Sighişoara is in the middle of the country in the region called Transylvania. It is a beautiful town of about 36,000 people which still has a walled citadel where people live and work.
The Sighişoara Church of the Nazarene grew out of the Romanian Studies Program as American college students met together for a Sunday evening devotional time. As students made friends with Romanians, some of them began to attend services. Soon a number of outreach activities developed, and young people were attracted to the church through Coffee House, theater classes, Ecology Club, music classes, etc.
Several parents came to church to see what was so attractive to their children, and they found the Lord and became part of the church family.
The educational building houses two children’s Sunday School rooms, and the pastor’s office. The church would like to extend this building, adding a kitchen and fellowship hall.
The current focus for church growth is reaching out to families through children. A young couple, Relu and Oana Cristurean, feel a call to pastoral ministry and have become part of the pastoral team along with Magda Balaban and Pastor Roberta Bustin.
Work has recently begun in the village of Viscri where the Ludu family leads a ministry for children. They are also working with the parents to help them realize that their lives can have hope and meaning through Christ.
Veritas is a Compassionate Ministries center directed by Dorothy Tarrant who came to Romania in 1993. Veritas ministers to people of all ages and all groups across the social spectrum. It has a wide variety of educational programs and a coffee shop in addition to the social programs.
The House On the Rock, on the the main square of the old city, is the Education Center for Veritas. It also houses the International Café. The Elderly program ministers to about 95 elderly persons. Many of these people feel quite isolated and receive only a very small pension. One group meets four mornings a week at the Church of the Nazarene where the people chat with friends, read the morning paper, play
games, enjoy a cup of coffee or tea, or have a short devotional or time of prayer. They also enjoy a hot meal at noon. Two other groups meet in other areas of the city twice each week. This program has brought a lot of pleasure into the lives of the elderly, and many of them say that they have grown in their faith and have found peace in their hearts in spite of their difficult situations.
The Pre-School, Kids’ Club, and the Adolescent Group have about 120 children enrolled. The Veritas staff minister to the families as well as to the children. It is here that many of these children learn for the first time that God loves and cares for them. The program for people with disabilities meets twice a week for a time of fun and fellowship. The staff who works with people in trauma because of domestic violence has had over 500 clients in the last five years.
-- This story was featured on the Romanian Church of the Nazarene's blog, http://romanianazarene.blogspot.com, and was submitted by Jonathan Phillips, who will be returning to Romania as a Mission Corps volunteer this month. For more information on the Church of the Nazarene in Romanian, visit the blog.