Mihai Lundell
Evangelical Growth in Romania
Almost immediately after the fall of Nicolae Ceaucescu in 1989, Romania saw an influx of foreign missionaries. The need for evangelism throughout the country was great. It was not rare for Romanians to fill the Casă de Cultură (cultural palaces/theaters) in cities across the country in order to hear a Western pastor or missionary share the Gospel. When Billy Graham visited Romania in 1985, people lined the streets and climbed on top of Communist bloc apartments in order to hear him speak. Needless to say, God had opened doors for the Gospel to be preached in Romania, and for the most part, Romanians were listening. Many mission organizations also partnered with local denominations, for example, the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board and the Romanian Baptist Union, in church planting and evangelism. According to statistics compiled by One Challenge International (OCI), in collaboration with Operation World, over 300 foreign missionaries worked in Romania between 1990 and 2000.
By 1998 Romania had over 500,000 evangelicals, making it the largest population of evangelicals in all of Eastern Europe. In fact, Romania had more evangelicals than the rest of Eastern Europe combined.1 Moreover, current church statistics in Romania put the percentage of evangelicals at 4.2 percent, making Romania the European nation with either the second- or third-most evangelicals, depending on the accuracy of findings from the United Kingdom and Ukraine.2 The church did grow, according to most observers, at a fast and healthy rate during the 1990s. Two major factors appear to explain the growth: 1) the readiness and eagerness of Romanians to grasp the hope of the message of the Gospel (after all, the Gospel was something new and exciting from the outside); and 2) the partnership between foreign missionaries and local evangelical denominations in Romania.
From Receiving to Sending
By 2000, the number of foreign missionaries in Romania was roughly 150 (less than half the number of 1992).3 Among the reasons for the departure of many foreign missionaries was, first and foremost, missionaries’ frustration with Romanian bureaucracy and the East European way of doing things. Moreover, as the church in Romania grew, some foreign mission agencies decided to focus efforts on other formerly closed countries where new doors were opening for the Gospel. The departure of these foreign missionaries was seen by some Romanians as a lack of commitment and follow-through on the part of the mission agencies, while others felt it was time for Romanians to play a larger role in the Great Commission.
Those mission agencies that continue to work in Romania now see major potential for the country’s evangelicals to play a crucial role in the global missions movement. From 1990 to 2000, Romania was a mission-receiving nation, resulting in a major impact upon the Romanian church. On the positive side, cross-cultural workers helped Romania spread the Gospel and train more pastors. Unfortunately, a negative impact involved the creation of a mentality of dependence upon Western assistance. As a result Romanian churches struggle to raise their own support, instead constantly fundraising in the West for building projects and relying on foreigners to train and equip lay leaders for ministry.
It was not until 2000 that Romania began the transition to becoming a major mission-sending country. Church growth in Romania provided the impetus for the formation of several mission organizations focused on recruiting and sending Romanians abroad to share the Gospel. Currently at least 189 Romanians serve as career missionaries around the world, including over 70 with the Romanian Pentecostal mission agency (APME), over 40 with the Baptist Union, 20 with the Brethren Union, 24 with Operation Mobilization , and 12 with Wycliffe.4 Smaller numbers of Romanian missionaries serve with Campus Crusade (Alege Viata), OCI, Pacea Mission, Frontiers, and Pioneers.5 Countries in which Romanians serve include (and this is not an exhaustive list): Norway, the Netherlands, England, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria, Serbia, Czech Republic, Russia (especially Siberia), Ukraine, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, India, Turkey, the Middle East (countries not specified for reasons of security), North Africa, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Namibia, South Africa, Kenya, Cameroon, Sudan, Tanzania, and Bolivia. The largest Romanian missionary contingents serve in the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine, India, and Russia.6
The number of Romanians working as missionaries within their homeland, particularly in more unreached areas such as Oltenia and Dobrogea, is hard to measure. However, OC International is conducting research on this subject which should be completed by the end of 2016.
Positive Impact of Romanian Missionaries
Romanian missionaries have generally been well received as they serve cross-culturally. Physically speaking, Romanians have darker, sharper features than most East Europeans, which allows them to blend in easily in areas like the Middle East. In addition, Romanians are not burdened with many of the stereotypes and stigmas attached to missionaries from the West. Romanians have grown up with more modest living standards that have allowed them to adapt to harsher living conditions than missionaries from the West. Simply put, Romanians are often able to live on less financial support and accept more humble surroundings.
Among success stories of Romanians serving in cross-cultural missions is that of Alina Voda of Targoviste, Romania. Supported by several Baptist churches in Romania, Alina is a registered nurse who serves as a medical missionary in the Philippines. Fluent in several of the tribal languages in addition to the main language of Tagalog, she has helped open a number of clinics in the Philippines and leads several Bible study groups with her patients. Another Romanian success story is that of Petru and Mirela Paccalau who serve with Wycliffe in Ethiopia. They have learned the Amarhic language and have translated the Bible in order to reach a tribe of over 600,000 people who were previously illiterate. The Paccalau family has taught reading and writing to the Amhara people while also teaching them Bible stories and ethics through storytelling and oral exposition.
Struggles of Romanian Missionaries
Perhaps the greatest struggle for Romanians currently working in cross-cultural missions, or preparing to do so, is fundraising. Even Romanians with years of missionary service struggle to maintain a sparse existence. Minimal funding is partially due to difficult economic conditions in Romania where the average monthly salary is only 350 euros ($389) a month, in the bottom 20 percent tier of all European nations. 7 Romania’s economic woes, coupled with a church culture that is used to receiving rather than giving, make the task of fundraising especially challenging for missionaries. Unfortunately, too many Romanians also perceive missions as a “glorified vacation” funded by others. A mentality exists, too common in the West as well, that says, “Why provide money for a missionary family working abroad when so many glaring social needs persist at home?” The high cost of living in Western Europe in particular inhibits missionary service there despite the fact that the Romanian diaspora is the largest immigrant population in such Mediterranean nations as Spain and Italy.
As is often the case in Latin cultures, when Romanians are passionate about something, they press on, sometimes without sufficient planning. In the early 2000s quite a few Romanians began missionary service abroad without proper church funding, pastoral support, or member care. Between 2000 and 2010, Romanian missionaries serving with the benefit of little or no member care led to several families returning home after only one or two years. In 2011, representatives from each of Romania’s evangelical denominations and 14 mission organizations working in Romania met in Sibiu for a roundtable discussion on missionary member care. Through this initiative came a National Romanian Member Care Team, a partnership of Romanian evangelical denominations and leading mission organizations. The Team works under the umbrella of Partners in Mission (PIM) and has held national conferences and training related to missionary member care. The Team also hosts annual rest and renewal camps for furloughing Romanian missionaries. Hopefully, providing for the needs of missionaries through such efforts will overcome the fact that the number of Romanians serving in missions has remained fairly stagnant in recent years.
Romanian Missionary Pros and Cons
By and large, Romanians are seen as talented and capable missionaries. They are known for having a good grasp of the Bible and a nuanced understanding of what it means to live under both oppression and economic privation. Romanians are seen as creative, outgoing, highly relational, and extremely gifted in music and language acquisition.
Nevertheless, Romanian missionaries also carry some cultural baggage. One of the major negative critiques of Romanian missionaries is that they preach and practice a gospel of legalism. Romania’s evangelical churches are arguably among the most conservative and legalistic in Europe. Examples include: 1) dress—head coverings and dresses for women and suits and ties for men; 2) limited roles for women in the church; 3) lengthy and frequent church services; 4) conservative stances on most social issues; and 5) traditional prayer and conservative worship. Some Romanian missionaries have found that their manner of worship clashes with the cultural sensitivities of those they are seeking to serve. Still, Romanian missionaries have great potential to reach new areas with the Gospel. Countries throughout Europe continue to look to Romania as pioneers in bringing the Gospel from Europe to the ends of the earth.F
Notes:
- OC International missionary Russ Mitchell noted that the 1992 census recorded 220,051 Romanian evangelicals: 49,392 Pentecostals and Brethren. In 1996 the Baptists had 110,000 registered members. The combined sum is 379,443. Patrick Johnson in Operation World (1993) gave a figure of 300,000 Christians in the Lord’s Army (an evangelical movement in the Romanian Orthodox Church). Since the 1992 census showed that the Reformed Church had 801,557 members, the Lutheran Church S.P. had 21,160 members, and the Lutheran Church C.A. 39,552 members, it seems reasonable to assume that there are still at least 120,000 evangelicals in the Lord’s Army, plus evangelicals in Hungarian, German, and other groups. Another approximation of the number of evangelicals in Romania is 1,100,000 (Operation World Database).
- Romanian National Institute of Statistics.
- Statistics compiled by OC International.
- OC International collected data from the Baptist Union, APME (Agentia Penticostala pentru Misiune Externa, the Pentecostal Mission sending agency), Agentia Kairos (the Brethren missions sending agency). Alege Viata (Campus Crusade in Romania), Wycliffe, OM, OCI, and a survey that was sent out to Partners in Mission (PIM).
- The actual number of Romanians serving in missions with these organizations is difficult to obtain, as many are serving in “closed” countries, and each month some missionaries are leaving and coming back. 6 OC International data as of December 2014.
- Romanian National Institute of Statistics, 2015.
Mihai Lundell, based in Sibiu, Romania, is Romanian director for One Challenge International