A new year, a new start

We desire to start this newsletter off by saying: Blessings to you in this New Year! 2021 is a new year, in which we desire that the Lord’s work in Craiova to continue with new challenges and objectives. Even though 2020 was a rough year in many ways, God was faithful and good to us. We rejoice that we are in His ministry and that we can look forward to another year with Him in 2021, even with all the challenges that come our way.

In 2021, we desire to concentrate even more on the youth ministry in Craiova, and we would like to share with you a few of our objectives.

Already existing objectives:

English class every week (minimum 1 hour) with youth between the ages of 12-18 years old.
Social events every other week, in which we desire to attract new youth and to have a time of socialization through games, movies, art, etc.
Participation at Sunday church services and their integration into the local church.

New Objectives:

Bible Study group with those who desire to study and know the Bible in a more profound way. At this Bible study, we want to explain to the youth why the Bible is so important.
4 outings (1 every 3 months), where we can invite new youth, but also for those that already come to our activities. The summer outing will be an English camp in the mountains, where we will be able to invest socially in 10 new youth.
At least one youth worker to work with us and the youth ministry in Craiova.
Together, we have 7 “disciples.” These are youth that come to church and English class, but have either made a decision to follow Christ or have shown an interest in certain aspects of following Him. We desire to concentrate on these 7 youth every week to teach them more about living after Christ.

In January, we had 2 youth events. At the first event, together we learned how to paint personalized greeting cards. Some of the youth gave their parents the cards that they created, and their parents were so happy that their children thought of them. The second event was a night of interactive games, where the youth were very motivated to get involved. We could see that they felt loved by the leaders, but all the more by their peers.

Likewise, we have restarted our Saturday English classes. Some of them are very consistent, coming every week. A part of those that come to English are also coming to church, where towards the end, we break up into small groups and discuss some questions based on the Biblical message taught at church. There are another 2 youth that would like to come to church with us, but their parents won’t let them come. Through this method, the youth have an interactive way of learning more about what the Bible says and how to apply it to their daily lives.