Eurovangelism - Bulgarian visit

Click this link to see video   song courtesy of Neli Andreeva who generously donated a CD to go with every copy of Leah magazine in August.
 
I became a trustee of Eurovangelism last year and had the privilege of visiting our partners in Bulgaria in August. This was a moving experience as I saw the work they were doing in caring for those lost and in need in this very beautiful but extremely poor country.

Eurovangelism works with three partners in Bulgaria:

The Pentecostal Church in Elhovo near the Turkish border cares for tiny village churches across the province. We support one pastor who is a builder when he isn’t serving several village churches. Like many others he was serving long before we started supporting him. All he longs for is for people to know Jesus and grow in him.

When I heard that we were helping fund the building of a new larger Baptist church and centre in Sofia I asked why as it didn’t seem the best use of resources. When we entered the sanctuary the sense of God’s presence was overpowering and I realised that he had great purposes for the place. I do not doubt the value of the investment now.

This centre will house a soup kitchen, Christian library, medical centre, literacy and vocational classes, youth work and conferences. Its ongoing costs will be funded by the offices and shops that are part of it. The church has started as it means to go on – a gypsy is foreman of the project and a role model for others. They also employ other gypsy workers and a man who is disabled.

Mission Possible Bulgaria has been going 20 years; it works with all the evangelical denominations in Sofia. Through its small team it provides training for Church leaders, social work and publishes a high quality Christian magazine for women as well as supporting seven gypsy villages and settlements.

They have just seen the 1st gypsy girl they supported graduate from university. Some girls are now staying on to finish high school and seven are now working as chambermaids after completing an accredited vocational course – all started with a pastor caring for their villages, winter soup kitchens and very basic life lessons such as washing hands before eating. Having heard of the terrible state of gypsy life it was wonderful to see how the children looked out for each other and their patience as the water melon Roumen brought was handed out.

Throughout my trip I experienced God’s love at work and his provision for each of the projects I saw: One example is the new refuge and centre in Dobre Mirka which cost 33,000 Euros to buy when it was valued at 240! Hearing of lives changed, I saw God’s love making beautiful the unlovely and giving hope where there had been none. Lives are changing because of the passion for Jesus and love for their neighbours that Elhovo Pentecostal Church, Mission Possible and Sofia Baptist Church have put into practice.

I finish with this quote from Teddi Oprenov, the pastor of Sofia Baptist Church regarding the terrible situation of gypsies and children in institutions:

“As a Christian, I cannot just look at that and do nothing. As a pastor, I cannot just go there and preach to them. We had to do something practical. Yes, we can share our faith, but unless we show love we haven’t done anything.”


Grim facts

Bulgaria is one of the two poorest EU countries with increasing unemployment. Average pay is 15 times lower than the EU average.

1in 7 have no access to health care & benefits.

Society is very unequal and the weakest in society – the elderly, disabled and poor suffer the most.

Bulgaria has one of highest no of institutionalised children in the world with orphanages hidden away. Many children are 1st used as servants, then prostitutes & some even for organs when seen as having no other use; 10k children/young people are trafficked each year.

Gypsies

Most gypsies first language is Romani. The Communists forced them to settle in villages & quarters of towns – ghettos where they remain. They live in the poorest areas – in Sofia one such has no sewerage or other services and is referred to as the ‘wasps nest’ by other locals.

Bulgaria has a small and ageing population with a life expectancy of 73 but for gypsies, only 5% can expect to reach 65.

Of the gypsies 65-80% are unemployed – work in villages is picking mushrooms, blueberries, herbs, scavenging, theft, prostitution.

Only 10% complete high school with 18% illiterate compared to only 1% in rest of Bulgaria.

Girls are taken as ‘wives’ on puberty at 12/13 or can be sold for trafficking even by family members and often have a first child by fourteen.

Hazel Vinson

Links:
www.eurovangelism.org.uk
www.rise-europe.org.uk
www.bulgarianpartners.org watch the video ‘Building Hope’