Christmas parcels a token of love in Sighişoara

Republished from the Eurasia Region's "Snapshots"

"Thank you so much for this Christmas parcel – but thank you even more for you!" Juliana, sitting on the edge of her bed in her one-room apartment, smiles at us. "I will pray for you – you are more precious than this present!" She indicates the brown package balanced on top of a drawer which she knows contains a number of good things: coffee, chocolate, hand lotion and a variety of other food and hygiene items that she would never be able to afford with her meager pension. Then she points at the Helping Hands employees that visited her two years ago. "I remember you, and I've been praying for you ever since you came! This package you bring, it's from Jesus Christ. May God bless you!"

Juliana is one of a few dozen elderly people that the Sighişoara-based Veritas foundation, which grew out of Nazarene ministry in Romania, ministers to. Some attend "elderly clubs" that meet in different locations across the town several times each week. Others, like Juliana, are too frail to go to club meetings and are regularly visited by Veritas staff who bring them lunch every second day, spend time with them, arrange doctor visits, listen to their stories. It is a simple ministry, but makes an enormous difference for these people who are neglected by society, lonely and in need. Every sign of love and care is accepted with an overwhelming gratitude: like the Christmas parcels, that every member of the elderly clubs and house-bound elderly connected with the Veritas foundation receives: a token of love at Christmas.

For many years now, Helping Hands Germany has been sending Christmas parcels to Eastern Europe. The parcels contain food and hygiene items and are given to people connected with Nazarene ministries in Vidrare, Bulgaria, and surrounding villages, as well as Bucharest and Sighişoara, Ţigmandru, Viscri and Buneşti in Romania. This year, the "Christmas shipment" included 864 Christmas parcels that had been packed by individuals, families and groups all over Germany. Two Helping Hands employees and three volunteers were able to travel to Romania in December to join the distribution.

Many of the recipients in Bulgaria and Romania are elderly people who survive on a very small pension and can often barely afford essential food items or fuel for heating. But there are also many needy families with children who are grateful to receive a parcel with good things to cheer up their Christmas celebration. Some of these live in a Roma community at the outskirts of Sighişoara, where we visit after we have taken leave of the elderly.

When we arrive, we are immediately surrounded by children asking for their picture to be taken, grabbing hands, dancing through the muddy street. A few of them are holding tiles to their ears and talk excitedly – imitation smart phones: poverty is creative. It is almost dark and the abject poverty and poor sanitation in the community is not as visible as during the day. A young couple walks past – the girl, clearly pregnant, looks as if she is about eleven years old.

We knock on doors, evade dogs, hand out parcels and watch worry dissolve into joy as people accept this gift of love at Christmas. It is astonishing to see what happiness can be found in places that, seeing them, make us want to weep. We visit a family who, two years ago, was in despair about a parent's near-fatal injury. Today, only laughing faces meet us in this home, and the little sad-faced girl we remember from before is now a beaming whirlwind of Christmas cheer. As we turn to leave, we can see her taking the parcel into her arms, dancing with it in a circle and laughing happily. It is a simple ministry – just a brown package with food and hygiene articles. But for the people who receive the Christmas parcels, they make an enormous difference: the difference between being forgotten and being loved.

2014 TNU Social Justice Conference Speaker: Monica Boseff

Trevecca Nazarene University held its second annual Mobilizing the Church for Social Justice conference in September. Among its speakers was Monica Boseff, director of the Open Door shelter for survivors of human trafficking, located in Bucharest, Romania.

In the video below, Monica shares the story of Open Door.


2014 TNU Social Justice Conference Speaker: Monica Boseff from Church of the Nazarene on Vimeo.

Netherlands Mission Team Goes to Romania

A mission team from the Netherlands traveled to
Romania to support Nazarene churches there

By Jenny Ward
Eurasia Region Communications 

Reprinted from Where Worlds Meet, December 2014

The Church of the Nazarene in the Netherlands sent a Work & Witness team to Sighişoara, Romania, from 11 to 26 October. This team consisted of 19 people, ranging in age from 30 to 63, from eight different Nazarene churches throughout the Netherlands. Rolf Noordhof, who attends the Church of the Nazarene in Amersfoort, led the trip.

This was Noordhof’s fourth trip to Sighişoara, having led a youth organization to Romania 10 years ago. Upon meeting the Nazarene Church he then returned half a year later and then in 2007 he brought 44 computers to Sighişoara as the church continued to develop.

They traveled to Sighişoara with three main goals in mind. The first was to help rebuild the church so it can serve as a multifunctional location complete with a youth room and large kitchen to prepare meals for the elderly.

“Relu Cristurean, [the pastor of the Sighişoara church,] has big dreams about using the building for outreach so that the church can grow again…they want to renew youth in Sighişoara,” said Noordhof.

In the past the church was filled with over 20 youth members, but in Romania many young students leave to study elsewhere, sometimes even leaving the country. Relu and the pastoral team hope they can restore the building and create a place where the youth in Sighişoara will be able to spend time again.

The second goal was to visit the elderly several times a week. The elderly members of the mission team enjoyed meeting with the elderly of Sighişoara. “To talk, to pray, and to encourage them…that was a splendid time for them,” said Noordhof.

The third goal was to reach out to the children at the Church of the Nazarene in Tigmandru, a nearby village. There were about 30 to 40 children and Noordhof and his team visited them six times during their stay.

“We went for a short Bible story, to sing with them, play a little guitar, I brought my clarinet, and we shared small gifts with them.”

As the team worked together throughout the 15-day trip, they realized they were also forming a strong bond. “Although the team was very different in ages, in skills, everyone found a place and worked very well together,” said Noordhof. “Some team members said they’ve never felt so accepted and like they belonged to a group than this week. Now that’s remarkable.”

Roberta Bustin, a volunteer missionary in Romania, thanked Noordhoff and his team for their visit. They helped the Church of the Nazarene in Sighişoara feel connected to the international church and provided encouragement to the pastoral team as they continue to develop the church building.

‘Called and Capable’ Women Gather in Romania

More than 80 women leaders from over a dozen nations
gathered in Romania to learn, debate and encourage
one another in ministry

By Gina Grate Pottenger
Eurasia Region Communications
Reprinted from Where Worlds Meet, December 2014

Eighty-two women from more than 15 different countries formed a large circle at the perimeter of the room on the final night of the Called and Capable Conference in Sighisoara, Romania, and passed broken bread and a glass of juice from one pair of hands to another.

The women took turns serving communion to one another, an act of solidarity with women leaders in many parts of the Eurasia Region who are not allowed to serve communion because they are women.

The significance of the moment was not lost on Olga Druzhinina, who is a pastor in Volgograd, Russia. “It seems like we’re all united in Christ; whether we’re women or men we’re all allowed to share our gifts in Christ. Unity was the main feeling. We were united in one Spirit and I was able to feel the Spirit there.”

The Called and Capable Conference was envisioned as a time to gather women in ministry from across the Eurasia Region for training, debate, encouragement and relationship-building. Lay leaders and ordained women were present. It was not limited to Nazarenes, as women were also invited from Free Methodist and Wesleyan Holiness churches and the Salvation Army.

“It was more than a women’s retreat; it was meant to be very much addressing the issues that we work with in our ministries as well as just the issues that directly affect women or people who are working with women,” said Louise Kenyon, a lecturer at Nazarene Theological College, Manchester, UK, who helped to plan the event.

There were eight workshops which ranged in topic from human trafficking to church planting, from spiritual pathways to ethical finance. Each day also included morning devotions and prayers, evening worship services, trips to visit local ministry projects, and small group outings. Dr. Paul Tarrant, of Glasgow, Scotland, was present as a medical consultant to conduct health checks for any women who requested them.

For Rev. Dheerender Bhola, pastor of the Dua ka Ghar Church of the Nazarene in Delhi, India, it was her first time to travel outside India, but the conference was a worthwhile reason.

“The conference meant a great deal to me,” she wrote. “I have learned so many things to improve my ministry through these workshops. I had the amazing privilege to hear so many testimonies and great works of various ministries. I could see the bold and transformative leadership there. It is an unforgettable experience.”

Being together, coming from different nations and cultures, allowed for the women to learn from one another and in turn find encouragement in their own ministries. Druzhinina attended the church planting workshop, led by Annemarie Snijders and Zhana Georgiva, both church planters in the Netherlands and Bulgaria, respectively. Druzhinina said the women presented honestly the challenges and struggles they’ve encountered in planting and leading churches. She realized that challenges she has experienced or observed in Russia are not unique to her culture or even to her own ministry, but are common experiences for any church planting effort, and may be faced by other women in ministry as well.

Kenyon said that listening to the stories of specific ministry challenges in other cultures on the Eurasia Region, she realized that those challenges have parallels in other cultures, even if they are expressed in different ways.

Annemarie Snijders enjoyed being surrounded by other women leaders on the ministry journey with her. “For years I’ve been the only [ordained woman] in the Netherlands District. So it’s very encouraging to meet other people who are ordained and who struggle with some of the same issues,” Snijders said.

Please pray for the women leaders--laity and ordained--across the Eurasia Region, that they would be empowered by the Holy Spirit and find unwavering support for their ministry.

Called & Capable Women’s Conference

They came to Sighisoara, Romania, by car, by bus, by train, by plane – 81 women from 19 countries in Western and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and as far as America, Scotland and India. They came for a conference organized by the Eurasia Region of the Church of the Nazarene for women in leadership: pastors, professors, and directors of NGOs. While the majority of participants were Nazarene, there were also Methodist, Wesleyan, and Salvation Army participants. It was the first conference of its kind – a time of encouragement and inspiration through times of worship and teaching, fellowship and prayer. Many of these women live and work in countries where it is not easy to be a woman and a leader in the church.

Singing was in many languages and translation equipment allowed for simultaneous translation of the worship services. Stories were shared, there were many opportunities to pray for one another in small and large group settings and workshops focused on topics of Biblical Principles of Ministry, Theological Reflection, Ethical Finance, Networking to Fight Human Trafficking, and Living with Balance and Harmony.

Free-time activities included a concert, hikes, and van excursions to neighboring towns of Viscri and Tigmandru where the Nazarenes have developed ministries with the primarily gypsy populations in these villages. The Nazarene Center in Tigmandru is helping the community through greenhouses, a sewing workshop, parenting classes for teenage mothers, and weekly programs for children and adolescents that involve Bible teaching, music education, recreation, and hot soup.

“Called and Capable” was the title of the conference. May all women of faith know that they are indeed called by God and capable of bringing the Good News to all they encounter, wherever they are called to serve.

Click here to read an article from the "Where Worlds Meet" Newsletter about the Women in Ministry Conference.

Adapted from Sheri Hartzler's blog.

New Resource Available

The Church of the Nazarene in Romania has recently published a new resource for membership development. The 85-page book, which is titled The Church of the Nazarene: A Living Faith, is part of the much larger and ongoing project of translating the Manual of the Church of the Nazarene into Romanian.

A Living Faith is envisioned to provide members with an accessible overview of the church. It is a compilation and slight adaptation of the sections from the Manual that focus on what Nazarenes believe and how they are expected to live out their faith, thereby omitting the Manual sections on administrative policies and church government structures. In addition to excerpts from the Manual, A Living Faith also contains an updated version of the Core Values brochure, which has been available in Romanian since 2001.

A Living Faith was introduced at the Romanian District Assembly on November 21 and will be distributed to all members of the 3 organized local churches in Romania. Additionally, copies will be made available to those who attend Nazarene ministries in other locations. It is expected that the book will be used in preparing candidates for church membership for years to come.

Editorial work is continuing on the first complete and official translation of the Manual into Romanian. It is expected to be finished in early 2015.

A Living Faith can be downloaded from the Wesleyan-Holiness Digital Library under the Romanian title O Credință Vie.

Thank God for Volunteers

Originally published in the Veritas View newsletter, Fall 2014

From the start Veritas has been blessed by the contributions of volunteers: Romanians who week by week, year after year have given of their time and skills to support our work, and foreigners who have come for shorter or longer periods of time. During the past year we had four long-term volunteers from the US who made a big impact, and we want to tell you about them. 

Jay and Sheri Hartzler are from Harrisonburg, Virginia, where Jay is music teacher and choir director at Eastern Mennonite High School. Every two years Jay takes the EMHS choir on an international tour, and twice had brought them to Sighisoara, where his students have given inspiring concerts in the 13th century gothic Church on the Hill, and have enjoyed interacting with the poor Roma children served by the Nazarene community center in the village of Tigmandru.

Last year Jay decided to take a year's sabbatical from his teaching job and to come to minister to this impoverished community through music, believing that learning to sing or play a musical instrument in the context of a caring relationship has the power to lift the human spirit, bringing joy and hope. Jay and Sheri joined our team for a year starting in August 2013. Their first priority was to support church ministry, both in Tigmandru and Sighisoara, but they also made huge contributions to the work of Veritas. At the beginning and end of their year they offered a music camp for elementary school children at the House on the Rock. They had also raised money to purchase musical instruments an electric piano, percussion instruments and lots of guitars. During the school year Jay taught beginner guitar classes to about forty young people, and a few of the Veritas staff, while Sheri gave piano lessons to several children from our staff families.

Jay worked with Theo Halmen, who for many years has directed our Gospel Choir, introducing new techniques and new songs. Theo's musical connections in the town allowed Jay to form a choir of experienced singers and perform an impressive selection of pieces from Handel's Messiah, which hadn't been heard live in Sighisoara for almost 40 years. What an exciting evening that was as townsfolk packed the 13th century Church on the Hill with its fantastic acoustics to listen to this powerful presentation of the life, death and resurrection of Christ! In stark contrast, Jay also accepted the invitation of a high school principal to work with two classes of teenagers who had never sung in a choir before, and got them ready to sing at the school's annual talent show. with enthusiastic applause from their peers. These initiatives did much to enhance the reputation of Veritas in the community.

In addition to being a fantastic pianist accompanying the various choirs that Jay conducted, Sheri used her organizational skills and media know-how to help Veritas with some significant projects. She was humble enough to take on a job that nobody else wanted, introducing order and a system to the rooms at the Family Center where used clothing and other donated goods are stored. She coordinated the logistics for the filming of a promotional video, a final project for a media student from the UK, and gave leadership to a group of Veritas staff engaged in the huge task of creating a new website. 

Years of administrative experience gave her helpful insights to pass on to Petra, the Veritas Director, as to how organizational structures might be improved.

Sheri and Jay spent two afternoons a week in Tigmandru, teaching Bible stories, playing games, doing crafts and singing with about 60 children. Their faithful helpers were, in the fall, Michaela Mast, who had just graduated from EMHS and had been in Jay's choir when it had visited Romania, and in the spring and summer Beth Honan, a music graduate from Roberts Wesleyan University who had first come to Romania on a short-term mission trip. Both young women felt God's call to return to Romania for a longer period of service. Michaela's warm, sunny personality allowed her to communicate God's love to the most needy children in the Veritas kindergarten while Beth's servant heart, hard work, creativity and wisdom made her a great partner for Adela in organizing activities for high school students. 

Said Adela, "Beth was such an encouragement to me. She understood the vision of what we want to do at House on the Rock. She was open to everyone and took time to understand their lives. She lived out her Christian faith in everything she did." Michaela charmed us with her singing, and Beth with her solos on the Irish harp. 

Veritas wouldn't be the same without all kinds of volunteers who come and share their talents and life experience. All of them are changed by the experience, and take home a big piece of Romania in their hearts. If you are interested in volunteering for at least two months, contact us for more information at veritas@veritas.ro.