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NWMTI-Chisinau, Moldova
8 April 1997
It is sunny and 50 degrees outside... and inside the
apartment of my hosts, Ron and Dorcas Helton. It is 50 degrees in the
schools and businesses, in the hospitals and orphanages. In fact, it is
50 degrees anywhere there is no independent source of heat, since
virtually every building in the Moldovan capital Chisinau (pronounced
/kee’-shee-now/) is heated via steam ducts 3 feet in diameter from one
plant that was turned off a week ago. Water for bathing in the town is
the temperature of the frozen ground. This is quite different for Ron,
Dorcas, and two of their children who moved from San Antonio, Texas
four years ago.
Ron is the pastor who God is using mightily through the Kishinev Bible Church, KBC, a light in an otherwise dark city. Like in America, the Church is more often than not opposed by the government and the community. During my visit with Paul Goodrich to one of their prayer meetings, the owner of the prayer rooms told Ron that they would not receive the keys for four of the five rooms. He also received two week’s notice that they must find another meeting area. However, this did not hinder the Spirit’s moving among the people. Like the prayer service I attended in February, 120 prayer warriors, (25% of the members!) shared some of their most personal struggles and prayed for 2½ hours. Ron said that it had taken a while for the members to so open their hearts to others, as sharing weaknesses was seen as presenting opportunities to be exploited.
KBC is mostly composed of young people, with the median
age of members being near 20 years old. Fourteen Youth Teams scattered
across the city present the Gospel to about 300 youth in the same
buildings where the Communists trained them ten years ago that there is
no God. Ron says, “The parents of many of these children would object
to their going to church, but are more favorable towards them spending
evenings at these youth centers.” Despite their popularity, some of
these youth groups are held in dilapidated dark basements. Low-watt
light bulbs faintly illumine walls papered with patterns reminiscent of
the 1950’s. The children often have to sit on the damp floor among
puddles of water as their songs of praise fill the musty air. In one
that Paul Goodrich and I visited, we and the children removed our shoes
to keep the floors clean--cement floors with a piece of linoleum in the
center to make it more “homey”. In this club, a kindly caretaker
has
ensured adequate lighting everywhere except in the bathroom where the
light had been transferred to the hall. The children have decorated the
walls with their crafts and awards. After about 15 minutes our
unacclimatized American feet were becoming numb, but the young
Moldovans had just started their encounter with God. The youth leaders
have been invited to present the Bible by flannelgraph on a on a
Saturday morning children’s television program. Northwest Medical Teams
hopes to partner with KBC by providing Bibles and work teams to repair
the clubs and establish a more powerful witness of service to the
community.
Photo by Laurent La Brie
Church services are held in an old movie theater which
has no heating system to take the chill out of the winter’s
sub-freezing temperatures. Although it was 40 degrees outside this
Sunday morning, the doors were open to warm the still-frosty building.
Only the heartiest of members can come to the service, perhaps
explaining why the 50% annual growth is mostly teenagers. Kishinev
Bible Church won a major victory while I was there in March when they
overcame much opposition to become the first new Christian denomination
to be recognized in the country since the beginning of the Communist
reign. During the service, passers-by heard the service through the open
doors of the theater and entered through. Ron spent an hour counseling
people, including six who gave their lives to Christ that day, as we
were all hustled out the doors by the attendants of the theater.
Ironically, the title of today’s movie is “Me
Salveaza”--Romanian for
“He saves me”. In March, to demonstrate their desire to own the
building, the members of the church surrounded it, holding hands in
prayer, claiming it for Christ. NWMTI has already made an eternal yet
unintentional impact here. Three students at Chisinau’s medical school
saw Sasha, the top 5th-year student, wearing the NWMTI helping hands
cross, giving an occasion to witness. They later decided to enter the
Kingdom of Heaven through the doors of a Moldovan movie theater. NWMTI
and KBC are researching a partnership to provide a drug rehabilitation
program to a town where marijuana literally grows like a weed.
---For
the Cause of the Kingdom,
Laurent J.
La Brie,
former European Director, NWMTI
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