Missions Mobilization in Suceava, RO

This week I joined my colleagues in traveling to the northern Romanian city of Suceava (close to the Ukrainian border) to meet with members of the Brethren Church there who are doing incredible work in missions mobilization in their region of Romania. We had the privilege of participating in a prayer night with youth from various churches and cities who meet together for encouragement, prayer, and collaboration. We were all crowded into a living room, with many people in the hallways and other rooms. This is a group passionate about missions and bringing the Gospel to unreached areas of the world, as well as unreached cities and villages in Romania. We sang, we prayed, and heard more of their vision for the Suceava area. It was also an opportunity for me to get involved with the Kairos Program (a missions training program) that some of my colleagues have been teaching in churches around Romania. Most of this group in Suceava has been through the course and is now motivating and preparing other churches to play a greater role in the Great Commission. It was great to be encouraging a group of young Romanians on fire for the Gospel. We are praying for their efforts and continued passion to reach the world for Christ.

Vali with his daughter. He is the mission and youth coordinator for the Brethren Church in Suceava. He has helped form missions prayer/encouragement teams and he and his wife are hoping to serve cross-culturally as missionaries themselves. He often takes his youth in missions trips to villages in the Suceava region and into the Romanian speaking cities in Ukraine. He and his wife have a great heart for missions and are truly one of the "success stories" and shining examples in Romania of a church and region mobilizing its forces for missions.

Me with my colleague Adi (left), Linda (the Kairos European International Coordinator who joined us from England), and Russell together for dinner at Vali's house. It was a delicious meal!

I especially enjoyed dessert!

The Suceava region is known for fortresses and monasteries