What is the important thing that you see happening in Bulgaria today that was not happening 5 years ago?
On January 1st, 2007 Bulgaria joined the EU. This gave the country a new political and economic perspective. Many people in Bulgaria had very high expectations in regard to the economy of the country. But the realities three years later are very different. Bulgaria is still the poorest country in the EU and the church ministries in Bulgaria suffer tremendously from the lack of sufficient funds and equipped and empowered leaders.
Most of the respected Church leaders and missionaries today are honest to acknowledge that we are facing great challenges in the church growth. A recent research showed that in the last 4 years more than 300 new churches stopped to function or died. There is a big drop in numbers in the church attendance not only among Bulgarians but among other ethnic groups too.
This encounter with materialism and the consumers mentality in the postmodern society we live causes the church to reevaluate its leadership style and philosophy of ministry. The challenges we face urge us to search for new creative methods of ministry both to those in the church and outside of it. Many leaders have realized that doing our own thing independent and without cooperation with the other parts of the body of Christ hasn’t brought much fruit and growth. So there is a new movement going on which we believe is led by the Holy Spirit of God. Leaders are gathering together for corporate prayer, devotion, and sharing of needs and ideas. This brings a new model of Christian ministry into perspective – something that the younger generation of leaders can learn from and follow.
How does a Bulgarian person typically comes to Christ and what walls and barriers you have to cross over when you are reaching a Bulgarian?
Until 1989 the church in Bulgaria was persecuted and oppressed by the communist regime and its apparatus. At that time the gospel could not be preached outside the walls of the church buildings and youth and children were monitored lest their parents bring them to church. This was the reason the church congregations were getting older and older. On the other hand the discouragement of faith and all types of believes in the supernatural world created a vacuum in the hearts and minds of people that could only be filled with the Word of God and His Spirit. At the turn of the nineties the society in Bulgaria was desperately hungry for spiritual food and hope. As a result of this deep spiritual hunger we experienced a huge revival in the church. Tens of thousands of new believers joined the church through mass evangelism. So this is how many of the new post-communist generation of Christians came to Christ in the early nineties of the last century.
But only a few years later the pendulum swung back. The mass media began an antagonistic and negative campaign against all evangelical churches calling them sects and cults. This negative propaganda portrait the Evangelical Church as something foreign to the traditional Bulgarian Orthodox religion and marginalized the evangelical community. This is the reason the society in Bulgaria is looking at the Church as a foreign religion coming for the west.
Today people come to believe in Christ through personal discipleship or through also what we call friendship evangelism. A Christian is called to live to standard of love and care and holiness and make a living demonstration of what it means to be a believer.
What is your top priority project for Bulgaria?
New Hope Bulgaria is a field driven ministry. We listen to the leaders of the church and learn from them what are the most pressing needs of the body of Christ and we realize what we can do to help the church in Bulgaria get empowered and equipped in order for the new generation of Christians to reach their communities and leave an lasting impact on them. Our most important projects for 2010 and next 2 years are equipping and training of workers in children and youth ministries, publishing of valuable printed resources and assisting facilitating the ministry of the native missionaries to the Turkish Muslims in Bulgaria.
We cannot do what God has called us to without partners in ministry. New Hope international relies on God to move on the hearts of Christians in the US Churches and other Para-church organizations who are welcomed to join hands with us and partnership in the mission field of Eastern Europe and in Bulgaria in particular where we have been called to serve.