Before and during the pandemic

First of all, I apologize for the time I haven’t updated you about the ministry in Corabia. The ministry continues, although its shape has changed.

Before the pandemic

Every year Corabia is blessed with the visit of brothers Bill, Bob and those hearts God puts a desire to help us plant the church. This year’s team included Sharon, Henry, Marianne and her mother, Nancy. Nancy has come to Romania many times and is now over 90 years old. The people of this team are the eyes of the church in America, and also our voice in America.

Women and young people who come to worship with us do not meet outside church to get to know each other and strengthen each other in the faith they share. They are busy during the week and come from different contexts. Cornelia and the American sisters had meetings about women from the Bible. Of course, their meetings included cakes and juices, too. Ninety-plus year old Nancy has a special penchant for painting and used her drawings to speak from the Bible. The women also had a special day to celebrate Mother”s Day.

Our prayer is that God will multiply and grow our Christian community. The families in which we invest are at different levels in the knowledge of God. There are some who have been in touch with the Lord for over 20 years, others know the gospel because we have preached it many times in their homes on various occasions, and others have now heard the gospel for the first time. Therefore, my brothers and I visited these families in which we invest spiritual resources while the sisters had meetings with women, . I visited the family from Tia Mare, and I encouraged the family in which is the only Christian in the village. We also visited and preached the gospel to families who need to know God including our neighbors.

In conclusion, through the efforts of the short-term team from America and us, God touched and encouraged the hearts of those who needed it through our love.

During the pandemic

Social distancing was the dominant order during the state of emergency of the pandemic. My heart does not accept the impossibility of communicating the good news of reconciliation with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Facebook has this ability to broadcast live, but I’ve never done such a thing before, because I feel more at ease when I look into the eyes of the person to whom I preach the gospel. However, the people of Corabia need the hope that comes through Christ. That’s why, in the first week after the emergency started, I created a Facebook group called “Hope for the Ship” and sent invitations to everyone on my list who lives in our town. So far only 13 people have accepted, but my joy is great because in real life I have only talked to a few of them. And every week I have a message for them.

There are some Christians in Romania who are praying and are interested in our ministry here. I created a group for them in which I talk about the our ministry. I also have a weekly online meeting in which they talk about the principles underscoring our work in Corabia. I called this group “Together we can bring Hope”.

So even though ministry has taken a different form, the ministry continues and God touches the hearts of those who needed Him.

Opportunities

1. Pray that these people who have heard and understood the Good News of reconciliation through Jesus Christ will come to our meetings as well.
2. Pray and tell those who may know or you think desire to know about God’s work from Corabia.
3. Pray about coming to Corabia short term and see if God wants you to get involved in His work in our city.

Mircea Dumitru