Outreach Into Romania

Opportunities have opened up for the spread of the Gospel in Romania. In 1929, a family there received a package wrapped in a Czechoslovakian Apostolic Faith paper. Someone in the town could read Czech and translated the paper into Romanian, and then shared it with his family and friends. As a result, the people there started praying for the Holy Ghost and the Latter Rain began to fall in that part of Romania.

About fifty years later, Romanian families began immigrating to the United States. A number of these families chose Portland as their new home because they had seen pictures in those old papers of the “Jesus the Light of the World” sign in that city.

In recent years, ministers and workers from the United States have made regular trips to Romania to support an emerging Apostolic Faith work in that country. Feeling the presence of the Holy Spirit, and seeing “Isus Lumina Lumii” (Jesus the Light of the World), made the workers feel right at home. Following the first few visits, a small house in Lovrin was acquired and converted into an Apostolic Faith Sunday school in August of 2000. The Sunday school booklet, Sacred Stories for Children, was translated and printed in Romania and presently is used in a number of Sunday schools there.

The first Romanian Apostolic Faith branch church was dedicated in the town of Sânpetru-German on May 12, 2002. There are now four official branches of the organization in that country. A new headquarters church for the work is scheduled to be dedicated early in 2006.

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In October 2001, a piece of ground was purchased for a possible camp meeting site from the son of the man who had received that first paper in 1929. In July of 2003, a group of workers from the United States assisted the leaders in Romania in holding their first youth camp convention. The camp was made up of tents, and the only running water was the small river that goes through the property. In spite of the somewhat rustic conditions, a number of young people received spiritual experiences, and the nearby towns were affected by the week-long evangelistic effort. The leaders requested an expanded format, so in 2004, the convention was stretched over a two-Sunday period and was recognized as their first camp meeting.

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A number of Apostolic Faith publications have been translated into the Romanian language, including the Higher Way magazine, the booklets A Glimpse into the Future and 30 Days on the Road to Eternity, doctrinal booklets, as well as the Sunday school curriculum, Discovery. The work has expanded rapidly due to the influence of the publications.