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Romania is a
beautiful Southeastern European country about the size of North
and SouthCarolina combined. It borders the Black Sea between Bulgaria
and Ukraine. Rich Because 87% of the population belongs to the Romanian Orthodox church, many assume that the country's culture is rooted in a Christian ethic. Unfortunately this isn't true. Even within the world's second largest Orthodox Church, Communism has left its seemingly indelible mark, and it is not unusual to find priests who are atheists. Both Communism and Romanian Orthodoxy's humanistic works-based theology have proven to be powerless to meet the Romanian people's real needs. CHILDREN IN CRISIS
BMW's Romania team is dedicated to biblical church planting with a special focus. We see Romania's orphan population as the future leaders of Romania's biblical churches. Our passion is to see these abandoned children rescued by Romania's Bible-believing churches, raised in Christian homes, and as adults sent out by Romanian churches to plant more Romanian churches. INEPT STRATEGIES Relief worker Paul Myhill tells the following story:
Although this joke comes from the Middle East, its seemingly absurd lesson can be applied to many efforts attempting to solve Romania's orphan problem. Countless dollars are pouring into Romania in an attempt to solve its myriads of symptomatic problems. Educational, political, and economic reform are in process and minimal relief (like that provided by the ambulances and hospital in the story) is available. But unfortunately, the Romanian government, like the provincial governor, is oblivious to Romanian's biggest pothole - a Christless culture. QUESTIONABLE CHRISTIAN SOLUTIONS As Christians the solution to Romania's problems at first seems simple. We must take the Romanians the gospel. This is true and many are attempting to do this through Christian education, medical care, orphanages, etc. At a first glance these programs seem like wonderful and even biblical solutions. However, a more thorough examination reveals that Christian mission work often makes the same mistakes as the fictional provincial governor.
For example setting up a feeding center for street children in Romania provides a platform for the gospel and allays a tragic symptom - hunger, but it also enables children to stay on the streets and encourages others to runaway. Orphanages, even Christian ones, cannot replace the family structure that God designed children to be raised in, and they produce young adults who don't know how to integrate into society and as a result often abandon their own children keeping the orphanages full. God does work through these systems, and He does save people, but primarily focusing on symptoms while paying little attention to the "pothole" is not the best way. CHURCH
PLANTERS ARMED WITH SHOVELS BMW's Romania team is committed to filling in the "potholes". Our passion is to start biblical churches filled with compassionate Christians who will begin to fill in their country's "potholes" themselves. Instead of trying to reach Romania's lost children and youth through programs, we will reach them through Romanian believers. Our initial plan is three-fold:
OUR PASSION
Perhaps you are able to pray for BMW's Romania team, or maybe God has been preparing you to serve in Romania yourself. Either way, we want you to be a part of our team as we take the gospel to Romania. CURRENT
ROMANIA TEAM Members:
Mission Statement: Our purpose is to exalt the name of Jesus Christ by displaying His power to save and transform Romania's abandoned, calling them out of a life of slavery to sin unto a life of joyful service for the Lord in His church. Vision: To see biblical Romanian churches solve Romania's abandonment problems through biblical means and to see a generation of orphans and street children become incorporated into reproducing compassionate, indigenous Romanian churches. If you are interested
in joining the team or having more information, contact Paul Seger
(Area Director for the Europe) pseger@biblicalministries.org.
Also, additional information and weekly updates are available at
http://thegospelinaction.com. Home | About | Mission Fields | Opportunities | Support | Resources BIBLICAL
MINISTRIES WORLDWIDE Site
maintained by Biblical Ministries Worldwide |
in natural resources and part of Europe's bread basket, Romania
has a fascinating, but tumultuous recent history. In the year 1989,
the deposition of Nicolae Ceausescu brought major change to Romania.
But the legacy of atheistic communism left Romanian culture scarred
and broken. Wide-spread corruption, theft, immorality, poverty,
and a pervasive disregard for the value of human life naturally
resulted from a world system that denies man's Creator. 
The
breakdown of Romanian families has brought great suffering upon
the children. Ceausescu required all Romanian families to have at
least five children. But few could afford to feed families of seven.
As a result, abandoning children soon became an accepted norm. Today
even with an improving economy, Romania has over 80,000 orphaned
or abandoned children in some sort of institutional care and an
estimated three to five thousand homeless street children. UNICEF
reports that 9,000 children are still abandoned yearly in Romania
and that this rate has remained constant for the past 30 years.
Sadly, some estimate that at least 70,000 Romanian children (not
all of which are orphans) are involved in hazardous work, sex exploitation,
forced labor, or some other type of criminal activity. 
There
was an inept governor overseeing an important province...One day
he was approached by citizens who were complaining about a giant
pothole in the provincial capital's main street. The gaping blemish
caused tires to blow out, hurtling cars into each other. There
were many accidents. Furthermore, people crossing the street would
fall into the hole. They experienced numerous broken bones, gashes
and bruises...Citizens challenged the governor to immediately
take care of the hazard. "No problem," said the governor.
"We will put an ambulance by the pothole to be ready for
the injured. "A few days later the citizens approached the
governor again. They explained to him that the ambulance wasn't
enough; that it was constantly being filled up and put into service
while many pothole-accident victims suffered without attention.
"No problem," said the governor. "We will assign
more ambulances there for the task." A week passed and the
citizens again visited the governor. This time they complained
that, even with the additional ambulances, there were more accidents
than the emergency vehicles could handle. "No problem,"
said the governor. "We will build a hospital next to the
pothole." Many months later, a new state-of-the-art hospital
was completed at great cost next to the pothole. Shortly after
its opening, the citizens once more turned up at the governor's
office. Angrier than ever, they explained to him that the hospital
was completely full and that more accidents were occurring than
the new facility could cope with. "No problem," said
the governor. "We will lower the whole city to the level
of the bottom of the pothole." 
Our
passion is to reach the Romanian people and especially the country's
abandoned youth with the true gospel by equipping young believers
to think biblically, to establish biblical families, and to take
the gospel to their fellow citizens. We believe that by especially
focusing on Romania's abandoned youth that we can raise up a strong
generation of Christians who, armed with the truth of the gospel,
can start to fill in their country's many "potholes".
This is a huge undertaking, and we would love your support. 
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