Relationships in Ministry: Men's Group

Written by Jonathan Phillips for NMI Adult Mission Education

When I agreed to lead the men’s Bible study in Țigmandru, Romania, I wasn’t sure what I was getting into. I had sat in weekly church services with the few men who attend the church, but I didn’t know much about them beyond their first names and that they were eager for me to lead a men’s Bible study group for them. I realized early on that for a Bible study to be applicable for these men, I would need to build relationships with them before I could focus on them learning and mastering biblical content.

It didn’t take long before I started to learn about them. Each of the 4 young men who attend the Bible study is married and has young children at home. None of them has finished high school, and they all struggle to make ends meet – being hired for just a few days or weeks on occasional or seasonal jobs. Why does this matter if I’m leading a Bible study? It means I understand when they come late from work, because I know having income to feed their families is important. It also means that I don’t forget my seminary education, but rather use it to structure each lesson in a way that it can involve both the literate and illiterate among them, applying the Bible to their lives.

I don’t know where to begin to describe the side effects of such a relational approach to ministry. First, trust is built. They trust me and I trust them. I don’t see them simply as objects to be taught, but as people who need to understand God’s Word in a way that makes sense to them. Second, with this foundation, mastering content comes easily. These young men have already successfully completed the Continuing Lay Training exam for the Pentateuch. They not only understand the content, but understand how to apply it to their lives. Finally, while being a blessing to others, I’ve been blessed myself. What I thought was going to be my ministry to them turned out to be a way for us to mutually minister to one another.

Veritas is Moving!

In 1997, Veritas—the Nazarene Compassionate Ministries (NCM) partner organization in Sighisoara—purchased a former fur coat factory (pictured to the right) to house social services for children. Over time, Veritas ministries expanded and slowly outgrew this building which became known as the Family Center. The Veritas social services now housed at the Family Center include a kindergarten, afterschool kids’ and teens’ clubs for 4 age groups (from elementary to high school), and support for adults and teens with disabilities. Additionally, donated material aid is distributed from the Family Center. Veritas serves over 130 hot lunches each day, including taking hot meals to homebound elderly clients. Other Veritas social services include 3 clubs for isolated senior adults which meet in 3 locations around the city, and the domestic violence prevention & response, which is housed in a rented facility. Today, Veritas is also a Nazarene Child Development Center which participates in Nazarene Child Sponsorship.

In 2009, Veritas began working on a grant proposal to significantly expand and refurbish the existing facilities. We found out in earlier this year that we had not received the grant. This summer, the Veritas advisory board decided the time was right to search for a new home. After an incredibly short search process, a new property was found, not far from the current location. The new property, about an acre in total, includes a large building and several smaller buildings.
While we are very excited about the potential for expansion of ministries, we also recognize that it will first require a considerable amount of renovation. This fall, work has been started to get Veritas through the first year in the new facility (like installing a new kitchen and dining room to meet local health codes). If renovations progress on time, all Veritas social services should be moving to the new center around Christmas. We hope to host Work & Witness teams next summer to help with the next phase of renovations, including finishing the interior of the second floor and creating an outdoor play area.

We have seen God’s hand at work throughout this whole process. Not only was Veritas able to find the property very quickly, but the former owner has been quite generous. First, he is allowing Veritas to pay for the property in 3 installments over the next year, thus giving Veritas time to raise funds for the remaining $136,000. Second, he has purchased the former Family Center, meaning Veritas doesn’t need to worry about selling it. In God’s perfect timing, He allowed the Veritas leadership team to be introduced to a group of Belgians who brought a shipment of material aid to Romania earlier this year. These Belgians were happy to partner with Veritas by providing used furniture and other necessities to help furnish the new center—all for free!

Pictured below: The front of the main building of the new Veritas Center.

The view of the back of the building shows there is much renovation work to be done:

Relationships in Ministry: Țigmandru Church

Written by Jonathan Phillips for NMI Adult Mission Education

It’s not unheard of for a “traveling evangelist” to stop in Țigmandru, Romania, for a day or two, hold a service or show the Jesus Film, invite people to accept Christ as Savior, and then leave, providing no follow-up discipleship. The result of this “hit and run” evangelism is that many people think they’ve become Christians when, in fact, they really have no idea what it means to be a Christian. In fact, their “dramatic” conversions have kept genuine seekers from becoming Christians because those who whole-heartedly wanted to follow Christ did not want to end up like those whose lives were no different than before they became Christians.

The Church of the Nazarene in Țigmandru uses a completely different model for ministry. Nazarene ministry in this village is based upon relationships. Magda, the woman who leads the church in Țigmandru, grew up in the village. She can relate easily to the people. Knowing that many of the people don’t have jobs, and with work experience in a sewing factory, Magda set up a sewing workshop in the church building to teach women sewing skills. While they sew, Magda shares her faith and Bible teaching with them. Some of those women have been able to secure jobs in sewing factories in a nearby city.

Magda knows that it is not uncommon in the village for young girls to get pregnant at age 11, 12, or 13. These girls know very little about raising children, so Magda, mother of 5 grown children herself, meets with them each week, teaching them about nutrition, health, and other skills pertinent for child-raising. They end each session by bathing the children, something which is not easy for many of the young girls to do in their homes which lack running water. Magda’s son, Neluțu, leads the church’s children’s and youth groups. He hopes that by building relationships with them and instructing them while they are young, that future generations will choose not to start families at such a young age.

Relationships in Ministry: Sighisoara Elderly Club

2003 Baptism

 Written by Jonathan Phillips for NMI Adult Mission Education. 

Since the late 1990s, a group of retired adults have been meeting each weekday morning at the Sighișoara Church of the Nazarene for what has become known as “elderly club.” It is a co-sponsored activity of the Sighișoara Church of the Nazarene and Veritas, the NCM organization in Sighișoara. This ministry was begun to care for the pensioners who have very little money and no family to take care of them. Elderly Club provides a warm place in the winter to drink a cup of coffee, read the newspaper, celebrate holidays, play board games, etc. – all things they wouldn’t receive otherwise. In other words, the Church of the Nazarene has become the family that these people wouldn’t otherwise have. Today, the elderly program has expanded to 3 clubs, ministering in different parts of the town, and a home visitation ministry, bringing food, medicine, and conversation to those who are homebound.

Since Elderly Club is held in the same building where Sunday worship services are held, many of the elderly began attending worship services. Although many of them were raised in one of the traditional churches (Orthodox, Catholic, Reformed), many of them didn’t come to know God in a personal way until they interacted with members of the Church of the Nazarene. In September 2003, six members of the Elderly Club were baptized in the Sighișoara Church of the Nazarene. Although they had lived the majority of their lives without Christ, they were committed to living their remaining years with Him. Today, eight years after that baptism celebration, those who were baptized (with the exception of two who have passed away) continue as part of the church family. Although their health may prevent them from attending worship services, they are still a significant part of the church body in Sighișoara.

EuNC “Comes Home” to Sighișoara

Years ago, if you were a Romanian who felt a call to minister in the Church of the Nazarene, you had to pack your bags and move to Buesingen, Germany, for 4 years, to study at European Nazarene College. Later, it was possible to begin studies in Romania, and move to EuNC later in the course of study. In recent years, EuNC has been working to decentralize its education into a series of learning centres throughout Europe, including Romania. Now, ministry students can receive all the training required for ordination right here in Romania.

Last week, Professor Tim Green from Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, Tennessee, visited the Romania Learning Center to teach the course on Introduction to the New Testament. This is an intensive class – coursework began several weeks ago with reading assignments. During the 8 days of the course, students met daily for 3 ½ hours each evening.

This intensive class is just one of many models of learning used by EuNC in its learning centres. Other models include online classes, hybrids which combine online and in-class learning, weekly classes over the course of the semester, and courses with video lectures supplemented by in-class discussion and learning. These models provide inexpensive quality education for ministerial students right here "at home," without having to leave their place of ministry.

You can read more about EuNC "Coming Home" by clicking here.

Beni's Story

This is the story of a boy who attends Kids' Club at Veritas, the Nazarene Compassionate Ministries partner organization in Sighisoara.



For more information about how to sponsor a child through Nazarene Compassionate Ministries , please visit www.ncm.org/cs. To sponsor a child in Romania, type "Romania" as the location. If no children are available at the time of your search, we apologize. We will be adding to this list periodically, as additional children are enrolled in Nazarene Child Sponsorship.

The following video, also filmed in Sighisoara, promotes Nazarene Child Sponsorship:



You can view Beni's story dubbed in Romanian below:

European Nazarene College is “Coming Home”

European Nazarene College (EuNC) announced in its December 2010 newsletter plans to discontinue residential programs at its main campus in Büsingen, Switzerland. The change will allow the college to strengthen and grow educational programming at its various learning centers, including the one in Romania.

From a school for many nations, it will become a school in many nations, said Rector Klaus Arnold and Academic Dean Antonie Holleman, the leadership team at EuNC.

European Nazarene College was founded in 1965 to be a school for many countries – helping the Church of the Nazarene on the European continent prepare ministers for service. Students were called to leave their churches and homes and move to the little German exclave in Switzerland: Büsingen. Now, after forty-five years, EuNC will only be providing ministerial education in the home context of the students. This means that EuNC will discontinue its residential programs at the campus in Büsingen and fully concentrate its energy and resources on education in the learning centers in the various European countries. From a school for many nations, it will become a school in many nations. European Nazarene College – in the truest sense – is coming home.

The decision was precipitated by rapid growth in the 15 learning centers in 17 countries while enrollment on campus steadily declined. This semester about 300 students are enrolled in learning centers like the one in Romania.

What does this mean for the Romania learning center? During the past five years, EuNC has been developing an integrated educational model for use in the learning centers. EuNC is becoming a decentralized school with one curriculum, one faculty, and one student body. In short, the quality and consistency of education students in the learning centers receive today is higher than it has ever been since the inception of EuNC’s learning by extension program in the 1990s.

This success demands more investment from EuNC in its decentralized education, making the college more effective in fulfilling its mission of “enabling disciples of Christ to participate in the mission of God and serve local communities of faith.”

Read more in NCN News:
European Nazarene College plans to discontinue residential programs at its Switzerland campus
Friday, December 3, 2010

Trustees approve EuNC plan
February 11, 2011

EuNC to close campus
Wednesday, April 6, 2011

EuNC has final commencement ceremony on Büsingen campus
Wednesday, June 29, 2011