood potential, it is feasible thatthe evangelical Christians inCrişana could achieve theobjective of saturation in just afew years. Yet at the current

AAGR, it would take 14 years to achieve saturation!

Although saturation is near,the evangelical churches mustbe mobilized to achieve thisgoal.

MaramureşBy faith the work can bedone!

Maramureş consists of twocounties, Satu Mare andMaramureş. The populationof this province in 2000 was921,076, with 50.5% living inurban areas. The major citiesare Baia Mare (149,780), Satu Mare (129,153), SighetuMarmeţiei (44,238) and Carei(25,046). The 1992 Censusreports the ethnic structure as:71.5% Romanian; 20.7%Hungarian; 4% Ukrainian;1.8% German; and 1.7%Gypsy. The religiousaffiliations is this region are:65.7% Orthodox; 11.2%Roman Catholic; 10.8%Reformed; 7% GreekCatholic; 2% Pentecostal and3.3% other.


“Lift up your eyes,and look on thefields, that they arewhite for harvest.”

The Harvest Force

There are 223 evangelicalchurches in this area, themajority being Pentecostal(148) and Baptist (64). TheBrethren have nine churchesand there are two independentchurches. Since 1989, 131churches were started in thisprovince (142% growth). Maramureş is the onlyprovince in Romania wherethe rate of church planting isgreater for the period1996-2000 in comparison with 1991-1995. The AAGR is6.96%. There are 121churches with good potentialfor church planting.

The Harvest Field

Over 900,000 people do notattend evangelical churches. Thirty of the 118 townshipsdo not have evangelicalchurches (25%); 311 villagesdo not have an evangelicalchurch; 92 villages havingover 1,000 inhabitants do nothave a single evangelicalchurch. Over 260,000 peoplein rural areas do not have anevangelical church in theirvillage. The population tochurch ratio is 4,130:1.

What needs to be done toachieve saturation?

To saturate this province withevangelical churches, a totalof 772 churches are needed, or at least 549 new churches. The cities of Satu Mare andBaia Mare both need over 20churches to achieve a PCRless than 5,000:1. In the other cities, 59 new churches areneeded to achieve saturation. Having 121 churches withgood potential for churchplanting, achieving the

objective of saturation could take10 to 22 years.

The evangelical churches inMaramureº have had greaterworks in the second half of the1990s than the first part; still agreater work of faith will beneeded to achieve the objective of saturation.

Banat

The goal is within reach!

Over a million people live in theBanat province. It consists oftwo counties: Timiş andCaraş-Severin, 60.1% of thepeople living in urban settings. Timoşoara (329,554) and Reşiţa(92,776) are the largest cities. According the 1992 Census, thisprovince has a diverse ethnicstructure: 82.3% are Romanian;6.6% are Hungarians; 3.6% areGermans; 2.3% are Serbs; 2.1%are Gypsies; 1% are Ukrainian. This region also displaysreligious diversity. The Orthodox number 80%. Roman Catholicsare 11.6%. Pentecostals number2.4%. Baptists are 2%. TheReformed represent 1.7%. Greek Catholics are 0.95%. Otherscomprise 2.3%.

The Harvest Force

Evangelical churches are strongin this area with 5% of thepopulation (or 52,255 people)involved in 521 churches (264Pentecostal, 227 Baptist, 21Brethren and nine independentchurches). At least 237 churcheswere started here since 1989(83.5% growth). The most newchurches of any county inRomania were started in TimişCounty – at least 160 new

churches. The Pentecostals inTimiş have done a phenomenaljob of starting new churches (129 since 1989). Likewise, thenumber of Pentecostals in Timişhas increased more than 5,000persons since 1992, from 19,042to approximately 24,300 today. However, the AAGR for theentire province since 1995 is only 2.29%, the poorest of anyprovince. (Research Note: othersources of information suggestwe may lack a number of BaptistChurches in this province).

The Harvest Field

The Population to Church Ratiois 2,000 people for every church,second best in all the country. There are 273 villages already “saturated.” Only seven out ofthe 144 townships do not have achurch. At most, 282 villages are without churches. However, letus not loose sight of the facts that nearly a million people in thesetwo counties do not attendevangelical churches and thatover 100,000 people in the Banatprovince may not have anevangelical church in theirvillage.


For saturation we calculate that atotal of 917 churches are neededor at least 433 new churches. The city of Timişoara will need36 more churches to have onechurch for every 5,000inhabitants. Reşiţa needs ten. The other cities will need 43 newchurches to achieve the objectiveof saturation. Having 285churches with good potential forchurch planting, it would bepossible to achieve the objectiveof saturation in a few years. However, continuing at theaverage growth rate since 1995,


achieving this objective wouldtake 27 years. The evangelicalchurches must be mobilized to“possess the land.”

Transylvania

Lots of potential. Lots to do!

Transylvania is found in theheart of Romania. It consists ofnine counties: Alba, BistriţaNasăud, Braşov, Cluj, Covasna,Harghita, Hunedoara, Mureş and Sibiu. Its population(4,211,457) makes it the thirdlargest province, with 61.9% ofthe population living in urbanareas. Some of the moreimportant cities are:Cluj-Napoca (329,310); Braşov(309,671); Sibiu (167,737);Târgu Mureş (163,184); Bistriţa(86,556); Hunedoara (78,435);Deva 75,515); Alba Iulia(71,638) and Miercur-Ciuc(46,021). Seven of 10 peopleare ethnically Romanian(73.4%). Two in 10 areHungarian (22.6%). However,two counties, Harghita andCovasna, have Hungarianmajorities (85% and 75%respectively). The Gypsies arealso a significant minority (2.7%) as are those of Germanicdescent (0.9%). According tothe 1992 Census the religiousaffiliations in Transylvania are:Orthodox (68.6%); RomanCatholic (11.3%); Reformed(11.2%); Greek Catholic (2.4%); Unitarian (1.7%); andPentecostal (1.5%). Othersrepresent 3.3%. However thereligious affiliations are quitedifferent in Harghita, which is66% Roman Catholic, 13%Reformed and 13% Orthodox,and Covasna, which is 37%

Roman Catholic, 34% Reformedand 22% Orthodox.

The Harvest Force

Transylvania has the mostevangelical churches of anyprovince, 1,255, of which 637 are Pentecostal, 418 are Baptist, 137are Brethren, and 53 areindependent. Transylvania alsohas the most evangelicalChristians (101,071) of anyprovince. In Transylvania 526new churches were started since1989 – the most of any province(72.2% growth). The AAGRsince 1995 is 3.17%. However,the church planting rates inBistriţa Nasăud, Braşov, Mureşand Sibiu are all over 100% since 1989. Over 100 new churcheswere started in Hunedoara and 64 in Alba. Hunedoara (7.85%AAGR), Bistriţa Nasăud (6.03%AAGR) and Braşov 4.76%(AAGR) have continued to haveabove average church plantingrates since 1995. There are 533churches with good potential tostart new churches – the most ofany province! (Research Note:other reliable sources indicatethere may be 20 additional Baptist churches in Cluj County.)

The Harvest Field

The Population Church Ratio forthe entire province is 3,356:1. Inthree counties the PCR is better:Bistriţa Nasăud (PCR 1,886:1),Alba (2,250:1) and Hundeoara(2,135:1). Already, 19 townships are saturated. Even thoughevangelical churches are strong in this region, over 4,100,000 people do not attend evangelicalchurches! Evangelical churchesare weakest in these two counties: Harghita (PCR 11,778:1) andCovasna (PCR 8,867:1). Both ofthese counties have Hungarianmajorities and are largely Roman

Catholic. These counties alsohave two cities that do nothave evangelical churches:Băile Tuşnad in Harghita andÎntorsura Buzăului inCovasna. In rural areas, 248of 610 townships do not haveevangelical churches (40.6%)and 2,276 villages do not have evangelical churches. Therefore, 23% ofTransylvania’s population –nearly a million people – donot have an evangelicalchurch in their village.


Transylvania needs a total of4,200 churches for saturationor 2,945 new churches! Transylvania’s cities need 253 new churches to have 5,000people for every evangelicalchurch. The most churchesare needed in the cities ofBraşov (47), Cluj Napoca(42), Sibiu (25) and TârguMureş (24). Another 282 new churches will be needed incities to achieve the objectiveof saturation. Nearly 2,400new churches will be neededin villages. Achieving thisobjective is not an impossibletask taking into account that533 churches have good churchplanting potential – the mostof any province in Romania. However, at the current AAGR(3.17%), reaching saturationwould take 39 years! Theminorities in Transylvaniawill need special missionaryactivity, especially in Harghita and Covasna counties thathave Hungarian majorities.

The evangelical churches inTransylvania have a lot ofpotential. And lots to do!


Oltenia

Growing well, but still along way to go! Come help!

Oltentia’s five counties,Mehedinţi, Gorj, Vâlcea, Oltand Dolj, have a population of 2,399,831. It is the most rural province in Romania as nearly 55% of the people live invillages. This area is nearlyall ethnically Romanian(98.3%) with a Gypsyminority (1.5%); 99% of thepeople consider themselvesOrthodox. The largest citiesare Craiova (312,358),Râmicu Vâlcea (119,249),Drobeta Turnu Severin(115,979), Târgu Jiu (97,359)and Slatina (86,351).

The Harvest Force

The number of evangelicalChristians has more thandoubled since the January1992 Census, growing by7,430 persons from 5,272 to12,702. In the entire province of Oltenia, the number ofchurches has grown 260%since 1989, from 73 to 263churches. This is the highestgrowth rate in the country. Today there are 101Pentecostal churches, 85Baptist churches, 58 Brethrenchurches, 11 RomanianEvangelical churches and atleast 8 independent churches. The Brethren and Baptistshave done well. However, the Pentecostals have doneexceptionally well, plantingmore than half of the newchurches. Beginning with 24churches in 1989, today theyhave at least 101 churches, a


THE CHURCH PLANTER’S HALL OF FAME

These denominations in the corresponding counties had both an aboveaverage number of churches started and a church planting rate above thenational average in the period 1996-2000 .

COUNTY DENOMINATION NEW CHURCHES AAGR*

Argeº Pentecostal 7 7.14%

Bacãu Brethren 12 10.29%

Bacãu Pentecostal 8 5.92%

Bihor Pentecostal 40 4.10%

Bistriþa-Nãsãud Pentecostal 35 6.36%

Botoºani Brethren 15 8.96%

Botoºani Pentecostal 24 5.58%

Braºov Brethren 8 6.67%

Brãila Baptist 11 20.79%

Bucureºti Baptist 7 12.20%

Caraº-Severin Pentecostal 14 3.98%

Cãlãraºi Pentecostal 9 12.70%

Constanþa Baptist 7 7.96%

Constanþa Pentecostal 10 10.20%

Dâmboviþa Pentecostal 22 9.78%

Dolj Pentecostal 10 6.96%

Galaþi Pentecostal 8 8.92%

Giurgiu Pentecostal 7 27.23%

Gorj Baptist 7 7.53%

Gorj Pentecostal 11 13.05%

Iaºi Brethren 7 4.28%

Iaºi Pentecostal 15 12.89%

Maramureº Baptist 9 5.73%

Maramureº Pentecostal 30 7.68%

Neamþ Pentecostal 10 7.21%

Olt Baptist 6 10.76%

Satu Mare Pentecostal 16 8.02%

Salãj Baptist 25 5.47%

Salãj Pentecostal 34 6.43%

Vaslui Pentecostal 11 12.30%

Vrancea Brethren 9 13.70%

*Average Annual Growth Rate

growth of 320%. Since 1995 theAAGR is 6.5%. As the majority(190) of the 263 evangelicalchurches in this province are new churches started in the lastdecade, only 85 churches havegood potential for churchplanting.

The Harvest Field

Only one-half of one percent ofthe population are evangelicalChristians. Thus, 2,887,129people do not attend evangelicalchurches. This province has sixcities that do not have a singleevangelical church: Vânju Mare(6,986), Novaci (6,446), BăileGovora (4,830), Ocne Mari(3,572), Dragneşti Olt (13,083)and Piatra Olt (6,640). Likewise1,225,676 people in 1,968villages do not have access to anevangelical church. Thus, overhalf of the population of Oltenia(52.8%) does not have access toan evangelical church! The PCRfor the entire province is 9,125:1. However, three counties have better Population to ChurchRatios: Gorj (6,074:1), Mehedinţi (6,568:1) and Dolj (8,362:1). Two counties, Olt and Vâlcea,have very poor Population toChurch Ratios, 14,520:1 and17,229:1 respectively.


We project that this provinceneeds a total of 2,649 churches. This means that at least 2,386new churches are needed. Thecities need 287 new churches toachieve saturation. Craiova alone needs 54 churches! Villages arein need of 2,100 new churches. Having 85 churches with goodchurch planting potential, the best projection for achievingsaturation is 30 years.

To fulfill the Great Commissionin Oltenia, Christians fromoutside of this province will needto come and help.

Muntenia

The greatest need for newchurches

Muntenia is the largest provincein Romania with a population in2000 of 6,640,439 people. Thisprovince is made up of elevencounties: Argeş, Dâmboviţa,Prahova, Buzău, Brăila, Ialomiţa,Călăraşi, Ilfov, Bucharest,Giurgiu, and Teleorman. Thisregion is heavily urbanized(59.2%). Almost a third of thepopulation lives in Romania’scapital, Bucharest (2,009,200). Other major cities are: Ploieşti(249,054); Piteşti (186,163);Brăila (230,962); Buzău(145,610); Târgovişte (98,028);Călăraşi (76,636); Giurgiu(71,893); Alexandria 57,377) and Slobozia (55,308). The peopleare predominantly Romanian(97.7%) with a Gypsy minority(1.7%). According to the Census, most people consider themselvesOrthodox (97.8%).

The Harvest Force

There are over 50,000 evangelical Christians (0.76%) and 739evangelical churches in thisprovince, more than doublingsince 1989 (109% growth). Likewise, this region has seen agood growth in the number ofbelievers since the 1992 Census. The evangelical denominationsare fairly evenly represented inthis zone. The Baptists have 134churches. The Brethren have162. The Romanian Evangelical

Church has 195. ThePentecostals have 212. Thereare 36 independent churches. The majority of the churchesfrom the RomanianEvangelical Churchdenomination are found in this region. The AAGR since1995 is 5%, although somecounties have had bettergrowth rates: Brăila – 11.84%the best growth rate in theentire country for this period;Călăraşi 10.93%; Bucharest9.30%; Ialomiţa 6.49%;Buzău 5.87%; Dâmboviţa5.22%. There are 387churches with good potentialfor church planting. (See theprevious chapter for moreabout the growth of the church in this zone.)

The Harvest Field

Nearly 6.6 million people inthis region do not attendevangelical churches! Only0.76% of the people areconsidered evangelicalChristians. The city of Azugain Prahova County does nothave an evangelical church. The large cities of this area are among the neediest in all thecountry; 42% of thetownships do not have a single evangelical church; 2,338villages do not have a singlechurch. Thus, over 2,000,000people in rural areas do nothave an evangelical church intheir village. This is morethan the population ofBucharest, or 30% of theentire population of theprovince. The PCR for theprovince is 9,000:1, althoughthis ranges from 3,803:1 forDâmboviţa to over 31,000:1for Bucharest. Three othercounties have Population toChurch Ratios over the mean:Buzău (15,767:1), Ialomiţa


(11,705:1) and Brăila(11,021:1).


Muntenia needs the most newchurches of any province inRomania, over 4,000! Weestimate that a total of 4,760churches are needed tosaturate this province. Over600 new churches are neededin the cities, Bucharestneeding the most. Brăila,Ploiesţi, Pitesti and Buzăualso need many new churches. Even with 387 churches withgood church planting potential and a good growth rate,reaching the objective ofsaturation could take severaldecades. Resources must bemobilized from within thisprovince and from outside inorder to more quickly reachthe objective of saturation.

Moldova

Saturation from North to South

The province of Moldova is made up of eight counties: Suceava,Botoşani, Neamţ, Iaşi Bacău,Vaslui, Vrancea and Galaţi. Thisprovince is second most populous in Romania (4,858,789) and isthe only one that has increased inpopulation since 1992 (increasing by 72,587 persons). The majority of people live in rural areas(54.8%). Major metropolitancenters are Iaşi (345,795), Galaţi(326,956), Băcau (207,573),Suceava (117,615), Piatra Neamţ(124,189), Botoşani (126,621),Focşani (96,930), Roman(81,013), Vaslui (77,900) andBârlad (77,805). Moldova hasthe highest percentage of ethnic

Romanians 98.4%. The Gypsiesare a small minority (0.8%). According to the 1992 Census,92% of the people considerthemselves Orthodox; 5.2% areRoman Catholic, primarily inBacău and Neamţ Counties, and1% are Pentecostal, primarily inSuceava County, which has over30,000 Pentecostals.

The Harvest Force

In Moldova nearly 85,000evangelical Christians (or 1.74%of the population) are involved in 759 evangelical churches. Thisrepresents 32% more people incomparison with the January1992 Census (from 63,685 to84,339). The majority of thechurches are Pentecostal (409),followed by the Brethren (233),the Baptists (103) and others(14). In total 442 new churcheshave been started in Moldovasince 1989 (139%). The AAGR


since 1995 is 5.45%. With theexception of Suceava, all of thecounties have had very goodannual growth rates since 1995. The Average Annual GrowthRates for these counties are:Suceava - 2.51%, Botoşani - 6.03%, Vaslui - 6.34%, Neamţ -6.5%, Galaţi - 6.96%, Iaşi -7.41%, Bacău - 7.92% andVrancea - 9.16%. There are 424churches with good potential forchurch planting.

(Research Note: We lackinformation for about 20 Baptistchurches in Suceava County thatwere started after 1992. Thiswould improve the AAGR forSuceava).

The Harvest Field

The condition of the HarvestField varies greatly in Moldova. The Population to Church Ratiois good in Botoşani (2,845:1) and Suceava (3,260:1), but is poor inthe other counties: Galaţi(18,402:1), Iaşi (10,459:1) Băcau(10,037:1), Neamţ (8,750:1)Vrancea (7,671:1) and Vaslui(6,884:1). The city TârguFrumos in Iaşi County does nothave an evangelical church. Half of the townships do not haveeven one evangelical church (290 of 578); 1,900,000 people livingin rural areas do not have anevangelical church in theirvillage; 2,487 villages arewithout evangelical churches.


Saturation for this zone requiresat least 4,423 churches. Thus3,664 new churches are needed; 3,020 new village churches areneeded to give Moldova’s largerural population opportunity toattend an evangelical church. Moldova’s cities also need 449

new churches. One-third ofthese new city churches areneeded in four cities: Galaţi(59); Iaşi (53); Băcau (35); andBotoşani (21). Saturation couldbe realistically achieved in ashort period of time in thenorthern counties of Suceavaand Botoşani, which have 255churches with good churchplanting potential. But reachingthe objective of saturation in thesix other counties, having only169 churches with good churchplanting potential, could takeseveral decades. Still thesechurches with potential, bytargeting larger population areas, can make significant progresstoward achieving the objectiveof saturation in the next fiveyears.

Dobrogea

Romania’s Mission Field

The province of Dobrogeaconsists of two countiesConstanţa and Tulcea. Thepopulation in 2000 was1,008,733 inhabitants. With a

third of the population living in the city of Constanţa(337,216) this is the mosturbanized region in Romania (66.4%). The city of Tulcea, population 94,706, is thenext largest city in this zone. This province is ethnicallyand religiously diverse:92.8% Romanian; 2.7%Turks; 2.5% Russian-Lippoven and 2.3% Tatar. The population of Dobrogeais 5% Moslem; 91.1%consider themselvesOrthodox; 1.9% adhere tothe Old Rite Orthodox faith. Other religious confessionsnumber 2%.

The Harvest Force

The evangelical churches inDobrogea have experiencedthe second highest rate ofgrowth in the country, that is185%. Fifty new churcheshave been started since 1989giving a total of 77evangelical churches. Thirty-two churches arePentecostal; 31 are Baptist;six are Brethren, five areRomanian Evangelicalchurches, and three areindependent churches. Both


There are over 50,000 Muslims in Dobrogea.

Baptists and Pentecostals aregrowing at a significant rate. More churches were started in Dobrogea after 1996 than1991-95 (19 compared to 24). Dobrogea has the highestaverage church-planting ratein all of Romania since 1995(8.76% AAGR). In Tulceathe AAGR is 8.08% while inConstanţa it is 9.58%. On theother hand Dobrogea has thesmallest percentage ofevangelical Christians of anyprovince in Romania (0.42%or 4,256 people), the fewestchurches (77) and thus thefewest number of churcheswith good potential to startnew churches (32).

The Harvest Field

Over 99.5% of the population– over one million people –does not attend an evangelicalchurch. The city of Sulina inTulcea does not have achurch. Over two-thirds ofthe townships do not have asingle evangelical church (67of 95); 290 villages do nothave evangelical churches. Inall 271,386 people in ruralareas do not have anevangelical church in theirvillage – an astounding 81%of the rural population! ThePopulation to Church Ratio is12,645:1 in Constanţa and14,594:1 in Tulcea.


There is much work to do tofulfill the Great Commissionin Dobrogea. Cross-culturalmissionaries are needed toreach the diverse ethnicpopulation of Dobrogea,especially the 52,000 Muslims and the 25,000Russian-Lippoven. At least

575 additional churches areneeded to reach saturation, 408 in villages and 167 in cities. Thecity of Constanţa needs 59 newchurches and 16 are needed incity of Tulcea. Since only 32churches have good potential forstarting new churches, help fromoutside is needed.

Dobrogea, with its diverse ethnicand religious milieu and threeUnreached People Groups,presents Romania with its veryown mission field.

Not justinformation,but inspiration!

This, to the best of ourknowledge, is the state of theevangelical churches in each ofRomania’s provinces. This“survey of the land” (Joshua18:4) is also a conservativeestimation of what is needed togive every man, woman and child the opportunity to hear theGospel through the witness of alife-giving, local church.

It is an incontestable fact that inthe 1990’s God did a marvelouswork in Romania. But whyshould that stop? Building on the growth of the last decade,Romania’s evangelical Christians have the potential to make evengreater strides toward fulfillingthe Great Commission. But, thispotential awaits release.

Romania’s evangelical churcheshave been compared to a sleeping giant. Well then, let’s awakenthe giant!

We believe that the rightinformation, in the right hands, at the right time has a powerfuleffect. So this “survey of the

land” is not just information, butinspiration – that can release thehidden potential of the church. As a spark lights a great fire, soinformation can inspire greatchurch planting movements.

Do not keep this information toyourself. Use it to cast vision,strategize, intercede for andinspire others – that Romaniawould be filled with theknowledge of the glory of theLord as the waters cover the sea(Habakkuk 2:14).


The rightinformation, in the right hands,at the right timehas a powerfuleffect.

God’s heart beats forRomania. Does yours?

Does your heart cry out toGod for your fellowcountrymen that they may besaved (Romans 11:1)?

Do you beseech the Lord ofthe harvest to send outworkers into his harvest field(Matthew 9:38)?

Do you cry out to God, “Giveme Romania or I die,” as John Knox did for Scotland?

Does your heart beat for themillions in Romania whotravel the broad way that leads to destruction?

Does your heart beat forRomania? If not, why not?

Once Jesus went about all thecities and villages in Judeateaching and preaching. Matthew tells us that, “Whenhe saw the crowds he hadcompassion for them, becausethey were harassed, andhelpless, like sheep without ashepherd” (Matthew 9:36).

Do you see the connectionbetween vision andcompassion? Jesus, the Sonof God, saw people throughGod’s eyes; he saw theirdeepest needs. Thus, his heart was moved with compassionfor the multitudes that wereharassed and helpless.

Could it be that we don’t have compassion for those aroundus because we do not see their deepest needs? Could it bewe don’t see their needsbecause we don’t have clearvision?

How is your vision?


Does yourheart beat for

Romania?

Seven great challengesbefore Romania’s

evangelical churches

My vision is poor. Withoutmy glasses I can’t see a thing. But with the right glasses, Ican see perfectly. In a similarway our vision of the world ispoor and we need correctiveglasses – theological glasses – that will help us see peoplethe way Jesus sees them.

Looking at people throughGod’s eyes moves us tocompassion; seeing the worldthrough God’s eyes causes our heart to beat like God’s heart.

Let me suggest three truthsthat can help correct ourvision of the world:

1. God loves the whole worldand sent his son, JesusChrist, to be the atoningsacrifice for the sins ofevery man, woman andchild (John 3:16; 1 John2:2; 4:9,10).

2. God does not want anyoneto perish, but for everyoneto come to repentance andthe full knowledge of thetruth (2 Peter 3:9; 1Timothy 2:4).

3. God has entrusted to thelocal church theresponsibility to proclaimthe Gospel and makedisciples of all nations (Matthew 24:14; Matthew28:19,20; Mark 16:15;Luke 24:47; Acts 1:8;Romans 1:5; 10:14-17;16:26; 2 Corinthians 5:18).

From this perspective we canbegin to see the world through God’s eyes.

Let’s try to look throughGod’s eyes at seven greatchallenges before Romania’sevangelical churches.

Challenge #1: 22 million peoplehave yet to becomedisciples of JesusChrist

According to our research, theBaptists, Pentecostals, Brethrenand the Romanian EvangelicalChurch, together with someindependent churches, haveapproximately 440,000 membersand adherents. Since Romania’spopulation in 2000 was22,435,205, these believers only

represent 2% of Romania’spopulation. This means that 22million people do not attend anevangelical church! Thepercentage of evangelicalChristians ranges from highs of6.5% in Crişana and 5% in theBanat to lows of 0.76% inMuntenia, 0.53% in Oltenia, and0.42% in Dobrogea. Thus 22million people have yet torespond positively to the Gospeland become faithful followers ofJesus Christ.

Each year in Romania 280,000people die, that is 767 per day, 31 per hour, one ever two minutes.


How many will enter into eternallife? How many “will bepunished with everlastingdestruction and shut out from thepresence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power” (2 Thes.1:9)? “‘Do I take any pleasure inthe death of the wicked?’ declares the Sovereign Lord. ‘Rather am I not pleased when they turn andlive’” (Ezekiel 18:22,23)? Doesyour heart beat for these people?

Challenge #2: 7 million people in10,000 villages haveno evangelical church

At most 10,308 villages do nothave evangelical churches. Nearly seven million people livein these villages. Thus, two-thirds of Romania’s rural population donot have opportunity to attend an evangelical church. One millionpeople – one seventh of thosewho without an evangelicalchurch in their village – live injust 240 of Romania’s largestvillages!

Does your heart beat for theseseven million people in Romaniawho do not have an evangelicalchurch in their village? Does your heart beat for the multitudes inRomania’s church-less villageswho are harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd? Who is going to take the good news ofJesus’ atoning sacrifice to them?

Challenge #3:Romania’s cities

Saturation of Romania’s citieswill require at least 2,500 newchurches. Let’s remember thatthe majority of Romania’spopulation (54.6%) lives in cities.

Currently that is 12,244,598people. By impacting the 263cities we can efficiently discipleover one-half of Romania’spopulation.

How does God see the people inRomania’s cities? What does hefeel for them? Do you rememberGod’s words to Jonah? “‘Nineveh has more than ahundred and twenty thousandpeople who cannot tell their righthand from their left.... Should Inot be concerned about that greatcity (Jonah 4:11)?’” Are youconcerned about the great citiesof Romania? Does your heartbeat for these multitudes?

Do you remember why Jesuswept over the city ofJerusalem? “As Jesusapproached Jerusalem andsaw the city, he wept over itsaying, ‘If you, even you, hadknown on this day what would bring you peace – but now itis hidden from your eyes.... You did not recognize thetime of God’s coming to you (Luke 19:41,42,44).’” “‘Howoften I have longed to gatheryour children together, as ahen gathers her chicks underher wings, but you were notwilling’” (Matthew 23:37).


LOCALITIES WITHOUT EVANGELICAL CHURCHES

Type and size of location Number Population

Cities 11 75,279

Villages with over 2,500 inhabitants 347 1,297,348

Villages with 1,000-2,500 inhabitants 1,708 2,538,923

Villages with 500-999 inhabitants 2,454 1,735,166

Villages with 250-499 inhabitants 2,460 900,389

Villages with 1-249 inhabitants 3,338 420,993

TOTAL 10,318 6,968,098

Do you weep for themultitudes in Romania’s cities that are blinded by the god ofthis age from seeing the lightof the gospel of the glory ofChrist (2 Corinthians 4:4)? Do you weep for those whoare not willing to turn fromtheir sin and be saved?

Challenge #4: The SoutheasternProvinces

Romania’s evangelicalchurches are not spread evenly throughout the country. In the provinces of Crişana, Banat,Maramureş and Transylvaniathere are over 3,000 churchesand 260,000 evangelical

Christians in comparison to 1,830 churches and 151,575 evangelical Christians in the Southeast. Sothere are almost twice as manychurches and evangelicalChristians in the Northwest incomparison to the Southeast!

However, consider that there are7,531,624 inhabitants in theNorthwest of Romania and14,907,792 in the Southeast. This means that in theNorthwestern provinces there are2,478 people for everyevangelical church, whereas inOltenia, Dobrogea, Muntenia and Moldova there is only one church for every 8,146 people! Thereare over three times moreevangelical churches per capita in the Northwestern provinces than


THE 20 CITIES WITH THE GREATEST NEED

CITY COUNTYPOPULATION

IN 2000NR. OF

EVANGELICALSPERCENTAGE OF EVANGELICALS

NR. OFCHURCHES

PCR* **10,000:1

Bacãu Bacãu 202,573 1,000 0.48% 7 29,653 14

Brãila Brãila 230,962 718 0.31% 6 38,494 18

Braºov Braºov 308,671 3,000 0.,94% 15 20,645 16

Bucharest Bucharest 2,009,200 14,000 0.70% 64 31,394 137

Buzãu Buzãu 145,610 320 0.21% 65 24,268 9

Caracal Olt 38,721 132 0.34% 2 19,316 2

Constanþa Constanþa 337,216 1,500 0.44% 9 37,468 25

Covasna Covasna 66,341 120 0.18% 2 33,171 5

Craiova Dolj 312,358 1,837 0.59% 9 34,706 23

Focºani Vrancea 96,930 525 0.54% 5 19,386 5

Galaþi Galaþi 326,956 1,900 0.58% 7 46,708 26

Miercurea Ciuc Harghita 46,021 14 0.03% 1 46,201 4

Piatra Neamþ Neamþ 120,189 1,057 0.85% 6 20,698 7

Piteºti Argeº 186,163 625 0.34% 7 26,595 12

Odorheiu Secuiesc Harghita 38,939 110 0.28% 2 19,470 2

Olteniþa Cãlãraºi 30,833 28 0.09% 1 30,833 3

Râmnicu Sãrat Buzãu 41,348 10 0.02% 1 41,348 4

Râmnicu Vâlcea Vâlcea 119,244 220 0.18% 3 39,750 9

Roman Neamþ 81,013 400 0.49% 4 20,253 5

Tulcea Tulcea 94,706 211 0.22% 3 31,569 7

Turnu Mãgurele Teleorman 36,085 35 0.10% 1 36,085 3

*Population to Church Ratio**10,000:1 represents the number of churches which need to be started so that at most the population to church ratio in the respective city is 10,000:1.

To saturateRomania’s citieswith evangelicalchurches, 2,500

new churches areneeded.

in the more populousSoutheastern provinces. In fact,in the province of Crişana, one isover 15 times more likely to meet an evangelical Christian on thestreet than in Dobrogea!

We see again that the number oftownships without evangelicalchurches is much greater inSoutheastern Romania. At most,only 27% of the townships in theNorthwest do not have a singleevangelical church (291 localities out of 1,080); in the Southeasternpart, however, 53% are withoutchurches (844 of 1,806).

There is a similar trend with thenumber of villages. In theNorthwest 3,225 villages do nothave evangelical churches. In the Southeast 7,083 villages do nothave a single evangelical church. So there are 2-1/3 times morechurch-less villages in theSoutheast than in the Northwest. Thus, it is clear that theSoutheastern provinces have amuch greater need for newchurches than the Northwesternprovinces.

Challenge #5: 15,000 NewChurches!

We calculate that a total of19,939 churches – planted in theright places – are needed to giveevery man woman and child anopportunity to be in the sphere ofinfluence of a life-giving churchwhere faithful disciples of JesusChrist are made. Let’s round this up to 20,000 churches in total. With 5,000 current churches, thismeans that 15,000 more churches need to be planted in the rightplaces to fill Romania with theknowledge of the glory of theLord.

Does your heart long to see Godglorified and that his name beexalted in this country? Doesyour heart beat for the Romanianpeople?

Challenge #6: Romania’s HiddenPeoples

Romania has many minorities. They too need discipled! Examining the ethnic structure ofRomania on the basis of theJanuary 1992 Census, we observe that 11% of the populationbelongs to other ethnic groups. This means that one in ten people in Romania is not ethnicallyRomanian! However this statistic is not true for all the country. InCrişana, Maramureş, andTransylvania, three out of 10people are not Romaniann; in Banat, two out of 10 are notRomanian; but in Moldova andMuntenia only one in 50 is notRomanian. The Census alsoindicates that there are nineminorities with over 10,000people. The other ethnic groupsthat have under 10,000 peopletotal 48,185 people.

Let’s see how deeply theGospel has penetrated thesepeople groups. If we look atthe number of people who, atthe time of the Census, saidthey belong to an evangelicaldenomination we see that thepercentage varies from 0% to8.3%. From the Censusinformation we clearly seethat there is not a viableevangelical movement amongthe Russian-Lippoven people,the Turks and Tatars. Thesethree minorities areUnreached or Hidden Peoplesmeaning that there is not a

viable evangelical churchwithin the ethnic group thatcan disciple its own people. The Turks and Tatars areMuslims. TheRussian-Lippoven peopleadhere to the Old RiteOrthodox Church (62%), theRomanian Orthodox Church(32%) and the Old StyleOrthodox Church (5%). So,these ethnic groups require a


1 in 10 people inRomania is notRomanian!

cross-cultural missionaryeffort. Also, the evangelicalmovements among the otherethnic groups, the Gypsies,Hungarians, Serbs, Germans,Slovaks, etc., also needstrengthening.

Does not the GreatCommission direct us to make disciples of all nations? Sothe task of evangelizing andmaking disciples of

Romania’s minorities is animportant aspect of fulfilling theGreat Commission.

Does your heart beat for that oneperson out of ten who is notRomanian? Does your heart beatfor the Turks, the Tatars, theHungarians, and theRussian-Lippoven people – thatthey may come to a fullknowledge of the truth and besaved?

Challenge #7:Mobilization of theHarvest Force

Thousands of churches and tensof thousands of workers must bemobilized for the Harvest Force.This is the most critical needbefore us.

We consider that a church hasgood potential to start otherchurches if it has at least 50members or, if it was started after 1989, 30 members. For thechurches in our database wefound that 2,250 have goodpotential for church planting. The Baptists have 476 churcheswith potential. The Brethrenhave 286. The Pentecostals have1,461, and independent churcheshave at least 27 churches withgood potential. It is very likelythat the actual number ofchurches with potential is higher,around 2,500. These churcheswith potential must be mobilizedin order to fulfill the GreatCommission.

The objective of saturation willnot be reached automatically inany province. Achieving thisgoal will require the “work offaith, and labor of love andsteadfastness of hope in the LordJesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians1:4). Reaching the goal ofsaturation depends on whetherthe evangelical Christians willmobilize themselves to use theresources that God has placed attheir disposal to fulfill the GreatCommission.

If the evangelical churches withpotential are mobilized,saturation could be realisticallyreached in a few years in theprovinces of Crişana (Bihor,Sălaj, Arad) and Banat (Timiş,Caraş-Severin) and in the


THE LARGEST LOCALITIES IN ROMANIAWITHOUT AN EVANGELICAL CHURCH

LOCALITY COUNTY POPULATION

Popeºti Leordeni Ilfov 14,421

Târgu Frumos Iaºi 13,875

Lieºti Galaþi 10,998

Pechea Galaþi 10,930

Breaza de Sus Prahova 10,903

Matca Galaþi 10,880

Sãbãoani Neamþ 9,879

Drãgãneºti Olt Olt 9,551

Tomeºti Iaºi 8,886

Peretu Teleorman 8,430

Cudalbi Galaþi 8,156

Mihail Kogãlniceanu Constanþa 7,808

Valu lui Traian Constanþa 7,354

Sângeorgiu de Mureº Mureº 7,120

Bragadiru Ilfov 6,951

Dancu Iaºi 6,903

Sândominic Harghita 6,676

Brãneºti Ilfov 6,652

Întorsura Buzãului Covasna 6,513

Remetea Harghita 6,498

Azuga Prahova 6,487

Oituz Bacãu 6,461

Dragalina Cãlãraºi 6,317

Tufeºti Brãila 6,176

Ditrãu Harghita 6,078

counties of Suceava, Botoşani,Sibiu, Hunedoara, Maramureş,Cluj and Braşov. On the otherhand in Oltenia, Dobrogea,Muntenia, most of Moldova andparts of Transylvania, where thechurch is weaker, reaching thisgoal could take much longer,even decades. Workers fromoutside these provinces can comeand hasten the fulfillment of theGreat Commission in theseprovinces.

Having over 500,000 membersand adherents and 5,000 churches – 2,500 of which have goodpotential for church planting –Romania’s evangelical Christians are now positioned to makesignificant progress toward theobjective of saturation churchplanting and fulfilling the Great

Commission if they mobilizethemselves for this work.

Who, then, will mobilize theBody of Christ in Romania forthis great and extensive work?

Who will call God’s people toprayer, that the Lord of theharvest would send out workersinto his harvest field (Matthew9:38)?

Who will equip God’s people forthe work of ministry so that thebody of Christ may be built up (Ephesians 4:12)?

Who will count the cost to seethat every man, woman and childin Romania has the opportunityto hear the Gospel and become afaithful follower of Jesus Christ?

The greatest need of the houris for men whom God can useto mobilize the entire Body ofChrist to disciple the wholenation.

We need men like Joshua andCaleb, men who are strongand courageous, who followthe Lord wholeheartedly, whobelieve “‘the Lord is with us’” and in faith say, “‘We shouldtake possession of the land for we can certainly do it’” (Number 14:9; 13:30) .

We need men like Jabez, whowas more honorable than hisbrothers, who cried out to theLord, “‘Oh that you wouldbless me indeed and enlargemy territory, that Your handwould be with me, and thatYou would keep me from evil


THE PERCENTAGE OF EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS IN THE LARGEST ETHNICMINORITIES IN ROMANIA

Ethnic Group Population Number ofEvangelicals

Percentage ofEvangelicals Counties that have large population centers

UKRAINIANS 65,764 5,447 8.3%Maramureº (36,685 people or 6.8%), Tulcea(3,847), Suceava (9,549), Caraº-Severin (4,118)and Timiº (6,468)

SLOVAKS 48,185 755 3.9% Arad (6,760), Bihor (7,793), Timiº (2,229), Sãlaj(1,608) and Caraº-Severin (555).

GERMANS(All Protestants) 119,462

3,161

(36,475)

2.6%

(30%)Timiº 3,8%, Sibiu 3,8%, Satu-Mare 3,6%,Caraº-Severin 3,2%, Arad 2% and Braºov 1,6%.

GYPSIES 401,087 9,771 2.4% Gypsies represent at least 1% of the population in 33counties.

HUNGARIANS(All Protestants) 1,624,959

19,557

(813,250)

1.2%

(50%)

Harghita 85%, Covasna 75%, Mureº 41%,Satu-Mare 35%, Bihor 28%, Sãlaj 24%, Cluj 19%,Arad 13%, Braºov 10%, Marmureº 10%, Timiº 9%, Bistriþa-Nãsãud 6,5%, Hunedoara 6%, Alba 6%,Sibiu 4% and Caraº-Severin 2%.

SERBS 29,408 314 1.0% Timiº (17,144), Caraº-Severin (7,885), Arad(1,732) and Mehedinþi (1,379)

RUSSIAN-LIPPOVEN 38,606 100 0.26% Tulcea (20,434), Constanþa (5,720), Brãila (2,359),

Iaºi (2,688), Suceava (2,614) and Bucharest (1,209)

TATARS 24,594 1 0 Constanþa (24,011)

TURKS 29,832 5 0 Constanþa (24,295), Tulcea (3,390) and Bucharest(910)

that I may not cause pain.’ So God granted him what herequested” (1 Chronicles4:9,10).

We need men like those ofIssachar - 200 chiefs and alltheir relatives under theircommand - who understandthe times and know whatGod’s people should do (1Chronicles 12:32).

We need men like Nehemiah,who mourn and fast and cryout to God, confessing the sinof the people and seekingGod’s favor, who successfully motivate God’s people to atask so great, that it cansucceed only if God isinvolved in it; who perseverein the face of difficulties andbring their work to a goodcompletion.

Are you one of these? Romania needs you now!

Does your heart beat forRomania?

Perhaps God is calling you tobe one of those leaders whowill mobilize the Body ofChrist to disciple the wholenation.


The greatestneed of the

hour is for menwhom God canuse to mobilizethe entire Body

of Christ todisciple the

whole nation.

A little over 10 years ago,the world stood in awe as

the former Soviet Union andEastern Europe’s communistregimes began to topple oneby one. Within a three-yearperiod (1989-1991), borderbarriers between nations weretorn down, the infamousBerlin Wall disappeared,statues of Marx and Lenintumbled, and for the first timein decades millions of peoplestepped out from behind theIron Curtain into a new worldof complex changes andchoices. In Romania, as inother formerly communistnations, expectations werehigh. Excitement about thenew era of freedom anddemocracy filled thenewspapers and magazines. People enthusiasticallyembraced their new freedoms, anticipating a new prosperity.The evangelical churchespraised God for theirnew-found liberty to worshipopenly, to evangelize and toplant new churches.

Now, after 11 years ofpolitical, economic, social and religious freedom, a myriad of government “reforms,” and adizzying succession ofchanges in politicalleadership, it seems fitting tobriefly evaluate the “newsocial context” in which theevangelical churches mustwork today. That socialcontext greatly impacts theChurch and its methods ofpresenting the Gospel, ofattracting and discipling newbelievers, and of incorporating those peopleinto the life of the church.


Plantingrelevant

churches ina new social

context

It is a societygreatly influencedby external forcesand new valuesthrough:

THE MEDIA: Today,Romania boasts dozens oftelevision channels, radiostations and “internet cafes.” Slick new magazines areappearing on the newsstands,targeting a younger, upwardlymobile generation that desiresa lifestyle free from the chains of Romanian tradition. Forbetter or for worse, the mediaconstantly exposes people tonew values, ideas andexpectations. For example,advertisements for certainbrands of alcohol promise amultitude of friends, freedom,excitement and illicit sexualencounters. Publicity for onebrand of cigarettes shows asophisticated, stylish manasking, “Do you expect a manlike me to come home earlyfrom work?” or aprovocatively-dressed womanasking, “And you expect awoman like me to sew andcook?” or “And you expect awoman like me to be thankfulfor just a little?” Thepervasiveness of mass mediathroughout Romaniaguarantees that both rural andurban zones will be suckedinto the lure of thesemessages.

POLITICAL PRESSURES:To conform with requirements for Romania’s entry intointernational organizations ofnations (e.g., NATO or theEU), laws have been or willbe changed that affectsociety’s moral choices (e.g.,

homosexual rights, liberty to have abortions on demand, and theinflux of “pornography” underthe guise of “freedom of thepress”). Often the foreignpressure to change laws isextremely helpful in attainingguarantees for religious freedomand protection of minorities, butthe laws also bring guarantees offreedom for groups that threatenthe stability of families who wishto live according to Christianbiblical values.

FOREIGN PRESENCE: One cannot take a stroll in Bucharest,Cluj or Timiºoara today withouthearing dozens of languages onthe street as people pass by. Thepresence of foreigners inbusiness, Non-GovernmentalOrganizations and Christianoffices influences the waydecisions are made, the waybusiness is done, and the waypeople are managed. Itinfluences our ideas of what isright and wrong, proper andimproper. The business practices of McDonalds, Microsoft,Renault or Citibank set newstandards for management andchange the expectations of a newgeneration of employees.

Foreign presence has alsobrought with it new options forreligious faith. A variety ofnon-Christian religions likeIslam, Hare Krishna, Baha’i, theUnification Church, theMormons, and the Jehovah’sWitnesses now exist inRomania.1 While the presenceand increasing activity of thesereligions add to the confusion ofchoices available to people,without such choices, there would not exist true religious freedom.

How do these pressures directlyimpact the church? While themessage of the Gospel remains

the same, our methods ofcommunication, evangelization,church planting, leadershiptraining and discipleship must beappropriate for the changingsociety around us. Today’sgeneration is exposed to manymore ideas and choices than were ever possible for the generationraised under communism. Someof these influences are good;some are not so good. But thechurch cannot remain in theculture of the past, assuming thatits people are not or should not be affected by these outsideinfluences. Neither can it railagainst these influencespresuming that all change iswrong. In the church, music and worship styles, modes of dress,leadership practices, sermon

topics, and even church seatingarrangements and architecturalstyles are all inevitably affectedby exposure to internationalinfluences. For example, anauthoritative leadership style that was acceptable in communisttimes may not be acceptabletoday inside or outside thechurch. Also, worship styles arechanging and new songs arebeing written as Christians areexposed to both foreign churchinfluences as well as to thepractices of other denominationsthat Romanians now have thefreedom to explore. Sermontopics, too, must change, aschurch members come face toface with the reality of increasing


exposure to homosexuality,pornography, promiscuity andgambling. Sermons need tocover issues that people arefacing in their day-to-day lives.

Outside the church, Christianevangelistic messages mustcompete with messages from agrowing variety of non-Christianreligions and spiritist or occultistmovements about which manychurch members remain ignorant. In a conversation with thisresearcher, one “mature”Christian remarked recently thatshe was thinking about exploringthe benefits of transcendentalmeditation and yoga to help herrelax and “discover her innerself.” Another asked about thedifference between Jehovah’sWitnesses and evangelicals,observing that he couldn’t seemuch of a problem with theliterature this group produced and the articles seemed extremelyrelevant. Still another wonderedif it is harmful to explore one’shoroscope. Christians need to beinstructed about the competingmarketplace of religions andcults, how to recognize and holdto the truth, and how to presentthe Gospel in a clear and relevantmanner. Christians must beinstructed to discern good fromevil and right from wrong as theyare confronted with new ethicaldecisions on a daily basis(Hebrews 5:14).

It is a society facingextreme economicpressures.

Eleven years after the fall ofCommunism, Romania is stillstruggling with an “economy intransition.” The average netmonthly salary per capita in theyear 2000 was 2,173,478 lei or

about $80 (a 39.8% increase over1999), but the rate of inflationwas 45.7% in the same timeperiod meaning that people had anet loss in their buying power.2

A recent article in RomaniaLibera (one of Romania’s leading daily newspapers), quoted Adrian Nastase, Romania’s PrimeMinister, who noted that,according to European statistics,“At this moment, the standard oflife of Romanians is half incomparison to the poorestcitizens in the EuropeanCommunity in terms of theirbuying power.”3 Out of theirmeager salaries many are barelyable to pay their utilities andmaintenance bills let alone to buy food and have some disposableincome for clothing, transport and entertainment. It is no wonderthat a thriving undergroundeconomy accounts for between

17% and 40% of the GNP(depending on which studyone reads),4 that 43% of thepopulation lives below thepoverty line,5 and that manypeople must work at two ormore jobs to be able tosurvive. Because of theseeconomic pressures, churchleaders struggle to find laypeople who can devote time to service in the church or whocan regularly attend Biblestudies and discipleshipgroups. It is difficult forchurch members to dreamabout church planting andexpansion when they areworried about purchasingshoes for their children orfinding a precious fewminutes of time to spend withtheir families. In addition,churches often loose some oftheir most talented youth andfamilies to other countries that offer greater possibilities forwork, higher salaries and abrighter future. Officialstatistics say that almost115,000 Romanians emigrated between 1994 and 1999, thegreat majority of them under40 years of age and withuniversity and/or professionaltraining.6 Some social analysts estimate that the number ismuch higher and thatRomania is rapidly loosing itsbest-educated young adultswho will contribute to theeconomy, creativity and gloryof nations other thanRomania.7

Obviously, churches are going to suffer when their people are suffering, for such is thecharacter of the Body ofChrist. When one member ishurting, all hurt with him (1Cor. 12:26). When youngfamilies leave the country insearch of “a better life,” the


43% of Romanians live at or under thepoverty level andmany must keep two or three jobs just tosurvive

church loses the potential oftheir spiritual leadership andfinancial involvement aslongtime members. Whenpeople suffer financially, theyalso often suffer mentally andemotionally from their anxiety over their decreasing ability to pay their debts and to providefor their families. Theseeconomic and emotionalpressures can lead to maritaldiscord and desperate,unbalanced behavior. Suchproblems can affect thespiritual health of the churchin two key ways: 1) if peoplecannot receive help, comfortand prayer for their needsthrough the church, they willlook elsewhere for answers,and the church will bemarginalized from theday-to-day reality of people’slives; and 2) desperate peoplesometimes feel forced to takedesperate measures thatcompromise their integrityand the integrity of the church.

Churches are not withoutbiblical guidance in thesematters. While the Biblecautions us that the poor willalways be with us (Matt.26:11) and that we are to beanxious about nothing, but totrust only in God (Phil. 4:6-7), it also teaches us to helpothers and to give generously.The Bible says that we are todo good to all men, especiallyto those who are of thehousehold of faith (Gal. 6:10), and we are to share liberallywith those in need (2 Cor. 9and James 2:14-17). Indifficult economic times, thechurch needs to find ways tooffer support both physicallyand emotionally to itssuffering members. Formingspecial committees for helping the needy and to solicit and

disburse special offerings for theneedy is a good, short-termsolution. A long-term solutionmight be to help create jobs forthose in need by participating inor creating a network oforganizations who can helpconnect people with theappropriate job openings. Another solution would be toprovide job training or retraining. We must ask ourselves what weas a church are doing toencourage and to be relevant tothose in economic turmoil.

Demographically, it is a rapidly agingsociety.

By 2025, sociologists estimatethat Romania will be “a countryof pensioners.” Figures from theNational Bureau of Statistics8

show that the low birthrate inRomania together with thecurrently low number of youthbetween the ages of 6 and 20 will result in Romania having 50% ofits population over 45 years ofage in 2025 and 23% over the age of 60! According to RomaniaLibera (Dec. 1997), “If thegovernment does not take somesteps to change this situation andto encourage its citizens to havemore children, by 2025, we will

have a demographic disaster!”9

The most recent statistics for theyear 2000 continue to show thistendency, reporting that while the number of young people aged0-14 declined by 102,000, thenumber of people over 60increased by 46,300!10 The birthrate also continued to dropalarmingly in both rural andurban areas.11 This demographicchange is important for churchesto consider as they plan programs for evangelism and churchplanting for they must askthemselves: “Do we haverelevant programs and ministryopportunities for older people and pensioners? Do we considerpensioners an active recruitingground for service in the church?

What can we do to help thegrowing number of pensioners inour churches who must surviveon a fixed income far below theactual cost of living?”

On the other hand, churches must also develop programs that willencourage young couples to havechildren. For example, what kind of ministries and practical help do we provide to young mothers and fathers as they seek to raisechildren in this modern socialcontext? Do we have childcareprograms to enable youngcouples to attend church


activities? What does the churchprovide to help parents be moreeffective in their roles of raisingthe future generation ofbelievers? Would it be possibleto sponsor low-cost daycareprograms or a kindergarten toprovide quality childcare forworking families? Could there be an interest among pensioners inthe church to be “adopted” byyoung families who could benefit from their help and counsel andwho in return provide a place ofservice and ministry for theseaging saints?

Romania’s demographic statistics also reveal another interestingfact. Currently, Romania’slargest population band (or10-year age span) consists ofyoung adults aged 20-29 (17%).12

The majority of these areeducated, technologicallycompetent, they are conversant in at least two languages, and theyknow very little of the hardshipstheir parents suffered underCommunism. They are anextremely cosmopolitan groupthat is likely to be more aware oftraditions and lifestyles inAmerica and Western Europethan they are of their ownnational heritage and traditions. Unfortunately, this age group also makes up the majority of thoseleaving the country to work andlive in other nations. What canthe church do to encourage theseyoung people to stay in Romaniaand to contribute to the future oftheir nation? The youth programs of the 80s and 90s will not berelevant to this new generationthat refuses to look backwards,

but impatiently waits to make itsmark on the future.

Romanian societyfaces difficult moralchallenges.

In a recent inter-confessionalprayer conference sponsored byWorld Vision in Romania, a longlist of social problems that plague Romanian society and the churchwere identified. Participantsfrom evangelical, Orthodox,Catholic and other confessionslisted immorality, poor parenting, corrupt leaders and politicians,greed, family violence andpornography as challenges whichneed much prayer and effort toresolve. But two particularlydevastating social problems wereemphasized:13

1. CHILD ABANDONMENT AND ABORTION. There are 100,000 children living in institutions in Romania today(the same number as after theRevolution in 1989)! Themajority (about 70%) of thesechildren are not orphans; theyhave living parents whoabandoned them!14 Furthermore,approximately 5.5 millionabortions have been performed in the last 10 years according toofficial records from theGovernment Bureau of Statistics(1999).15 Many believe thenumber is much higher becauseprivate clinics and self-inducedabortions are not reported.Practically speaking, Romanianshave killed 25% of their ownpotential population in the lastdecade! According to abortionstatistics gathered internationally, Romania ranks not only thehighest in Europe but among thehighest in the world with nearly80 women out of every 1000

having one abortion each year. Only Vietnam ranks higher.16

One recent article explored the reasons for this high rate ofabortion. “‘Large numbers ofwomen across Central andEastern Europe still rely onabortion as the “mainstay”form of birth control,’” saysDr. Iqbal Shah, a scientist forthe World HealthOrganization in Geneva. Thearticle also points to the deepcultural differences betweenEastern and Western Europeregarding this subject. “In the West, most women who resort to abortion are unmarried andfind themselves in a one-timedilemma, sometimes causedby contraceptive failure. Inthe East many of the women


Practicallyspeaking, in thelast decade,Romanians havekilled 25% of their potentialpopulation!

?

Romania’s largestpopulation bandconsists of youngadults aged 20-29.

are married and use abortionas standard birth control."17

As one woman recently toldthis researcher, “We feel wehave no choice in the matter. We cannot afford importedcontraceptives, but worse yet,we cannot afford to have more children. Children are aburden, rather than a blessing!”

The mass amount of innocentblood shed in this nation mustcertainly be of concern to theevangelical church. Yet dowe address the issue from thepulpit? Do we offer help andcounseling to young couplesor to women facing unplanned pregnancies? Does theevangelical church have aprophetic role to play inaddressing one of Romania’sgreatest shames?

2. SECULARIZATIONOF SOCIETY. Priests, pastors and otherparticipants at the Conference of Christian Churches (June2000) frequently emphasizedthat the cause of many ofRomania’s problems today is“a lack of active faith inGod.”18 They referred to thisproblem in many ways: “lackof faith in practice,” “no fearof God,” “loss of the sense ofsin,” “secularization ofsociety,” “loss of true faith,”“departure from God and from Christian values,” and “thepromotion of atheism.” Whatever phrases were used,the problem they weredescribing was clear: Romania is not a Christian nation, but asecular one – where themajority of people make some claim to faith, but they do notlive according to that faith.According to recent globalstatistics gathered aboutChristian practice in Europe

(church attendance andinvolvement, etc.), Europe ingeneral has the largest percentage of “nominal Christians” of all the other regions in the world.19

Romania and otherpost-Communist countries appear to be no exception. For example,Romanian sociologist, DanielBarbu, estimates that only 10% of the nearly 90% of Romanianswho claim to be Orthodoxactually practice their faith, andthat the percentage could be farless. He also mentions that theobvious secularization ofRomanian society is tied to the

fact that Orthodoxy is more of anational social identity than aliving faith.20 He writes,“Romanian Orthodoxy is muchmore a tradition without faiththan it is a tradition of faith.”21

Russia, the historic stronghold ofOrthodoxy, is struggling as wellwith the phenomenon ofsecularization. One poll recentlytaken about church attendance inRussia (including Orthodox andother faiths) showed practicingChristians to comprise only 1 to1.5% of the population. Fr.Mikhail Makeyev, a RussianOrthodox priest, is quoted as saying, “‘Russia has gonethrough an irreversible process. It’s no longer an Orthodox

country; only a small fraction ofRussians are now consciouslyOrthodox.’”22

The Czech Republic, according to recent research, is the mostsecularized post-Communistcountry in Europe, with 80% ofits citizens clearly stating thatthey are atheists or agnostics.23

Poland, which has always beenviewed as a strongly Catholicnation, also faces an alarmingnumber of people who aredeserting its churches to honorother “gods” like consumerism,capitalism and education. The


church, according to one Polishjournalist, is becomingincreasingly irrelevant to people’s daily lives. He observes, “In thegreat black hole afterCommunism... the Catholichierarchy sees the secular state as the new Public Enemy NumberOne. In this view... theaggressive atheism of communistsociety is being replaced by thepractical atheism of a consumersociety.” The church, he said, nolonger speaks the same languageas its people; it does not addresstheir modern needs.24

The growing secularization ofsociety and marginalization of the church affect evangelism andchurch planting in two key ways:1) in our attitudes towardevangelism; and 2) in our searchfor relevance.

First, evangelicals can be assuredthat when they evangelize, theyare not “stealing sheep” from theOrthodox churches; rather, these“sheep” have long been lost inthe wilderness of secularism,materialism and skepticism. While often evangelicals areaccused of proselytism in analready Christian society, eventhe Orthodox admit that thissociety is Christian in name only

and not in true belief. Forexample, Sergiu Grossu, anevangelical Orthodox writer,made these observations: “Today we live in a social context that isalmost completely non-Christian,infected with every kind of vice,and threatened daily by the forces of darkness.”25 Grossu furtherstates, “We [in the Orthodoxchurch] must recognize thatbecause of our sins, the influenceof the church over the majority of the population is very weak andin most cases non-existent, andthis fact is true among the samepopulation that in the recentnational census declared itself tobe primarily ‘Orthodox.’”26

Orthodox and evangelicals alikeare concerned about thesecularization of Romaniansociety; both acknowledge theneed for people who are trulychanged by spiritual rebirth.

Second, evangelical Christiansmust find ways to show peoplethat their faith is indeed relevantand practical to modern life – that Christ’s death, resurrection andoffer of salvation are just asimportant in today’s materialisticand egocentric world as they have been in the last two millennia.Modern society needs to see theChurch as a place where real

needs are met, rather than as abastion of traditions andbeliefs alienated from moderneconomic, political and socialrealities.

We Christians need to beready to address questions ofrelevance when we defend our faith with non-believers. And, even more important, we need to ask ourselves how we canbecome more relevant to thetroubled society around us.What can we do to showpeople that the love andforgiveness of Christ willmeet their deepest needs? How can we practically showthe relevance of our faith inChrist to the troubled societyin which we live?

Sociologist Daniel Barbuchallenges the church toretake its role in impactingsociety, for if the church doesnot take such a responsibility,from where will such morality arise? He writes:

“The whole world agrees thatthe transformation ofRomanian society can onlytake place when there exists acommon ethical and moralbase. Such an ethical andmoral base is missing in thediscussions that take placeamong the political,intellectual, civil andjournalistic leaders in society. Respecting political promises, keeping one’s integrity ofcharacter, eliminatingcorruption and injustice, anddealing honestly with oneanother should be the firstpriorities of a healthy society. The only social institution that can help police the moralrestructuring of society andaddress ethical issues is,indeed, the church.”27


The largestbarriers toaccepting theGospel are oftenmore social thanthey are religious.

However much we in theevangelical church would liketo ignore the problems of thesocial, economic and politicalcontext in which we live, wecannot. For to do so would be to risk becoming more andmore unattractive,unwelcoming and irrelevant to the society we wish to reach. Experts in church planting say that the largest barriers toaccepting the Gospel are often more social than religious. Inmany cases the barriers areput there by churches andChristians rather than by theunsaved. How is thispossible, and what are someof these barriers?

WE ERECTLANGUAGE BARRIERSIn our churches and outside of them, we evangelicalsrecognize one another by thelanguage we use. We greetone another with “Peace,” weaddress each other as “Sister”or “Brother,” we often speakof being “saved,” “purchasedby the blood of the Lamb,”“justified,” “repentant,” etc. Before the Revolution,evangelical Christians inRomania were known by theterm “repenters,” a term thatwas used to make fun ofevangelicals who somehowwere so bad that they werealways needing to repent ofsin and turn from theirwickedness. EvangelicalChristians were considered by

many to be near the bottom rungof society in terms of intellectualand spiritual strength. How areevangelicals viewed today whenthey use this term to describethemselves? Another confusionrevolves around the term“neoprotestant” which is appliedliberally in Romania to refer toall non-Orthodox, non-Catholicfaiths.

This researcher encountered asimilar situation when chattingwith neighbors about our family’s habit of going to church eachSunday with Bibles in hand. Trying to be relevant, Imentioned that our Baptist church encourages Bible reading as away of learning about God andhis relationship with man. Waxing eloquent for a fewminutes about the subject, Inoticed that I had lost theattention of my listener. Finally,when she found a pause in theconversation, she asked, “Whaton earth is a Baptist? I’ve neverheard that word before.” Whilethe question seemed to me to betotally irrelevant to ourdiscussion, it was obviouslytroubling my neighbor who,unfortunately, paid little attention to my explanation about theimportance of the Bible in ourlives while she pondered about aword totally unfamiliar to her.

WE ERECT SUBTLECULTURAL BARRIERSWhile the presence ofnon-Christians in our churchesshould cause us to rejoice overthe opportunity to present theGospel and to be hospitable to the stranger, often joy and hospitality are far from our minds. Forexample, one Russian pastorrecently lamented the intrusion of newcomers into his churchsaying, “Outsiders come to ourchurches from secular society.


WHAT ORTHODOXLEADERS SAY

ABOUT THE CONDITION OF

ROMANIA

“If this society lacks theWord and Spirit of Christ, it can become a jungle,where laws, no matter how severe, would do nothingbut fill our prisons.”

P.F. Teocitist, Partiarch ofthe Romanian OrthodoxChurch, Easter 2001

“When from the Nistru tothe Tisa Rivers, allRomanians renounce sin,when from Maramureş tothe Danube and the BlackSea, all Romanians desireto live according to theGospel of Christ, when this nation is filled with legionsof soldiers who will fightagainst sin, when for asecond time we will takethis nation for the Gospelof Christ, then, and onlythen, will we haveguaranteed the future ofthis nation and of thispeople. Oh, how thecondition of our nationwould change, as a miracle, if its people would decidefor Jesus Christ. Whenpoliticians and servants,farmers and scholars, thepoor and the rich, thelearned and ignorant,would all decide to live and work as the Gospel says,then immediately ourcountry would become anew Canaan, sweet andpleasant.”

Priest Iosif Trifia, Founderof The Lord’s Army

These people do not always havespiritual understanding. Theyneed to have the legacy of Baptist tradition transported to newgenerations. They do not evenknow the [traditions] of thechurch.”28 To this pastor,visitors were a threat, not ablessing. To him the churchmight be viewed as a fortress toprotect the “saints” from theintrusion of the world. For theaverage Romanian unbeliever,entering an evangelical churchand staying for an hour wouldrequire a great act of bravery. For he or she neither knows norappreciates the “sacred”traditions of our seatingarrangements, the acceptablecomportment and dress of thebrothers and sisters in the church, or the participatory nature of ourprayers and worship music. If the visitor sits down in an“unacceptable” place, all eyes are riveted on him or her and peoplealready seated may actually getup and move rather than extend ahand in greeting. And Godforbid if a woman should enterwearing a short skirt and jewelry,or a young man should enter with bleached hair and a ponytail! Evangelical Christians expectnon-believers to conform toevangelical cultural norms thatare behaviors we have learnedover generations. Our subtlerejection of those who do notconform is a clear message thatthey are not welcome in ourmidst until they learn ourtraditions.

WE ERECT PHYSICALAND PHILOSOPHICALBARRIERSOne evangelical writer recentlynoted that even with the downfall of communism and the newfreedom evangelicals have toexpress their faith, it is stilldifficult for evangelicals “to

avoid seeing non-Christians asenemies and all secularinstitutions as inherently evil.”

29

Furthermore, believers still find it hard to imagine Christianinvolvement in a variety ofprofessions they consider secularor profane: e.g, “journalist,”“athlete,” “politician,” “artist,” or “actor.” Actively engaging inpolitical discussion or in secularcultural events is still consideredsuspect by many believers, andmany pastors still caution theirflocks about the dangers of beinginfluenced by friendship with theunsaved. Many Christianssegregate their lives into secularand religious components,keeping their religious life quietand hidden in the workplace, butactive in the church environment. Most of their close friends arebelievers, and they spend little ifany time in meaningfulinteraction with the peopleoutside their church circles,actually shunning closefriendships with unbelievers. Although church leaders oftenchallenge their flocks to be moreactive in personal evangelism, the church expects so muchinvolvement of their people inweekly meetings that the averagebeliever has little time forbuilding relationships withunbelievers. As a result, ourchurches become fortresses forthe saved, rather than lights forthe lost.

At the same time, mostevangelical churches are sohidden from public view andknowledge that we communicatesecrecy rather than openness. Few of our churches have signsindicating who we are, fewadvertise meeting schedules tothe public around us, and few goout of our way to invite neighbors to the church. Neither does ourarchitecture define us as a church.

While it is simple to spot theOrthodox cathedral on everycorner, one must search veryhard and long to find where an evangelical church might belocated. While keeping ouridentity subdued may havebeen a necessity duringcommunist times, it is hard toimagine why such secrecy isnecessary today.

I remember the time I wasinvited to a large evangelicalchurch in Bucharest. Aftergetting off the bus, I walkedthroughout the neighborhoodfor half an hour, but wasunable to find the church onany of the streets that hadbeen described to me. Ireturned home discouraged. The next day, I told a friendabout my experience, and shesaid, “Dearest, the way youfind an evangelical church inBucharest is to follow all theold ladies with theirbabushkas! You certainlycannot expect the church toput up signs!” I couldn’t helpsmiling at the thought of some unbeliever trying to “decipherthe secret code of thebabushka” in order to locateand enter the neighborhoodevangelical church. Something as simple asposting a recognizable andattractive sign would go along way to making theevangelical church morevisible to the people around it.

The challenges forchurch planting ina new social context

If we wish to reach people forChrist, to plant new churchesand to disciple this nation,then we must think about and


discuss what we in the churchmust do differently to berelevant to the social contextin which we find ourselves. The message of man’s sin and God’s grace, forgiveness andredemption has not changed;it is as culturally relevanttoday as it was 2,000 yearsago. However, the methodsby which we communicate,the media we use, and thepeople to whom we arecommunicating have, indeed,changed. Such changesshould challenge us to askourselves, “How can theevangelical church impactsociety so that the Good News of the Gospel is able tochange the lives of people and the life of this nation? Whatchanges must we make in ourchurches to minister moreeffectively to our modern,troubled society, to show thelove of Christ morecompletely and to winmultitudes for His kingdom?”

May God grant us wisdom aswe seek answers to thesequestions and then implementthe answers that God revealsto us!

ENDNOTES

1 Cuciuc, Constantin. Religii noi înRomânia (New Religions inRomania). Bucharest: Gnosis, 1996.

2 Institutul Naþional de Statisticã ºiStudii Economice. Indicatori socialianuali. Bucharest: INSS: România.

3 “La jumãtate faþã de al celor maisãraci cetãþeni ai UE.” RomâniaLiberã, 11 April 2001, p. 1.

4 “Underground economy is 20% ofRomania’s GNP.” România LiberãEnglish Edition, 3 July 2000, p. 3.

5 “Rate of poverty may rise to 43%of thepopulation in 2000.” RomâniaLibera, 31 July 2000, p. 1.

6 “Numãrul emigranþilor.” (Number ofImmigrants) România în Cifre

, ed. 2000.Bucharest: National Comission forStatistics.

7 “Dialog Social: Plecarea tinerilor custudii superioare.” Orient ExpressTalkshow, Antena 1 TV, emisiuneabroadcast Saturday, 7 April 2001. Moderator: Stelian Tãnase.

8 Statistics reported by Balaci, Marin,sociologist and researcher in his Book:Demografia Vârstei a Treia(Demographics of the Aged). Bucharest:Editura Medicalã, 1998.

9 Camelia Popa. “Alarming Report: if thebirthrate continues to drop, we will be anation of pensioners.” România Liberã,December 1998, p. 4.

10 Institutul Naþional de Statisticã ºiStudii Economice. “Situaþia Demograficã a României în anul 1999.” (Comunicatde Presã Nr. 24-2000). Bucharest: INSSE, 2000.

11 Ibid.

12 Statistics taken from PopulaþiaRomâniei pe vârste, sexe, medii ºi judeþe(Population of Romania by age, sexenvironment and county). Bucharest:Institutul Naþional de Statisticã ºi StudiiEconomice, July, 2000.

13 Report of the Conference of ChristianChurches in Romania (publishedproceedings). Bucharest: World Vision,15-16 June 2000.

14Statistics taken from Strategy forReform, 1998-2001. Bucharest: Departament for the Protection ofChildren (DPC), 1998, p. 1-3.

15 Statistics taken from 1999 AnnualStatistics. Bucharest: NationalCommission for Statistics.

16 “Half of all unplanned pregnanciesend in abortion.” Reuters News Service,20 January 1999 and Kanata, Robert E. “Cuban rate of abortion appalling.” Toronto Star, 16 May 2000 (on-line)and Perlez, Jane. “Romania’s highabortion rate stems from lack of familyplanning, doctors say.” New York TimesNews Service (on-line), 24 November1996.

17 Schmid, John. “In the Former EastBloc, Abortion Remains Norm”International Herald Tribune, 16February 2001 (on-line).

18 Report of the Conference of ChristianChurches in Romania (publishedproceedings). Bucharest: World Vision,15-16 June 2000.

19 Siewert, John A. and Edna Valdez,eds. 1998-2000 Missions Handbook. Monrovia, CA: MARC-World Vision,1997, p. 6.

20 Barbu, Daniel, ed. Firea Românilor(The Romanian Mindset). Bucharest: Nemira Press, 2000, p. 112.

21 Ibid., p. 121.

22 Elliott, Mark “What Percentage ofRussians are Practicing Christians?”East-West Church and Ministry Report,vol. 5, nr. 3 (Summer 1997): pp. 5-6.

23 Barnes, Jim and Laurie. “The CzechSpritual Landscape in the Post-Communist Era.” East-West Church andMinistry Report, vol. 6, nr. 2, (Spring1998): pp. 6-8.

24 Michnick, Adam. “Religious Libertyfor All?” East-West Church andMinistry Report, vol. 3, nr. 3 (Summer1995): p. 7.

25 Grossu, Sergiu. “Nevoia unei culturicreºtine” (The Need of a ChristianCulture). Areopagul Luminii, March2001, p. 3.

26 Sergiu Grossu cited by Scorobete,Miron in “Îndemnuri: Sã recuperãmintelectualitatea pentru Isus Hristos” (Achallenge to Christians to awaken anduse their intellects for Jesus Christ).Areopagul Luminii, March 2001, p 7.

27 Barbu, Daniel, ed. Firea Românilor(The Romanian Mindset). Bucharest: Nemira Press, 2000, p. 117.

28 Sannikov, Sergei. “A Call for NewStrategies and Structures.” East-WestMinistry Report, vol. 3, nr. 3 (Summer1995): p. 1.

29 Kusnierik, Juraj and Marsh Moyle. “Central and Eastern Europe: Trends inEvangelical Churches and in Society.”East-West Ministry Report, 9, 1 (Winter2001): p. 8.


What is God saying to us? In this report we have

documented what God hasbeen doing in Romania. Wehave also described in detailthe current condition of thechurch. We have identifiedthe greatest needs that we face and resources that we have tomeet those needs. Thischapter is a call to action.

Our challenge and call is topresent the Gospel to everyperson in Romania in such away that he or she canunderstand and accept it. Wewant to gather those whoaccept Christ into churches sothat they can be discipled andprepared to minister to others. Jesus told us to preach theGospel to every creature(Mark 16:15). He also told us to make disciples of allpeoples (Matt. 28:19). Wemust do this in Romania andin the whole world as atestimony to all peoples, andthen the end will come (Matt.24:14). Brothers and sisters,we have much to do toprepare for Jesus’ return!

A biblical precedent: repairing the wallsof Jerusalem

When Nehemiah presented the results of his investigation ofthe walls of Jerusalem, theyresponded enthusiastically,“‘Let us start rebuilding’” (Neh. 2:18)! Obviously thecitizens of Jerusalem knewthat the walls had beendestroyed. Nehemiah did nottell them anything new. Theyhad lived without a wall fordecades. They had theresources to build the wall,but they had done nothing.


Now is thetime for the

Church to act! Twelve steps toward

fulfilling the GreatCommission in Romania

What kept themfrom repairing thewall?

The people in Jerusalemlacked a clear call to action,confidence that they couldsucceed and a sense of unity. Nehemiah gave them all these, and they were motivated totake action. Our prayer is that you will respond as the people of Jerusalem did and bemotivated to work together tocomplete the task.

A short review

Let us review briefly both theneeds that exist and theresources that we have. As wehave said, the spiritual needs in Romania are immense. Ourresearch shows that evangelical Christians make up only 2% of the population. 22 millionpeople have no contact with an evangelical church. We needmore churches in almost everylocality. There are over 10,000 villages without even oneevangelical church. The7,000,000 people who live inthose villages have very littlechance of hearing the Gospeland virtually no chance ofseeing how Christians live oract. Almost every village andcity that has an evangelicalchurch needs more. The needis particularly great in ourcities because of the largenumbers of people who livethere. In Bucharest and elevenother cities there is only onechurch for over 30,000 people!

Even though the need is large, we have the resources to meetthe need and to greatly expand the impact of the evangelicalchurch.

First of all, we have all of thespiritual resources, power andstrength that God has promisedus in Scripture. God has given us the Bible, the Gospel, his visionand his power for reaching thenations for Christ. He haspromised to be with us and tobuild his church. Nothing canprevail against him or keep himfrom accomplishing his purposes. He has promised to meet all ourneeds according to his riches inglory (Phil 4: 19)! When wethink negatively and doubt ourability to plant the thousands ofnew churches, we are focusingtoo much on our resources andforgetting that his resources haveno limit. (For a more completelist of our spiritual resources, seeAppendix 3.)

This is a time ofunique opportunity!

Our potential for evangelism andchurch planting is greater nowthan it has ever been before! Today we have more churches,more evangelical Christians, andmore trained Christian workersthan ever before in history! There are hundreds of Christianmissions, associations andfoundations performing all sortsof ministries that support thework of the church.1 God hasgiven us a vast supply ofresources to accomplish his workhere. We need to effectively usethe resources we have and trustGod for any additional resourceswe need.

Furthermore, this is a time ofunique opportunity. More people than ever are praying forRomania, both inside the countryand outside. Around the worldprayer is being focused on thecountries in the newly defined“40/70 Window,” which includes

Romania!2 All across ourcountry, churches are holdingadditional meetings to pray forrevival and for the healing of thenation. Many churches alreadyhave effective church plantingstrategies, have planted dozens of churches, and continue to plantmore. Cooperation betweenpastors and churches is high, andin several areas pastors meetregularly to pray and discuss how to reach their parts of the country. We also have legal freedom toevangelize and plant churches. Because of the research that hasbeen done, we now have specificinformation on where churchesare most needed and whichchurches should be able to plantother churches. This informationcan be used both to motivateChristians to plant more churches and to direct our church plantingefforts. It also helps us pray specifically and powerfully forneeds within the country.

Never before have the conditionsfor church planting been sofavorable! Let us take advantageof this opportunity to do as muchfor the Lord as we can! After all, we do not know how much moretime we have to serve him beforehe comes again!

Based on this awareness of theneed, our resources and ourtimes, what specifically do weneed to do?


THE 40/70 WINDOW

Twelve steps towardfulfilling the GreatCommission inRomania

In this section are many suggestionsand recommendations concerningthe work which we must do. All ofthese recommendations areimportant for the fulfilment of the Great Commission in Romania. We recognize that there are many obstacles and difficult problemsto overcome. We do not presume to have all of the answers, but weknow that they can and must befound. We welcome yourcomments and suggestions, andwe wish to work together to dothe Lord’s work in Romania.

1 First, we need topray.

We are greatly encouraged by the increase of prayer withinRomania, but more prayer isneeded. We must confess ourfailures, our sins and our lack offruit. We need to pray for God’swisdom and guidance, forboldness and success in ourefforts, and for greater unity andcooperation. We also need topray that God will raise up manymore laborers. And we need topray for our pastors, evangelistsand church planters, focusing ourprayers on church planting efforts so that they can succeed.3

We are in a spiritual battle for the souls of the Romanian people. Many are spiritually blind (2 Cor. 4:4) and do not understand thatthey need to be saved. We needto pray for these people to besaved just as Paul prayed for theJews (Rom. 10:1). We need topray for people by name that God

will convict them of their needfor salvation (1 Tim. 2:1-4).

God has called many people inour churches to pray. Thesepeople consider prayer to be their primary ministry within the Body of Christ. We need to encouragethese people and involve them inpraying specifically for evangelism and church planting. Other people are gifted inspiritual warfare. We also needto encourage and involve them inchurch planting work.

2 We must renewour passion for

the lost.

Our research shows that on theaverage 100 evangelicalChristians bring only three people to the Lord and incorporate theminto churches in one year. If thatis true, our passion for winningthe lost cannot be very great. We need to ask ourselves somedifficult questions: Could it bethat we really do not care thatpeople are going to hell? Do weconsider our comfort andconvenience more important than the eternal salvation of souls? Does it bother us that 767 peopledie every day and that the

majority of them do not knowJesus Christ as their Savior?

The Bible tells us that Jesushad compassion for the people (Matt. 9:36). He suffered anddied to make salvationpossible for us (1 Peter 3:18). Paul anguished over thesalvation of the Jews andwould have accepted eternityin hell if that would haveguaranteed their salvation(Rom. 9:2-3). That is passion! How strong is our passion forthe lost? Do we even botherto rejoice when a person issaved (Luke 15:10)?

Our pastor in Bucharestrecently preached a sermon onhell. The subject madeeveryone tense anduncomfortable. It was a hardsermon for the pastor to preach and for us to hear. We need tobe reminded regularly aboutthe eternal destiny of thepeople who do not have Christ. The Bible tells us that they will be punished with eternaldestruction and separationfrom God (2 Thes. 1:8-9)unless we convince them oftheir need for salvation.

3 We need toaccept our

responsibility.

We, the churches andevangelical organizations inRomania, must accept the factthat evangelizing the people of Romania is our responsibility. Christians in other countrieshave some measure ofresponsibility for completingthe Great Commission here,but we have the primaryresponsibility. One day eachone of us will all stand before


God to give an accounting ofthe deeds that we have done,and he will hold usresponsible (2 Cor. 5:10). Hehas given us many resources,and he expects us to use themto accomplish his purposes(Luke 12:47-48). All of uswant to be rewarded as goodand faithful servants, but toooften we act like the wickedservant and do nothing (Matt.25:14-30). The eternal fate ofmillions of our fellowcountrymen should be sufficient motivation for us inthis work. If it is not, let usremember that God will alsojudge us for what we havedone or not done!

Earlier we commented on themultitude of social and moralproblems in Romania. It iseasy to blame the West or theOrthodox Church for theseproblems, but we must alsoask ourselves what we havedone to resolve them and tocommunicate God’s truth tothe society around us. We doa reasonable job of warningour own people about the eviland dangers in society, butwhat do we do to warn others? If we do not proclaim God’struth about these issues, whowill?

4 We need towork as the

Body of Christ.

All of us are aware ofsituations in which a pastor ora church has actedinappropriately regardinganother church. Perhaps apastor pressured people toleave another church to cometo his church. Perhaps aleader criticized the theology

or practices of another church. Perhaps someone took control ofa whole church. These types ofevents and lingering suspicions of the communist era havecreated divisions betweenevangelicals that continue to hurtthe work of the church. Thesedivisions make us weak and givethe devil a “foothold.” Bycontrast, God calls us to love one another and has even said that our love for one another willconvince others that we trulyrepresent God (John 13:34-35). If we do not love one another,people will not recognize us asChrist’s disciples.

A body is effective when it iswhole and complete. Individualarms, legs, hands and feet can do

nothing. In a similar way,isolated Christians, churches andeven denominations are lesseffective than they could be. God wants us to be a united, powerful, effective Body. We must forgivethose who have sinned against usin the past and be reconciled tothem. We need to cooperaterather that compete. We mustspeak well of other evangelicalchurches rather than criticizethem. We must rejoice whenthey rejoice and mourn when they mourn. We must learn to shareresources, information andblessings rather than hoard them.

This cooperation needs to takeplace both on national and locallevels.

On the national level, we wouldlike to propose the establishmentof a committee that wouldoversee the work of evangelismand church planting. Thepurpose of this committee wouldbe to promote vision forevangelism and church plantingand to coordinate efforts ratherthan to control them. This groupwould monitor progress and work with the denominational leadersand Christian organizations to see that good progress is made. Thiscommittee would encouragecooperation and help settledisputes. Our suggestion is thatthis committee include at leastone representative from eachdenomination and one each fromsome of the organizations that are heavily involved in this process. It is our hope that this committeewill be formed either at orimmediately after the NationalConference held May 8-11, 2001.

In Nehemiah chapter 3 we readabout different groups of peoplewithin Jerusalem who worked ondifferent parts of the city wall. Because their efforts werecoordinated, they succeeded inbuilding the wall in record time. In a similar way, if eachdenomination works toward itsown goals, and if our work iscoordinated, we will succeed.

We would also suggest theestablishment of an inter-denominational committee ofleaders in each county to overseeevangelism and church planting. The purpose of such a committeewould be the same as the national committee, but its operationwould be limited to the onecounty. Committees of this sortalready exist in several counties,


but frequently the committees donot represent all denominations.

We also need to expand ourvision to include a largergeographical area. It is very easy to get caught up in the needs ofour church or our neighborhoodor our city and to neglect theneeds of people in other areas. For example, we know of severalsituations in which one townshiphas many churches but aneighboring township has none. Also, the churches in the moreevangelical areas in the Northernand Western parts of the countryshould be more active in assisting in ministry in the Southern andEastern parts. The crying need isfor the whole church to reach thewhole country.

5 We mustmobilize our

church members forministry.

Each member of the Body ofChrist has a role in building upthe Body (Eph 4: 11-16). Unlesswe involve and train more of ourmembers, we will never be ableto expand the church to the extent needed. God never intended ourpastors and evangelists to doeverything themselves. We haveapproximately 500,000 people that we can involve in theministry! Obviously, many ofthose people are already involved in the work, but just think abouthow much more we can do if alarge number of those people areactively involved in evangelismand church planting!

The leaders’ job is to equip theother members of the Body sothat they can do the ministry. One part of the equipping task is

to give people necessary skills. This equipping task is difficultand time-consuming, but it is theonly way that we as leaders canmultiply our efforts and effectiveness. Paul knew howeffective this multiplication could be when he wrote Timothy totrain reliable men who would inturn train others (2 Tim. 2:2). Another part of the equippingtask is to give people a positiveattitude about the work and buildtheir faith. We need to regularlypromote the vision of fillingRomania with churches andremind our people that we canreach that goal with God’s help.

6 We need to givepriority to

evangelism andchurch planting.

Our churches have many goodprograms, but most of them aredirected at meeting the needs ofthe people who are already in thechurch. We need to continue tomeet those needs, but we alsoneed to do much more to reachout to those who are outside ofour churches and outside of the

Kingdom of God. We wouldlike to see evangelism andchurch planting made the toppriorities of every denomination, regionalassociation of churches andlocal church. Then significant attention, key people,adequate funding and otherresources would be applied tothese efforts. We must seek to grow by winning people fromthe world rather than byreceiving people from otherchurches.

In addition, many of the otheractivities that are not directlyrelated to evangelism andchurch planting can bemodified to contribute tothose efforts. For example,our catechism classes caninclude instruction on doingpersonal evangelism, and ouryoung people can be equipped and mobilized for evangelismand church planting. Ourworship can honor the Godwho saved us and who lovesthe whole world. We canpreach about the needs of thelost and the need for growth. Also, our denominationalpublications can promoteevangelism and church


AN EXAMPLEOFTOWNSHIPSWITHOUTCHURCHESSURROUNDED WITHTOWNSHIPSFILLED WITHCHURCHES

planting by including articlesthat instruct our people onthese subjects, testimonies and reports of successful efforts.

We also need to consider howto make our churches morewelcoming to non-Christians. A non-Christian who visitsone of our churches may findit very foreign because he orshe does not know how tobehave. At times they feelrejected because they aredifferent from the others in the church. We need to be surethat new people feel accepted,appreciated and welcomed inour services and that weattempt to contact them laterto assist them with theirspiritual needs.

Christian organizations alsoneed to consider how theirprograms can contribute to the task of completing the GreatCommission. Evangelisticefforts can be linked to church planting efforts. Discipleshipprograms can equip Christians for sharing their faith. Lettersreceived by Christian radioand television ministries canbe passed on to local churches that will contact the peoplepersonally. Social programscan include evangelism inappropriate ways. Not everyprogram will contributedirectly to the growth of thechurch, but many of them can.

As previously stated, we havea great need to establish morechurches in our cities. Muchchurch planting in recent years has been done in villagesrather than in the cities. Evencity churches have focusedtheir attention on plantingchurches in villages ratherthan in the cities where theyare located. We make the

mistake of thinking that our cities have enough churches becausethey have some churches that arelarge and well known. In fact, we do not have nearly enoughchurches in the cities given theirlarge populations. Thepercentage of evangelicals isactually lower in the urban areasthan in the rural areas! Weclearly need a new emphasis onurban church planting. As part of that emphasis we need to identify methods of church multiplicationthat are possible and effective inurban settings. Many largerchurches are in the cities, andthose are the churches that havethe greatest potential for plantingchurches. Therefore, we shouldbe able to significantly increasethe number of churches in ourcities in a fairly short time if wemake this a priority.

Another interesting result of ourresearch is that the number ofchurches in the country isgrowing faster than the number of believers in our churches. This is partly due to the fact that we have been planting more ruralchurches than urban churches, but may also indicate that we havebeen focusing on church planting

more than on evangelism. Sincewe had no way of counting theevangelical Christians who arenot linked to a church, this resultmay also indicate that we havebeen ineffective in bringing newbelievers into the life andfellowship of the church. This isalways a challenge, one thatdeserves additional attention.

7 We need to work to eliminate

bottlenecks.

Often when we have talked toleaders about the need to plantmore churches, two seriouslimitations are mentioned:manpower and money. We needto take these limitations seriously, and we need to find ways todevelop the leaders and sourcesof funds needed for the churchplanting effort. It is not ourpurpose in this report to present acomprehensive analysis of theselimitations, but we can make anumber of observations.

MANPOWER: To plantchurches you need workers andleaders. Even though we have


half a million people in ourchurches, relatively few areeffectively involved in evangelism and church planting. We need tomobilize the lay people in ourchurches. Developing leaders isoften the more difficult challenge. It is clear that our seminaries andBible schools are not producingmany church planters. Men whodevote several years of their livesto study usually want to use whatthey have learned in an established church. While it is important toteach about church planting inthose institutions, we cannotexpect them to be a major sourceof leaders for new churches. Other programs are needed. Organizations like MisiuneaMondială Unită and the BibleLeague have been very successfulin preparing lay people for thiswork. BEE International hasprovided excellent training formany people. Campus Crusadehas a highly developed trainingprogram for its volunteers. Weneed to utilize and expand theseprograms and others. We need aconcentrated and coordinatedeffort by the denominations andthe Christian organizations todevelop leaders for the newchurches.

MONEY: As with any projectinvolving finances, we can domore if we reduce our costs orraise additional funds; and weneed to work together to do both. Our costs can be reduced bymaking greater use of layvolunteers and by identifying less costly meeting places for newchurches. We cannot afford toplant many churches if each oneneeds a pastor, land and abuilding. Alternative locations in which new churches can meetinclude homes (house churches),rented facilities, and facilities that are used by more than onechurch. Raising funds for

evangelism and church plantingshould be a major priority of thedenominations and several Christian organizations. Funding should be sought primarily inRomania. Once our peopleunderstand the needs and thevision for growth, they willamaze us with their generosity. As much as possible, the fundsfor these efforts should becontrolled by the denominationsso that they can apply the fundsto their most strategic andimportant projects.

8 We need to keepour ultimate

objective in mind.

We know that God is not willingthat any should perish and that he wants everyone to come torepentance (2 Peter 3:9). Therefore, we need to accept ourresponsibility to do everythingpossible help people come to theLord. We also know that Godwants us to train those who aresaved so that they can beproductive disciples (Matthew28:20). God will not be satisfieduntil these things are done. Ashis children, we need to have thesame desires and objectives thathe does. We cannot rest untilthese things are completed.

While many activities contributeto evangelization anddiscipleship, it is our opinion thatchurch planting is the mosteffective and comprehensivemethod. Where there is nochurch, it is unlikely that thepeople there will hear the Gospelor see how Christians live andbehave. On the other hand,where there is a church, theChristians are a permanentwitnessing community that canhave a long-term effect on the

society. The others are likelyto hear the Gospel frompeople in their own area. They can also see how theChristians love one another. Once people come to theLord, the church serves as theappropriate structure forencouraging, loving andtraining them. It is notguaranteed that planting achurch will result in effectiveevangelism and churchplanting, but it is hard to seehow those functions will bedone successfully withoutchurch planting. Therefore,we believe that it isappropriate to focus on church planting. We believe thatwhen churches are planted,effective evangelism anddiscipleship will also happen. When we set goals for churchplanting, we do it with anexpectation that we are ineffect setting goals forevangelism and discipleship.

9 We need to setgoals.

The ultimate objective ofhelping each person inRomania to become a faithfuldisciple of Jesus Christ is very helpful because it clarifieswhat we want to do. It is alsohelpful to set goals that tell usspecifically what we want toaccomplish during a certainperiod of time. Goals are very effective in establishing ourdirection and increasing our


focus. When we facedecisions about the allocationof our resources and time, ourgoals help us decide what todo. Having goals in commonhelps us to cooperate with one another. Goals help us knowif we are making as muchprogress as we planned tomake. They encourage us totake corrective action whennecessary. Finally, they giveus reason to rejoice when wereach them.

It is our strong belief that thegoals need to be set by the denominations and localchurches themselves. It isvitally important that thedenominations own the goalsand are committed to reaching them. We suggest that eachdenomination set its owngoals and that those goals becombined to give us a sense of a national goal. Ourexpectation is that significantprogress will be made in thisdirection at the NationalConference in May 2001.

Based on our research andanalysis, we would like topropose an intermediate goalfor the denominations toconsider. This goal is to plant churches strategically so thatwe have an evangelical church for every 10,000 people ineach city and a church forevery village with over 1,000inhabitants. Reaching thisgoal would require planting496 churches in our cities anda church in each of 2,057villages, which has over 1,000 inhabitants, without anevangelical church. Webelieve that this goal is highenough to challenge us togreater activity andeffectiveness but low enoughto be reachable. Reaching this


goal will require starting 2,553churches, a 51% increase beyondwhat we have now. That meansthat each denomination wouldneed to grow by 51% to reachthis goal. Since approximately50% of the churches have goodpotential for planting churches,all we have to do to reach thisintermediate goal is to have eachchurch with potential start onenew church.

To better understand the size ofthe task that is before us, we cancompare this goal with thegrowth that occurred during thedecade of the 1990s. In thatperiod approximately 2,600churches were planted. We needto plant about the same number ofchurches to reach the above goal. In the 1990s the number ofchurches doubled. Now we needonly a 51% increase in the numberof churches to reach the goal. Certainly the evangelical church isstronger now than it was in 1990. Certainly we can plant morechurches in the next ten years thanwe planted in the last ten!

We will rejoice when we reachthis goal, but we must not forgetthat this is an intermediate goal. Even when we have reached thisgoal we will not have completedthe Great Commission inRomania. We will still havemuch to do. (Later we willpropose a final goal.)

10We mustevangelize and

plant churches in theright places.

Reaching the above goal willrequire planting at most 2,553new churches and will require, ofcourse, that those churches are

planted where they are mostneeded. The map on this pageshows how many churches areneeded in each province so thatthere would be a church for every 10,000 people in the cities and achurch in each village with over1,000 people.

Most of the new churches need to be planted in the Southeasternpart of the country, but there arefewer churches with potential inthose areas. As the table on page57 shows, most of the churcheswith the ability to plant newchurches are in the Northwesternpart of the country. The goal we

have proposed can be met in a year or two in the provinces in the West. If the churches inthe Southeast have to plant allthe needed churches in theirareas without outside help, we will have to wait manydecades for these goals to bereached on a national level. We can reach our goal morequickly if churches in theNorthwest will help plantchurches in the Southeast.

In most areas the bulk of thechurch planting responsibility falls on the urban churchesbecause they tend to be much


THE NUMBER OF CHURCHES NEEDED TO MEET THE GOAL “1,000 - 10,000”

larger and have moreresources than rural churches. Therefore, the urban churches need to plant churches in boththe urban and rural areas. Inthe rural areas there are 1,627churches with good churchplanting potential, and thosechurches also need to be active in planting new churches.

OC International and Misiunea Mondialã Unitã haveinformation on where churches are needed. We would be gladto give you any informationthat would help you to planyour church planting efforts.

11We mustpersevere!

Reaching this goal will be awonderful step in the rightdirection, but it is not the laststep. We would like to see churches planted until thecountry is saturated withthem. The expression“saturation church planting”refers to the process ofplanting churches until thereare enough churches in thecountry that every person hasaccess to an evangelicalchurch. To reach saturation in urban areas there needs to bean evangelical church in every neighborhood. Rural areas are “saturated” when there is achurch for every thousandpeople in every village.

More precisely, to reach thegoal of saturation in Romania, we need the following:

¥ In the smaller cities, there should be one evangelicalchurch for every 1,500 people.

¥ In large cities, where thepopulation is denser, there

needs to be an evangelical church for every 5,000 people.

¥ In rural areas, every villagemust have an evangelical church.

¥ In larger villages, thereshould be an evangelical churchfor every 1,000 - 1,500inhabitants.

¥ Every ethnic and socialgroup should have an evangelicalchurch, that is appropriate for itslanguage and culture.

Our desire is that everyone hasthe opportunity to hear theGospel and to become a discipleof Christ through the work of thelocal church. Reaching thesegoals requires approximately15,000 new churches! It is hardto imagine that we could everplant that many churches, butwith God all things are possible.

12We must trustGod.

The journey will not be easy, butit is one we must make. It willnot be completed quickly, but wedo not travel alone. God is withus. He will never leave us orforsake us. He wants to see hischurch expand in Romania evenmore than we do. He has theresources we will need -especially when ours run out. He will build His church. Thequestion is whether we will buildit with him or not.

Now is the time forthe church to act!

After the twelve spies returnedfrom their mission in Canaan, theIsraelites concluded that


STATISTICS RELATED TO CHURCH PLANTING

PROVINCE

NR. OF EVANGELICAL CHURCHES

CURRENTLYIN THE

PROVINCE

WITH CHURCHPLANTINGPOTENTIAL

THAT NEED TO BEPLANTED TO REACH

THE GOAL “1,000 -10,000”

Criºana 1,043 454 34

Banat 521 285 23

Transylvania 1,225 533 279

Maramureº 223 121 108

Total Northwest 3,012 1,393 444

Moldova 759 424 718

Muntenia 739 316 900

Oltenia 263 85 364

Dobrogea 77 32 127

Total Southeast 1,838 857 2,109

Misiunea Mondialã Unitã has observed that in Romania a church hasgood potential for starting other churches if it has over 50 members, or, if it was started after 1989, 30 members. Such a church can send out atleast one church planting team.

possessing the land wasimpossible (Numbers 13 and 14). They decided that it was toodifficult and that they were sureto fail. They did not believe thatGod would give them the landeven though he had promised todo so. As a result, God rejectedan entire generation and punished the nation by making them waste40 years in the wilderness.

We stand at a similar crossroads.We face a major challenge andresponsibility. We can commitourselves and our churches to thecompletion of the GreatCommission in Romania trustingthat God will help us, or we canshrink back from the task because it is too difficult. We can makegreat progress in our generation,or we can leave the work for ourchildren to do. It is our choice.

What will you do?

We believe that now is the timefor us to accept the responsibilityfor completing the GreatCommission in Romania, anddedicate ourselves to that task.

Let us begin!

ENDNOTES

1The Directory of ChristianOrganizations in Romania isprepared each year by OCInternational and offers informationabout Romanian and foreign mission organizations working in thiscountry. The current edition lists228 organizations. To receive acopy contact OC International, C.P.57-93, Bucharest.

2.The “40/70 Window” refers to thezone between 40 and 70 degreesNorth latitude stretching fromIceland in the West to Siberia in theEast. This zone includes 61countries, including all those inEurope. The “40/70 Window” hasrecently been targeted by Christiansworldwide for intensive prayer.

3Both Misiunea Mondialã Unitã andOC International try to keep currentinformation on various groups thatmeet for prayer. For updatedinformation, contact the office ofeither organization.


Appendix 1Tables

Page

TABLE 1: GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THEPROVINCES OF ROMANIA

1

TABLE 2: GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE COUNTIESOF ROMANIA

2

TABLE 3: THE NUMBER OF EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANSPER COUNTY

3

TABLE 4: THE NUMBER OF EVANGELICAL CHURCHES PERCOUNTY

4

TABLE 5: THE GROWTH OF THE NUMBER OF CHURCHESPER COUNTY

5

TABLE 6: THE NUMBER OF CHURCHES WITH POTENTIALFOR CHURCH PLANTING

6

TABLE 7: THE AVERAGE ANNUAL GROWTH RATE (AAGR)PER COUNTY

7

TABLE 8: THE SITUATION OF EVANGELICAL CHURCHES INROMANIA’S CITIES

8

TABLE 9: RELIGIOUS CONFESSION ACCORDING TO THEJANUARY 1992 CENSUS

13

TABLE 1. GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROVINCES OF ROMANIAProvince Banat Crişana Dobrogea Maramureş Moldova Muntenia Oltenia Transilvania Total

Population in 2000 1,041,784 1,353,096 1,008,733 921,076 4,858,789 6,640,439 2,399,831 4,211,457 22,435,205Percentage of Romanians 82.3% 72.5% 92.8% 71.5% 98.4% 97.7% 98.3% 73.4% 89.5%Percentage of urbanization 60.1% 48.8% 66.4% 50.5% 45.2% 59.2% 45.3% 61.9% 54.6%Nr. of evangelical Christians 52,255 88,421 4,256 20,012 84,335 50,282 12,702 101,071 413,334 Baptists 18,714 34,981 1,436 2,634 5,638 7,282 2,579 22,013 95,277 Brethren 728 861 165 544 17,201 12,058 3,035 9,519 44,111 Pentecostals 31,883 52,334 2,320 16,754 60,494 17,454 6,408 67,334 254,981 Romanian Evang. Church 420 0 270 0 830 11,770 480 1,075 14,845 Independent churches 510 245 65 80 172 1,718 200 1,130 4,120Percentage of ev. Christians 5.02% 6.53% 0.42% 2.17% 1.74% 0.76% 0.53% 2.40% 1.84%Nr. of churches in 1989 284 714 27 92 317 352 73 729 2,588Nr. of churches in 2001 521 1,043 77 223 759 739 263 1,255 4,880 Baptist 227 517 31 64 103 134 85 418 1,579 Brethren 21 15 6 9 233 162 58 147 651 Pentecostal 264 508 32 148 409 212 101 637 2,311 Romanian Evang. Church 3 0 5 0 8 195 11 6 228 Independent churches 6 3 3 2 6 36 8 47 111Population to Church Ratio 2,000 1,297 13,100 4,130 6,402 8,986 9,125 3,356 4,597Nr. of churches started ‘89-01 237 329 50 131 442 387 190 526 2,292Percentage growth after ‘89 83.5% 46.1% 185.2% 142.4% 139.4% 109.9% 260.3% 72.2% 88.6%AAGR 1991-2000 4.48% 2.90% 9.53% 6.00% 7.12% 6.02% 8.20% 3.71% 4.81%AAGR 1996-2000 2.29% 2.83% 8.76% 6.96% 5.45% 5.06% 6.50% 3.17% 3.75%Cities without churches 0 0 1 0 1 1 6 2 11Townships without churches 7 of 144 6 of 208 67 of 95 30 of 118 290 of 578 230 of 546 144 of 273 248 of 610 1,135 of 2,686Villages without churches 282 356 290 311 2,487 2,338 1,968 2,276 10,308Rural population w/o churches 103,659 148,777 271,386 263,206 1,911,316 2,013,001 1,225,676 977,773 6,914,794Total churches for saturation 954 1,530 652 772 4,423 4,760 2,649 4,199 19,939Nr. of new churches needed 433 487 575 549 3,664 4,021 2,386 2,944 15,059Nr. new churches needed incities for a PCR of 5,000:1

52 39 103 54 313 598 163 253 1,575

Churches with potential 285 454 32 121 424 316 85 533 2,250AAGR 7.18% 9 6 31 19 26 27 34 18 21AAGR 91-2000 14 14 24 22 26 32 30 34 30

Nr. of years toreach saturation atthe rate of: AAGR 96-2000 27 14 26 19 34 38 37 39 39

TABLE 2. GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE COUNTIES OF ROMANIACounty Population

2000Nr. of

evangelicalChristians

Percentage ofevangelicalChristians

Nr. ofevang.

churches

PCR1 Locations2 Saturation3 Potential4

Alba 395,941 10,841 2.74% 176 2,250 597 766 73Arad 476,272 34,955 7.34% 339 1,405 79 433 172Arge[ 671,514 6,801 1.01% 96 6,995 512 728 19Bacù 752,761 5,189 0.69% 75 10,037 452 706 38Bihor 620,517 39,192 6.32% 461 1,346 145 610 248Bistri]a-N`sùd 326,278 19,279 5.91% 173 1,886 126 350 95Boto[ani 463,808 14,708 3.17% 163 2,845 215 439 95Bra[ov 628,643 9,370 1.49% 114 5,514 105 357 42Brìla 385,749 1,264 0.33% 35 11,021 115 247 6Bucure[ti 2,009,200 13,806 0.69% 64 31,394 0 407 46Buzù 504,540 1,026 0.20% 32 15,767 459 590 8Cara[-Severin 353,209 19,794 5.60% 232 1,522 149 411 125C`l`ra[i 331,843 1,539 0.46% 42 7,901 123 289 17Cluj 719,864 21,525 2.99% 222 3,243 278 584 84Constan]a 746,041 3,689 0.49% 59 12,645 165 429 25Covasna 230,537 1,365 0.59% 26 8,867 102 199 9D=mbovi]a 551,414 6,922 1.26% 145 3,803 270 554 42Dolj 744,243 4,918 0.66% 89 8,362 322 641 36Gala]i 644,077 3,437 0.53% 35 18,402 157 385 22Giurgiu 294,000 1,227 0.42% 57 5,158 123 284 7Gorj 394,809 3,768 0.95% 65 6,074 383 500 16Harghita 341,570 1,177 0.34% 29 11,778 235 367 5Hunedoara 523,073 20,711 3.96% 245 2,135 318 619 107Ialomi]a 304,327 886 0.29% 26 11,705 119 240 7Ia[i 836,751 8,746 1.05% 80 10,459 371 633 40Ilfov 275,482 1,421 0.52% 39 7,064 74 295 8Maramure[ 530,955 12,753 2.40% 140 3,793 146 429 80Mehedin]i 321,853 2,170 0.67% 49 6,568 319 418 20Mure[ 601,558 7,356 1.22% 140 4,297 420 650 62Neam] 586,229 3,666 0.63% 67 8,750 312 531 37Olt 508,213 1,000 0.20% 35 14,520 363 552 6Prahova 855,539 12,691 1.48% 138 6,200 359 717 64Satu Mare 390,121 7,259 1.86% 83 4,700 165 343 41S`laj 256,307 14,274 5.57% 243 1,055 132 336 94Sibiu 443,993 9,447 2.13% 130 3,415 97 307 56Suceava 717,224 41,967 5.85% 220 3,260 264 653 160Teleorman 456,831 2,699 0.59% 65 7,028 184 409 18Timi[ 688,575 32,461 4.71% 289 2,383 133 506 160Tulcea 262,692 567 0.22% 18 14,594 126 223 7Vaslui 466,719 4,528 0.97% 68 6,864 408 636 32V=lcea 430,713 846 0.20% 25 17,229 587 538 7Vrancea 391,220 2,094 0.54% 51 7,671 309 440 14Total 22,35,205 413,334 1.84% 4,880 4,597 10,318 19,751 2,250

1 The Population to Church Ratio.2 The number of locations without evangelical churches.3 The total number of churches needed to reach the goal of saturation.4 The number of evangelical churches that have potential to start new churches.

TABLE 3. THE NUMBER OF EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS PER COUNTYCounty Population

2000Nr. of

evangelicalChristians

Percent ofevangelicalChristians

Baptist Brethren Pentecostal RomanianEvangelical

Church(estimate)

Indepen-dent

Churches

Alba 395,941 10,841 2.7% 3,641 1,147 6,053 0Arad 476,272 34,955 7.3% 13,586 86 21,078 205Arge[ 671,514 6,801 1.0% 171 353 1,617 4,450 210Bacù 752,761 5,189 0.7% 242 1,166 3,541 220 20Bihor 620,517 39,192 6.3% 15,761 220 23,171 40Bistri]a-N`sùd 326,278 19,279 5.9% 1,848 165 17,181 75 10Boto[ani 463,808 14,708 3.2% 990 2,577 11,141 0Bra[ov 628,643 9,370 1.5% 1,030 2,186 4,534 1,000 620Brìla 385,749 1,264 0.3% 565 33 596 50 20Bucure[ti 2,009,200 13,806 0.7% 3,725 1,847 5,445 1,500 1,289Buzù 504,540 1,026 0.2% 74 488 369 75 20Cara[-Severin 353,209 19,794 5.6% 11,768 421 7,585 20C`l`ra[i 331,843 1,539 0.5% 179 200 1,110 30 20Cluj 719,864 21,525 3.0% 4,852 790 15,713 170Constan]a 746,041 3,689 0.5% 1,221 101 2,052 250 65Covasna 230,537 1,365 0.6% 255 14 1,096 0D=mbovi]a 551,414 6,922 1.3% 177 1,390 2,985 2,350 20Dolj 744,243 4,918 0.7% 666 2,046 2,011 140 55Gala]i 644,077 3,437 0.5% 378 431 2,416 140 72Giurgiu 294,000 1,227 0.4% 200 481 227 300 19Gorj 394,809 3,768 1.0% 515 452 2,621 180 0Harghita 341,570 1,177 0.3% 922 154 101 0Hunedoara 523,073 20,711 4.0% 5,626 667 14,318 100Ialomi]a 304,327 886 0.3% 170 16 590 90 20Ia[i 836,751 8,746 1.0% 708 4,955 3,083 0Ilfov 275,482 1,421 0.5% 327 66 558 450 20Maramure[ 530,955 12,753 2.4% 1,731 384 10,618 20Mehedin]i 321,853 2,170 0.7% 939 282 899 30 20Mure[ 601,558 7,356 1.2% 1,131 952 5,168 105Neam] 586,229 3,666 0.6% 660 1,143 1,843 20Olt 508,213 1,000 0.2% 293 244 318 40 105Prahova 855,539 12,691 1.5% 854 6,099 3,698 2,000 40Satu Mare 390,121 7,259 1.9% 903 160 6,136 60S`laj 256,307 14,274 5.6% 5,634 555 8,085 0Sibiu 443,993 9,447 2.1% 2,708 3,444 3,170 125Suceava 717,224 41,967 5.9% 2,348 3,361 36,198 60Teleorman 456,831 2,699 0.6% 840 1,085 259 475 40Timi[ 688,575 32,461 4.7% 6,946 307 24,298 420 490Tulcea 262,692 567 0.2% 215 64 268 20 0Vaslui 466,719 4,528 1.0% 112 2,627 1,319 470 0V=lcea 430,713 846 0.2% 166 11 559 90 20Vrancea 391,220 2,094 0.5% 200 941 953 0Total 22,435,205 413,334 1.8% 95,277 44,111 254,981 14,845 4,120

TABLE 4. THE NUMBER OF EVANGELICAL CHURCHES PER COUNTYCounty Population 2000 Nr. of

churchesBaptist Brethren Pentecostal REC1 Ind.

ch.PCR

Alba 395,941 176 77 25 74 0 2,250Arad 476,272 339 176 6 156 1 1,405Arge[ 671,514 96 5 12 29 46 4 6,995Bacù 752,761 75 8 31 32 3 1 10,037Bihor 620,517 461 234 2 223 2 1,346Bistri]a-N`sùd 326,278 173 32 7 132 1 1 1,886Boto[ani 463,808 163 19 43 101 0 2,845Bra[ov 628,643 114 18 29 31 5 31 5,514Brìla 385,749 35 18 1 13 2 1 11,021Bucure[ti 2,009,200 64 16 8 11 6 23 31,394Buzù 504,540 32 7 10 9 5 1 15,767Cara[-Severin 353,209 232 138 13 80 1 1,522C`l`ra[i 331,843 42 10 8 20 3 1 7,901Cluj 719,864 222 65 5 150 2 3,243Constan]a 746,041 59 22 4 26 4 3 12,645Covasna 230,537 26 15 1 10 0 8,867D=mbovi]a 551,414 145 11 24 59 50 1 3,803Dolj 744,243 89 20 30 35 2 2 8,362Gala]i 644,077 35 5 4 23 2 1 18,402Giurgiu 294,000 57 9 13 10 24 1 5,158Gorj 394,809 65 23 14 24 4 0 6,074Harghita 341,570 29 22 3 4 0 11,778Hunedoara 523,073 245 106 14 120 5 2,135Ialomi]a 304,327 26 7 1 11 6 1 11,705Ia[i 836,751 80 10 37 33 0 10,459Ilfov 275,482 39 13 4 11 10 1 7,064Maramure[ 530,955 140 37 5 97 1 3,793Mehedin]i 321,853 49 17 6 23 2 1 6,568Mure[ 601,558 140 42 18 77 3 4,297Neam] 586,229 67 14 18 34 1 8,750Olt 508,213 35 15 6 8 2 4 14,520Prahova 855,539 138 17 58 31 30 2 6,200Satu Mare 390,121 83 27 4 51 1 4,700S`laj 256,307 243 107 7 129 0 1,055Sibiu 443,993 130 41 45 39 5 3,415Suceava 717,224 220 30 45 142 3 3,260Teleorman 456,831 65 21 23 8 13 0 7,028Timi[ 688,575 289 89 8 184 3 5 2,383Tulcea 262,692 18 9 2 6 1 0 14,594Vaslui 466,719 68 4 36 25 3 0 6,864V=lcea 430,713 25 10 2 11 1 1 17,229Vrancea 391,220 51 13 19 19 0 7,671Total 22,435,205 4,880 1,579 6,51 2,311 228 111 4,597

1 Romanian Evangelical Church

TABLE 5. THE GROWTH OF THE NUMBER OF CHURCHES PER COUNTY

Nr. of evangelical churchesCounty 1989 31.03.2001

Nr. of churches started1989-31.03.2001

Percentage of growth1990-31.03.2001

Percentage of growth1991-2000

Alba 112 176 64 57.1% 33.6%Arad 256 339 83 32.4% 34.7%Arge[ 55 96 41 74.6% 49.2%Bacù 16 75 59 368.8% 188.5%Bihor 318 461 143 45.0% 34.7%Bistri]a-N`sùd 86 173 87 101.2% 69.6%Boto[ani 86 163 77 89.5% 68.0%Bra[ov 40 114 74 185.0% 153.3%Brìla 7 35 28 400.0% 218.2%Bucure[ti 18 64 46 255.6% 255.6%Buzù 15 32 17 113.3% 100.0%Cara[-Severin 155 232 77 49.7% 33.5%C`l`ra[i 7 42 35 500.0% 320.0%Cluj 168 222 54 32.1% 24.0%Constan]a 21 59 38 181.0% 156.5%Covasna 21 26 5 23.8% 23.8%D=mbovi]a 74 145 71 96.0% 59.3%Dolj 27 89 62 229.6% 97.8%Gala]i 12 35 23 191.7% 105.9%Giurgiu 34 57 23 67.7% 62.9%Gorj 22 65 43 195.5% 124.1%Harghita 24 29 5 20.8% 11.5%Hunedoara 144 245 101 70.1% 28.9%Ialomi]a 8 26 18 225.0% 225.0%Ia[i 34 80 46 135.3% 122.2%Ilfov 22 39 17 77.3% 56.0%Maramure[ 57 140 83 145.6% 66.7%Mehedin]i 13 49 36 276.9% 109.1%Mure[ 69 140 71 102.9% 58.0%Neam] 22 67 45 204.6% 148.1%Olt 6 35 29 483.3% 169.2%Prahova 77 138 61 79.2% 53.9%Satu Mare 35 83 48 137.1% 105.0%S`laj 140 243 103 73.6% 46.1%Sibiu 65 130 65 100.0% 48.3%Suceava 113 220 107 94.7% 60.6%Teleorman 35 65 30 85.7% 62.5%Timi[ 129 289 160 124.0% 77.3%Tulcea 6 18 12 200.0% 125.0%Vaslui 25 68 43 172.0% 119.4%V=lcea 5 25 20 400.0% 177.8%Vrancea 9 51 42 466.7% 410.0%Total 2,588 4,880 2,292 88.6% 59.6%

TABLE 6. THE NUMBER OF CHURCHES WITH POTENTIAL FOR CHURCH PLANTING1

County Nr. of churches with potential Baptist Brethren Pentecostal OtherAlba 73 21 12 40 0Arad 172 63 108 1Arge[ 19 1 3 14 1Bacù 38 2 9 27 0Bihor 248 75 2 171 0Bistri]a-N`sùd 95 9 1 85 0Boto[ani 95 9 19 67 0Bra[ov 42 6 11 25 0Brìla 6 1 1 4 0Bucure[ti 46 12 8 10 16Buzù 8 0 5 3 0Cara[-Severin 125 67 5 53 0C`l`ra[i 17 1 3 13 0Cluj 84 16 4 62 2Constan]a 25 6 2 17 0Covasna 9 0 0 9 0D=mbovi]a 42 1 12 29 0Dolj 36 5 14 17 0Gala]i 22 1 2 18 1Giurgiu 7 1 4 2 0Gorj 16 2 4 10 0Harghita 5 3 1 1 0Hunedoara 107 33 8 66 0Ialomi]a 7 1 0 6 0Ia[i 40 4 21 15 0Ilfov 8 2 0 6 0Maramure[ 80 12 4 64 0Mehedin]i 20 6 3 11 0Mure[ 62 9 11 42 0Neam] 37 5 6 26 0Olt 6 1 3 2 0Prahova 64 4 32 27 1Satu Mare 41 5 1 34 1S`laj 94 32 3 59 0Sibiu 56 15 16 24 1Suceava 160 13 24 123 0Teleorman 18 4 10 4 0Timi[ 160 23 2 132 3Tulcea 7 2 0 5 0Vaslui 32 1 14 17 0V=lcea 7 1 0 6 0Vrancea 14 1 6 7 0Total 2.250 476 286 1.461 27

1 A church is considered to have potential for starting other churches if it has at least 50 members or, if it wasfounded after 1989, 30 members.

TABLE 7. THE AVERAGE ANNUAL GROWTH RATE (AAGR) PER COUNTYALL EVANGELICAL DENOMINATIONS BAPTISTS BRETHREN PENTECOSTALS

COUNTY Nr. of ch.started1991-95

AAGR1991-1995

Nr. of ch.started1996-00

AAGR1996-2000


AAGR1991-1995


AAGR 1996-2000


AAGR1991-1995


AAGR1996-2000


AAGR1991-1995


AAGR1996-2000

Alba 30 4.21% 14 1.68% 13 4.00% 4 1.07% 4 4.10% 3 2.59% 13 4.48% 7 2.04%Arad 44 2.99% 18 1.10% 10 1.19% 2 0.23% 5 start 1 3.71% 28 start 15 2.04%Arge[ 17 5.04% 13 3.13% 2 14.87% 1 4.56% 7 27.23% 2 3.71% 7 11.20% 7 7.14%Bacù 26 14.87% 23 7.60% 3 14.87% 2 5.92% 9 13.70% 12 10.29% 14 19.14% 8 5.92%Bihor 60 3.31% 59 2.80% 18 1.75% 17 1.52% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 42 5.46% 40 4.10%Bistri]a-N`sùd 27 4.81% 44 6.05% 3 2.29% 4 2.71% 1 8.45% 4 18.47% 23 5.56% 35 6.36%Boto[ani 25 4.69% 41 5.97% 4 5.51% 2 2.25% 6 4.94% 15 8.96% 15 4.43% 24 5.58%Bra[ov 38 13.02% 31 6.55% 6 9.86% 2 2.38% 6 6.96% 8 6.67% 10 10.76% 6 4.40%Brìla 9 12.70% 15 11.84% 2 6.96% 11 20.79% 0 start 1 start 7 start 2 3.40%Bucure[ti 21 15.44% 23 9.31% 2 5.15% 7 12.20% 4 18.47% 1 2.71% 3 9.86% 3 6.58%Buzù 8 8.92% 9 6.83% 4 37.97% 2 6.96% 2 8.45% 4 10.76% 2 6.96% 2 5.15%Cara[-Severin 43 4.56% 16 1.45% 7 1.05% 0 0.00% 10 43.10% 1 1.61% 26 10.76% 14 3.98%C`l`ra[i 15 20.11% 17 10.93% 3 31.95% 6 20.11% 5 28.47% 1 2.71% 7 22.42% 9 12.70%Cluj 19 2.04% 24 2.31% 5 1.79% 6 1.96% 1 5.92% 1 4.56% 12 1.89% 16 2.28%Constan]a 15 10.56% 21 9.20% 5 8.45% 7 7.96% 1 14.87% 2 14.87% 8 14.87% 10 10.20%Covasna 5 4.36% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 5 14.87% 0 0.00%D=mbovi]a 23 4.61% 31 4.93% 3 14.87% 5 12.89% 6 6.96% 3 2.71% 14 9.98% 22 9.78%Dolj 25 9.42% 20 5.22% 7 11.20% 3 3.30% 10 10.76% 5 3.71% 8 8.02% 10 6.96%Gala]i 8 8.02% 10 6.96% 2 14.87% 1 4.56% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 6 10.76% 8 8.92%Giurgiu 11 5.62% 11 4.38% 5 17.61% 0 0.00% 4 12.47% 4 7.63% 1 8.45% 7 27.23%Gorj 15 8.70% 21 8.12% 5 7.78% 7 7.53% 7 22.42% 3 4.94% 3 5.39% 11 13.05%Harghita 2 1.49% 1 0.70% 0 0.00% 1 0.93% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 2 14.87% 0 0.00%Hunedoara 32 3.18% 24 2.08% 12 2.62% 7 1.38% 2 4.10% 3 4.94% 15 3.04% 12 2.13%Ialomi]a 11 18.89% 7 6.47% 3 31.95% 3 11.84% 1 start 0 0.00% 7 start 3 6.58%Ia[i 20 9.24% 24 7.39% 2 5.92% 2 4.56% 9 7.39% 7 4.28% 9 14.87% 15 12.89%Ilfov 6 4.40% 8 4.70% 2 5.15% 4 7.63% 1 8.45% 1 5.92% 3 8.45% 2 4.10%Maramure[ 15 3.34% 41 7.18% 0 0.00% 9 5.73% 1 8.45% 2 10.76% 13 4.41% 30 7.68%Mehedin]i 15 10.96% 9 4.45% 5 9.24% 3 3.96% 2 24.57% 3 14.87% 8 12.47% 2 2.13%Mure[ 37 7.34% 15 2.31% 8 5.15% 6 3.13% 9 17.98% 2 2.38% 20 6.72% 4 1.09%Neam] 23 13.12% 17 6.03% 3 7.39% 4 6.96% 5 7.78% 2 2.38% 15 21.67% 10 7.21%Olt 9 11.10% 13 9.73% 2 5.15% 6 10.76% 0 0.00% 4 24.57% 5 28.47% 1 2.71%Prahova 33 6.51% 15 2.35% 5 9.24% 3 3.96% 14 7.14% 9 3.50% 12 11.84% 3 2.06%Satu Mare 20 8.45% 22 6.45% 5 5.29% 5 4.18% 1 8.45% 1 5.92% 13 10.12% 16 8.02%S`laj 17 1.98% 59 5.78% 2 0.50% 25 5.47% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 15 3.58% 34 6.43%Sibiu 32 6.46% 10 1.63% 9 5.55% 3 1.53% 10 5.75% 3 1.42% 10 6.72% 3 1.61%Suceava 57 7.21% 26 2.55% 1 0.73% 2 1.39% 18 12.26% 4 1.88% 38 7.52% 17 2.58%Teleorman 21 8.81% 4 1.28% 9 12.70% 1 0.98% 6 6.96% 2 1.84% 6 47.58% 1 2.71%Timi[ 87 8.93% 39 2.94% 8 2.02% 5 1.16% 5 28.47% 1 2.71% 73 13.85% 31 3.76%Tulcea 5 10.20% 5 6.72% 4 14.87% 1 2.38% 0 0.00% 1 14.87% 1 8.45% 3 14.87%Vaslui 19 10.03% 18 6.34% 0 0.00% 1 5.92% 9 7.39% 6 3.71% 10 28.47% 11 12.30%V=lcea 9 14.87% 7 6.79% 5 21.67% 2 4.56% 2 start 0 0.00% 2 start 4 9.46%Vrancea 23 26.97% 18 9.10% 7 27.23% 3 5.39% 5 14.87% 9 13.70% 11 45.41% 6 7.89%Total 977 5.73% 843 3.88% 201 3.16% 185 2.52% 188 9.44% 131 4.61% 542 7.28% 464 4.62%

TABLE 8. THE SITUATION OF EVANGELICAL CHURCHES IN ROMANIA’S CITIESCounty City M/O1 Population 2000 Nr. of churches PCR 2 5000:13 Saturation4

Alba Abrud O 6,560 1 6,560 1 4Alba Aiud M 28,607 7 4,087 0 0Alba Alba Iulia M 71,638 12 5,970 3 3Alba Baia de Arie[ O 4,899 3 1,633 0 1Alba Blaj M 21,332 5 4,266 0 0Alba C=mpeni O 8,483 4 2,121 0 2Alba Cugir O 29,819 5 5,964 1 15Alba Ocna Mure[ O 15,578 8 1,947 0 3Alba Sebe[ O 29,463 8 3,683 0 12Alba Teiu[ O 7,329 1 7,329 1 4Alba Zlatna O 9,117 2 4,559 0 5Arad Arad M 182,846 27 6,772 10 10Arad Chi[ineu-Cri[ O 8,651 4 2,163 0 2Arad Curtici O 9,812 2 4,906 0 5Arad Ineu O 10,064 4 2,516 0 3Arad Lipova O 11,483 6 1,914 0 2Arad N`dlac O 8,415 3 2,805 0 3Arad P\ncota O 7,456 4 1,864 0 1Arad Sebi[ O 6,800 7 971 0 0Arge[ C=mpulung M 42,890 5 8,578 4 4Arge[ Coste[ti O 12,053 2 6,027 1 7Arge[ Curtea de Arge[ M 34,085 3 11,362 4 4Arge[ Mioveni (Coliba[i) O 36,193 4 9,048 4 21Arge[ Pite[ti M 186,163 7 26,595 31 31Arge[ Topoloveni O 10,278 1 10,278 2 6Bacù Bacù M 207,573 7 29,653 35 35Bacù Buhu[i O 21,924 1 21,924 4 14Bacù Com`ne[ti O 26,333 3 8,778 3 15Bacù D`rm`ne[ti O 14,363 2 7,182 1 8Bacù Moine[ti O 25,283 3 8,428 3 14Bacù One[ti M 59,921 4 14,980 8 8Bacù Sl`nic Moldova O 5,390 2 2,695 0 2Bacù T\rgu-Ocna O 14,080 3 4,693 0 7Bihor Ale[d O 10,757 6 1,793 0 2Bihor Beiu[ O 11,759 4 2,940 0 4Bihor Dr. Petru Groza

({tei)O 9,108 3 3,036 0 4

Bihor Marghita O 18,739 5 3,748 0 8Bihor Nucet (Bihor) O 2,877 1 2,877 0 1Bihor Oradea M 220,626 23 9,592 22 22Bihor Salonta O 19,822 3 6,607 1 11Bihor Va[cù O 3,030 2 1,515 0 1Bihor Valea lui Mihai O 10,641 2 5,321 1 6Bistri]a-N`sùd Beclean O 12,071 6 2,012 0 3Bistri]a-N`sùd Bistri]a M 86,556 22 3,934 0 0Bistri]a-N`sùd N`sùd O 11,302 5 2,260 0 3Bistri]a-N`sùd S\ngeorz Bì O 10,674 4 2,669 0 4Boto[ani Boto[ani M 126,621 5 25,324 21 21Boto[ani Darabani O 1,202 4 301 0 0 1 “M” stands for “Municipiul” which are large cities; “O” stands for “oraş” which are normal cities.2 Population to Church Ratio3 How many new churches need to be started so that the PCR is at most 5,000 people for everyevangelical church.4 How many new churches need to be started in “Municipii” so that the PCR is at most 5,000 peoplefor every evangelical church, and how many new churches need to be started in “oraşe” so that thePCR is at most 1,500 people for every evangelical church.

County City M/O1 Population 2000 Nr. of churches PCR 2 5000:13 Saturation4

Boto[ani Dorohoi M 35,011 5 7,002 3 3Boto[ani S`veni O 8,739 4 2,185 0 2Brìla |nsur`]ei O 7,503 3 2,501 0 3Brìla Brìla M 230,962 6 38,494 41 41Brìla Fùrei O 4,579 2 2,290 0 2Brìla Ianca O 12,903 1 12,903 2 8Bra[ov Bra[ov M 309,671 15 20,645 47 47Bra[ov Codlea O 24,918 7 3,560 0 10Bra[ov F`g`ra[ M 43,938 4 10,985 5 5Bra[ov Predeal O 6,547 2 3,274 0 3Bra[ov R=[nov O 16,108 4 4,027 0 7Bra[ov Rupea O 6,317 5 1,263 0 0Bra[ov S`cele O 30,205 6 5,034 1 15Bra[ov Victoria O 10,745 1 10,745 2 7Bra[ov Z`rne[ti O 26,650 5 5,330 1 13Bucure[ti Bucure[ti M 2,009,200 64 31,394 338 338Buzù Buzù M 145,610 6 24,268 24 24Buzù Nehoiu O 7,704 3 2,568 0 3Buzù Pogoanele O 12,618 1 12,618 2 8Buzù R\mnicu S`rat M 41,348 1 41,348 8 8C`l`ra[i Bude[ti O 9,714 2 4,857 0 5C`l`ra[i C`l`ra[i M 76,636 4 19,159 12 12C`l`ra[i Fundulea O 6,266 2 3,133 0 3C`l`ra[i Lehliu Gar` O 6,739 2 3,370 0 3C`l`ra[i Olteni]a M 30,833 1 30,833 6 6Cara[-Severin Anina O 10,498 5 2,100 0 2Cara[-Severin Bìle Herculane O 5,982 2 2,991 0 2Cara[-Severin Boc[a O 18,973 5 3,795 0 8Cara[-Severin Caransebe[ M 30,749 5 6,150 2 2Cara[-Severin Moldova Nou` O 14,818 4 3,705 0 6Cara[-Severin O]elul Ro[u O 12,823 8 1,603 0 1Cara[-Severin Oravi]a O 14,856 7 2,122 0 3Cara[-Severin Re[i]a M 92,776 9 10,308 10 10Cluj C\mpia Turzii M 29,713 5 5,943 1 1Cluj Cluj-Napoca M 329,310 24 13,721 42 42Cluj Dej M 40,783 6 6,797 3 3Cluj Gherla O 23,959 3 7,986 2 13Cluj Huedin O 9,927 3 3,309 0 4Cluj Turda M 60,438 6 10,073 7 7Constan]a Basarabi O 11,174 3 3,725 0 5Constan]a Cernavod` O 20,330 2 10,165 3 12Constan]a Constan]a M 337,216 9 37,468 59 59Constan]a Eforie O 9,315 2 4,658 0 5Constan]a H=r[ova O 11,197 1 11,197 2 7Constan]a Mangalia M 44,041 3 14,680 6 6Constan]a Medgidia M 46,381 4 11,595 6 6Constan]a N`vodari O 35,594 4 8,899 4 20Constan]a Negru Vod` O 5,526 3 1,842 0 1Constan]a Ovidiu O 13,583 2 6,792 1 8Constan]a Techirghiol O 7,341 1 7,341 1 4Covasna |ntorsura Buzùlui O 9,105 0 2 7Covasna Baraolt O 10,502 2 5,251 1 6Covasna Covasna O 12,301 1 12,301 2 8Covasna Sf\ntu Gheorghe M 66,341 2 33,171 12 12Covasna T\rgu Secuiesc O 21,744 1 21,744 4 14D=mbovi]a Fieni O 8,121 3 2,707 0 3D=mbovi]a Gè[ti O 16,325 2 8,163 2 9D=mbovi]a Moreni O 22,705 2 11,353 3 14


D=mbovi]a Pucioasa O 16,377 5 3,275 0 6D=mbovi]a T\rgovi[te M 98,028 9 10,892 11 11D=mbovi]a Titu O 10,577 2 5,289 1 6Dolj Bìle[ti O 22,086 3 7,362 2 12Dolj Calafat M 20,857 3 6,952 2 2Dolj Craiova M 312,358 9 34,706 54 54Dolj Filia[i O 20,263 8 2,533 0 6Dolj Segarcea O 8,610 1 8,610 1 5Gala]i Bere[ti O 3,879 1 3,879 0 2Gala]i Gala]i M 326,956 7 46,708 59 59Gala]i T\rgu Bujor O 8,042 1 8,042 1 5Gala]i Tecuci M 46,452 3 15,484 7 7Giurgiu Bolintin Vale O 11,469 2 5,735 1 6Giurgiu Giurgiu M 71,893 6 11,982 9 9Giurgiu Mihìle[ti O 7,108 1 7,108 1 4Gorj }icleni O 5,170 1 5,170 1 3Gorj Bumbe[ti-Jiu O 11,891 2 5,946 1 6Gorj Motru O 25,369 3 8,456 3 14Gorj Novaci O 6,446 0 2 5Gorj Rovinari O 13,114 2 6,557 1 7Gorj T\rgu-C`rbune[ti O 9,102 1 9,102 1 6Gorj T=rgu-Jiu M 97,259 6 16,210 14 14Harghita Bìle Tu[nad O 1,796 0 1 2Harghita B`lan O 8,962 2 4,481 0 4Harghita Borsec O 3,068 2 1,534 0 1Harghita Cristuru Secuiesc O 11,092 1 11,092 2 7Harghita Gheorgheni O 21,156 1 21,156 4 14Harghita Miercurea-Ciuc M 46,021 1 46,021 9 9Harghita Odorheiu Secuiesc M 38,939 2 19,470 6 6Harghita Topli]a O 16,706 1 16,706 3 11Harghita Vl`hi]a O 7,444 1 7,444 1 4Hunedoara Aninoasa O 6,110 3 2,037 0 2Hunedoara Brad M 17,709 2 8,855 2 2Hunedoara C`lan O 14,415 7 2,059 0 3Hunedoara Deva M 75,515 6 12,586 10 10Hunedoara Ha]eg O 12,549 5 2,510 0 4Hunedoara Hunedoara M 78,435 12 6,536 4 4Hunedoara Lupeni O 30,805 4 7,701 3 17Hunedoara Or`[tie M 24,307 3 8,102 2 2Hunedoara Petrila O 28,277 7 4,040 0 12Hunedoara Petro[ani M 50,192 5 10,038 6 6Hunedoara Simeria O 14,595 8 1,824 0 2Hunedoara Uricani O 11,893 3 3,964 0 5Hunedoara Vulcan O 32,607 4 8,152 3 18Ia[i H\rlù O 12,146 1 12,146 2 8Ia[i Ia[i M 345,795 17 20,341 53 53Ia[i Pa[cani M 45,865 3 15,288 7 7Ia[i T=rgu Frumos O 13,548 0 3 10Ialomi]a }`nd`rei O 14,691 2 7,346 1 8Ialomi]a Fete[ti M 36,721 4 9,180 4 4Ialomi]a Slobozia M 55,308 5 11,062 7 7Ialomi]a Urziceni M 18,735 2 9,368 2 2Ilfov Buftea O 19,400 4 4,850 0 9Maramure[ Baia Mare M 149,780 7 21,397 23 23Maramure[ Baia Sprie O 15,894 3 5,298 1 8Maramure[ Bor[a O 27,267 5 5,453 1 14Maramure[ Cavnic O 5,464 2 2,732 0 2Maramure[ Seini O 9,418 3 3,139 0 4


Maramure[ Sighetu Marma]iei M 44,238 7 6,320 2 2Maramure[ T\rgu L`pu[ O 14,018 8 1,752 0 2Maramure[ Vi[eu de Sus O 18,177 3 6,059 1 10Mehedin]i Baia de Aram` O 5,761 3 1,920 0 1Mehedin]i Drobeta Turnu

SeverinM 115,979 6 19,330 18 18

Mehedin]i Or[ova O 15,009 2 7,505 2 9Mehedin]i Strehaia O 12,471 1 12,471 2 8Mehedin]i V=nju Mare O 6,986 0 2 5Mure[ Iernut O 9,864 10 986 0 0Mure[ Ludu[ O 18,556 4 4,639 0 9Mure[ Reghin M 38,556 7 5,508 1 1Mure[ Sighi[oara M 36,112 5 7,222 3 3Mure[ Sovata O 12,236 3 4,079 0 6Mure[ T\rgu Mure[ M 163,184 9 18,132 24 24Mure[ T\rn`veni O 29,624 7 4,232 0 13Neam] Bicaz O 8,957 3 2,986 0 3Neam] Piatra Neam] M 124,189 6 20,698 19 19Neam] Roman M 81,013 4 20,253 13 13Neam] T\rgu Neam] O 22,369 1 22,369 4 14Olt Bal[ O 22,713 3 7,571 2 13Olt Caracal M 38,721 2 19,361 6 6Olt Corabia O 21,571 1 21,571 4 14Olt Dr`g`ne[ti Olt O 13,083 0 3 9Olt Piatra Olt O 6,640 0 2 5Olt Scornice[ti O 13,674 3 4,558 0 7Olt Slatina M 86,351 5 17,270 13 13Prahova Azuga O 5,909 0 2 4Prahova Bìcoi O 20,013 3 6,671 2 11Prahova Bolde[ti-Scìeni O 11,634 3 3,878 0 5Prahova Breaza O 18,669 1 18,669 3 12Prahova Bu[teni O 11,428 3 3,809 0 5Prahova C\mpina M 40,043 5 8,009 4 4Prahova Comarnic O 13,477 2 6,739 1 7Prahova Mizil O 16,981 4 4,245 0 8Prahova Ploie[ti M 249,054 11 22,641 39 39Prahova Plopeni O 10,030 1 10,030 2 6Prahova Sinaia O 14,338 2 7,169 1 8Prahova Sl`nic O 7,136 1 7,136 1 4Prahova Urla]i O 11,885 2 5,943 1 6Prahova V`lenii de Munte O 13,642 3 4,547 0 7S`laj {imleul Silvaniei O 16,903 5 3,381 0 7S`laj Cehu Silvaniei O 8,432 5 1,686 0 1S`laj Jibou O 12,357 7 1,765 0 2S`laj Zalù M 70,015 10 7,002 5 5Satu Mare Carei M 25,046 3 8,349 3 3Satu Mare Negre[ti-Oa[ O 16,302 1 16,302 3 10Satu Mare Satu Mare M 129,153 6 21,526 20 20Satu Mare T`[nad O 10,043 3 3,348 0 4Sibiu Agnita O 12,215 2 6,108 1 7Sibiu Avrig O 16,919 5 3,384 0 7Sibiu Cisn`die O 17,155 4 4,289 0 8Sibiu Cop[a Mic` O 5,189 2 2,595 0 2Sibiu Dumbr`veni O 8,751 3 2,917 0 3Sibiu Media[ M 61,786 9 6,865 4 4Sibiu Ocna Sibiului O 4,248 3 1,416 0 0Sibiu Sibiu M 167,737 9 18,637 25 25Sibiu T`lmaciu O 9,061 1 9,061 1 6


Suceava C=mpulungMoldovenesc

M 21,476 3 7,159 2 2

Suceava F`lticeni M 33,206 3 11,069 4 4Suceava Gura Humorului O 16,765 3 5,588 1 9Suceava R`dù]i M 31,841 5 6,368 2 2Suceava Siret O 10,169 4 2,542 0 3Suceava Solca O 4,616 2 2,308 0 2Suceava Suceava M 117,615 12 9,801 12 12Suceava Vatra Dornei O 17,629 3 5,876 1 9Teleorman Alexandria M 57,377 3 19,126 9 9Teleorman Ro[iori de Vede M 36,062 4 9,016 4 4Teleorman Turnu M`gurele M 34,661 2 17,331 5 5Teleorman Videle O 12,362 2 6,181 1 7Teleorman Zimnicea O 16,479 2 8,240 2 9Timi[ Buzia[ O 8,137 3 2,712 0 3Timi[ Deta O 7,018 2 3,509 0 3Timi[ F`get O 7,532 11 685 0 0Timi[ Jimbolia O 10,360 3 3,453 0 4Timi[ Lugoj M 48,629 6 8,105 4 4Timi[ S\nnicolaul Mare O 10,674 3 3,558 0 5Timi[ Timi[oara M 329,554 30 10,985 36 36Tulcea Babadag O 10,627 1 10,627 2 7Tulcea Isaccea O 5,592 2 2,796 0 2Tulcea M`cin O 11,678 2 5,839 1 6Tulcea Sulina O 5,057 0 2 4Tulcea Tulcea M 94,706 3 31,569 16 16V=lcea Bìle Govora O 3,137 0 1 3V=lcea Bìle Ol`ne[ti O 4,830 1 4,830 0 3V=lcea Brezoi O 7,546 2 3,773 0 4V=lcea C`lim`ne[ti O 8,930 1 8,930 1 5V=lcea Dr`g`[ani M 22,374 2 11,187 3 3V=lcea Horezu O 7,356 2 3,678 0 3V=lcea Ocnele M`ri O 3,572 0 1 3V=lcea R\mnicu V\lcea M 119,249 3 39,750 21 21Vaslui B\rlad M 77,805 5 15,561 11 11Vaslui Hu[i M 32,873 2 16,437 5 5Vaslui Negre[ti O 10,608 3 3,536 0 5Vaslui Vaslui M 77,900 4 19,475 12 12Vrancea Adjud O 20,582 4 5,146 1 10Vrancea Foc[ani M 96,930 5 19,386 15 15Vrancea M`r`[e[ti O 13,107 5 2,621 0 4Vrancea Odobe[ti O 8,192 1 8,192 1 5Vrancea Panciu O 9,612 2 4,806 0 5

TABLE 9. RELIGIOUS CONFESSION ACCORDING TO THE JANUARY 1992 CENSUSReligious Confession Nr. of people PercentageThe Romanian Orthodox Church 19,802,389 86.81%The Old Rite Orthodox Church 28,141 0.12%The Old Style Orthodox Church 32,228 0.14%The Roman Catholic Church 1,161,942 5.09%The Greco-Catolic Church 223,327 0.98%The Baptist Church 109,462 0.48%The Brethren and the Romanian Evangelical Church 49,963 0.22%The Pentecostal Church 220,824 0.97%The Seventh Day Adventist Church 77,546 0.34%The Reformed Church 802,454 3.52%The Unitarian Church 76,708 0.34%The Augustinian Lutheran Church 39,119 0.17%The Lutheran Church, Presbyterian Synod 21,221 0.09%Jewish 9,670 0.04%Moslems 55,928 0.25%Atheists 10,331 0.05%Without Religion 24,314 0.11%Undeclared 8,139 0.04%Other religions 56,329 0.25%Total 22,810,035

Appendix 2Research forms

Page

RESEARCH FORM FOR URBAN AREAS 1

RESEARCH FORM FOR RURAL AREAS 2

RESEARCH FORM FOR URBAN AREAS

County: _____________________ Information for the city of: __________________________________________ Page ____

What ethnic groups are in this township (approximate percentage): _____________% _____________% ____________%

List of ChurchesName of the zone of

the cityName of the church Authoriza-

tion?YES/NO

Name address and telephone of thepastor

Address and telephone ofthe church

Denomination Year Started Number ofparticipants

Number ofmembers

The inhabitants’ opinion of evangelical churches: ___ Very Good ___ Good ___ Poor ___ Very Poor

Two frequently mentioned barriers to starting new churches:

1)___________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________

Name of researcher: ________________________ Telephone: __________ Address ____________________ Date: ______

RESEARCH FORM FOR RURAL AREAS

County: _____________________ Information for the township of: ______________________________________ Page ____

What ethnic groups are in this township (approximate percentage): _____________% _____________% ____________%

List of ChurchesName of the village Name of the church Authoriza-

tion?YES/NO

Name address and telephone of thepastor

Address and telephone ofthe church

Denomination Year Started Number ofparticipants

Number ofmembers

The inhabitants’ opinion of evangelical churches: ___ Very Good ___ Good ___ Poor ___ Very Poor

Two frequently mentioned barriers to starting new churches:

1)___________________________________________________________

2)___________________________________________________________

Name of researcher: ________________________ Telephone: __________ Address ____________________ Date: _____

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