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.

A Year of Music

Jay & Sheri Hartzler

Music has the ability to bring people together in unique ways. That’s been the case for Jay and Sheri Hartzler, who are spending a year as Nazarene Mission Corps volunteers in Romania. They have brought the joy of music to children, youth, and adults, and have led both experienced musicians and beginners in worshipping God through song.

Music played a vital role in bringing the Hartzlers to Sighisoara. Five years ago, the Hartzlers, who are active members in the Mennonite Church, were leading the Eastern Mennonite High School choir’s tour through Eastern Europe. While in Sighisoara, Romania, they met Nazarene missionaries who arranged for the choir to sing in Tigmandru, a predominantly Roma village where the Church of the Nazarene ministers. After seeing how the people, especially the children, in Tigmandru had few opportunities to learn music, they began to consider the possibility of returning to Romania to teach music. There is not participatory music teaching in the public schools, so people growing up in Romania have little opportunity to learn how to sing or play instruments.

“They wanted to teach music to young people,” explained Roberta Bustin, Nazarene missionary who ministers in Sighisoara and Tigmandru. “They recognized the needs for music in the church, and working with young people would benefit the church for many years to come.”

Tigmandru Children's Choir

After leading a second choir trip to Romania in 2012, the Hartzlers decided to return to Romania for a year as Nazarene Mission Corps volunteers, but with the added blessing of the Mennonite Church.

Since their arrival last August, the Hartzlers have found many opportunities to use their musical gifts in both the Sighisoara and Tigmandru Nazarene congregations.

Every week, the Hartzlers go to the Tigmandru church to teach music to children. They have formed a choir of nearly 50 children who have sung in special children’s programs as well as Sunday services.

Jay teaching guitar class

“When we started, there were as many notes being sung as there were children present,” Jay recounted. “But eventually they were not only able to sing on pitch, but to change pitches…. The group sang songs in Romanian, English and Swahili, with great enthusiasm. It was rewarding to hear bits and pieces of songs being hummed or sung during craft time and parents reported the children singing the songs at home.”

Jay has been able to use his experience as choir director to develop the worship leaders in the churches and to introduce the congregations to new songs. He formed and led youth and women’s choirs in Tigmandru. He has also taught guitar classes, preparing musicians for both the Sighisoara and Tigmandru churches. Similarly, Sheri has been teaching private piano lessons to students who will soon be able to accompany congregational singing in the churches.

Sheri teaches a piano lesson

“Teaching piano here is one concrete way I see to leave behind a skill that can be used for personal enjoyment as well as in the churches.” Sheri commented.

The Hartzlers have been active in teaching music outside the context of Nazarene congregations, too, mainly in the context of Veritas, a Nazarene Compassionate Ministries partner organization in Sighisoara that serves the community through social and educational programs.

Each week, Jay directs the Veritas Gospel Choir, made up of approximately 20 people from various church backgrounds and ethnicities. In addition to the choir’s normal Christmas and spring concerts, many from the Gospel Choir joined members of other choirs in the town in a performance of Handel’s Messiah in May. Accompanied by Sheri on the electronic organ and professional musicians from neighboring towns, the concert was attended by over 300 people. It is believed to be the first time in 50 years that the Messiah has been performed in Sighisoara.

Gospel Choir singing in the park

One exceptional opportunity to work in the community came when Jay was asked to teach English-language music to two English classes at one of the largest high schools in Sighisoara. Even though the students had little experience with music (it was English – not music – class, after all), they successfully sang as part of the school’s 90-year celebration talent show in April.

Summing up the year, Sheri remarked, “We came to Romania, expecting to do some work with music, but we did not expect the amount of opportunities we would have to lead in a wide variety of settings with various age groups. We also did not expect the enthusiasm for music – for singing, playing, and listening. We have been truly blessed in the relationships and the musical experiences we have had this year.”

*****

An added bonus to having an online article about music is that you can listen to the various music groups under the Hartzlers' direction:

Over 300 were in attendance when 20 singers from Sighisoara performed Handel's Messiah in May.

The Tigmandru Children's Choir singing "Children Go Where I Send Thee"



Tigmandru guitar students playing "This is the Day"

Teen choir in Tigmandru singing "King of kings and Lord of lords" with the congregation



The Veritas Gospel Choir singing in Sighisoara's ecumenical Christmas concert:

Post by Veritas Sighisoara.

Please pray for the Hartzlers and their music ministry in Romania. Ask God to bless their efforts, and for the light of God’s love to become even more transformative in the lives of those who are learning music.

Reprinted in Where Worlds Meet - July 2014 and NCN News.

June Missionary Prayer Focus

NMI Prayer Mobilization Line

June 18, 2014

Thank you for keeping Nazarene missionaries in your prayers. The following requests have been received from missionaries who are part of the June Prayer Focus:

Jonathan Phillips, Romania

• Pray for pastors, church planters and lay leaders in the Church of the Nazarene in Romania, as they balance ministry, theological studies, and their families.
• Pray that the first official translation of the Nazarene Manual in Romanian will be completed and ready for distribution at district assembly in November. Pray that it will help in the organization and development of the Church of the Nazarene in Romania.
• Pray that the construction of an addition to the Sighisoara church will be completed after many administrative and legal delays. Pray for those who will be ministered to in the new space.
• Please pray for me as I share with churches in the US later this summer (August-September) about how God is working through the Church of the Nazarene in Romania.

Click here to read more about Jonathan and his ministry in the Engage magazine article. 

Romanian Nazarene Receives U.S. State Department Hero Distinction

by Gina Grate Pottenger
Where Worlds Meet - June 2014

Bucharest, Romania – 21 May, Monica Boseff, the Nazarene who founded and leads The Open Door Foundation, the only emergency shelter for sex trafficking victims in Romania, was honored with the U.S. Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons Hero distinction, an annual award that recognizes only 10 people worldwide who are committed to the fight against human trafficking.

The honor was presented to Boseff at the Romanian-American Foundation in Bucharest by Dr. Jill Biden, the wife of the U.S. vice president Joe Biden, in a short ceremony. Boseff will travel in mid-June to the United States to officially receive the Hero distinction in Washington, D.C. when the U.S. Department of State releases its annual report on global human trafficking.

Boseff told the media who were present that the distinction represented not just her own efforts, but also the work of the shelter’s residents and the staff who are dedicated to supporting them.

“Not for a split second have we done anything for any kind of award or recognition,” she said. “We’re giving our best. That’s everything we learned from Christ.”

Prior to the ceremony, Mrs. Biden and her team held an intimate 40-minute meeting with the shelter’s staff and the seven current female residents in a private location. The guests listened to the women’s stories before presenting the residents with personalized gifts, including signed notebooks and silver angel necklaces.

“It was just an exceptional time, very emotional,” Boseff said. “I wanted them [Mrs. Biden and her team] to know it’s them [the survivors] you need to focus on, they’re the real heroes.”

Boseff said that Biden was very gentle with the women at the shelter. “Our girls were thrilled, they felt like princesses.”

When the U.S. Department of State flies Boseff to the U.S. for two weeks in June, they will also send her to Cincinnati and Los Angeles to meet with government officials, journalists and directors and representatives of other similar shelters. The complete schedule is not yet available.

Monica Boseff of The Open Door Foundation and her staff and residents met with U.S. vice president Joe Biden’s wife, Jill Biden, in May. Pictured from left to right: Vicentiu Patrascan (guard), Betty Chirila (psychologist), Loredana Stanciu (social worker), Kim Vranceanu (board member and volunteer), Monica Boseff, Silvia Tabusca (law professor and advocate for human rights), Simi Cristea (administrator), Cristiana Stanciu (house management), Dan Cristea (guard) and Mirela Podoiu (lawyer).  Photo courtesy Vicentiu Patrascan

The Open Door Foundation began operations in 2013 and has so far supported 25 survivors. The majority of employees are Nazarene young people who attend the Bucharest Blessings Church of the Nazarene, where Boseff is the pastor’s wife. Today, they fill the roles of psychologist, administrator and security. And some of the survivors from the shelter have been integrated into the life of the church, participating in youth activities or singing in the worship team.

“When thinking about human trafficking, the easy thing is to stay overwhelmed by the magnitude of the issue and by how awful it is, and think that the church cannot make much of a difference,” said Jay Sunberg, field strategy coordinator for the Central Europe Field, of which Romania is a part. “This is not an option for Monica and the Bucharest Nazarenes. They get involved and begin to make a difference in the lives of dozens of people. It is amazing to see how the Bucharest Blessing church has embraced these people and to see how lives are being changed. What Monica and her staff face on a daily basis is not easy and we need to support them in much prayer.”

To learn more about Open Door, read the article about how the Bucharest Blessings Church is integrating trafficking survivors into the life of the church.

Please pray for safety, wisdom, compassion and financial support for the team at The Open Door Foundation in Bucharest, Romania, as they love the survivors of human trafficking who have sought refuge at the emergency shelter. Pray for God to use the Hero distinction to increase the team’s influence and voice against trafficking. Pray also for God’s hand of healing on the survivors.

Nazarenes Connect at Central Europe Field Conference

By Gina Grate Pottenger
Where Worlds Meet May 2014
Reprinted in NCN News

As a new believer for just one year, Adelina* was nervous about attending the Central Europe Field conference 30 April to 4 May. A native of Kosova who speaks Albanian, Adelina now lives in Sweden where she found Christ through friendship with Juliene and Philip Munts. The Munts are American Nazarene tentmaker missionaries pioneering the Church of the Nazarene there. Except for the Munts, Adelina didn't know any other Nazarenes.

When Adelina met the Nazarene group from Kosova and Albania at the conference, everything changed.

"In Sweden, I don't have any Albanians who I can share my faith and belief with," she said. "Then I saw the Kosova-Albanians and it was more beautiful — my faith, my belief — because I had to share it … in my mother language. It sounded like beautiful music when they read the Bible. Meeting those people made me more strong in my faith."

That was exactly the objective of the conference, according to field strategy coordinator Jay Sunberg: to provide time and space for Nazarenes across the field to connect with one another, draw strength from each other and fellowship, along with picking up ministry ideas and tools that they could implement in their own ministry contexts.

The Central Europe Field is made up of Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Denmark, Sweden, Albania, Kosova, Finland, Norway, and Croatia. One hundred and twenty-six Nazarenes attended.

"I think it's been beyond what we hoped it would be," Sunberg said.

Romania District Superintendent Tamara Hudson brought 29 people to the conference, including seven teens and two children.

"I've been watching our people with the spiritual encouragement they've received and the fellowship with people across the field; it's been really beautiful." Hudson said. "Particularly with the Power of One seminars, I feel like some real critical issues came up. We were able to talk about some action steps. We're going home with ideas of next steps."

The Power of One is a region-wide initiative to help local churches become more missional.

Several people said a highlight was a workshop taught by missionary Betsey Scott, who serves in Croatia, about learning one's spiritual life rhythms in order to connect with God more intimately in the unique ways each person has been created.

"Learning how I can express my spirituality in a natural way for me, it brought much freedom into my relationship with God and it made it more enjoyable," said Galin Ivanov from Sofia, Bulgaria.

Other workshops covered topics such as healthy marriages, parenting, anti trafficking ministry, coffee shop ministry, evangelism, and church planting.

Pastor Relu Cristurean, pastor of the Sighisoara, Romania, Church of the Nazarene, said the parenting class opened his eyes to the necessity of helping the next generation have direct, personal experience with God.

The class instructor explained that the first generation of Christians believe because they have first-hand experience with God's love and faithfulness; then the next generation — even if they don't personally experience God — may still believe in God simply because their parents believe. The third generation is twice removed from first-hand experience with God if they don't have personal experiences themselves, and then are at risk of walking away from God.

Regional Director Arthur Snijders and his wife, Annemarie, who is a church planter in the Netherlands, as well as Scandinavia District Superintendent Kaj Ove Bollerup, Cristurean, and Sunberg preached in the worship services, offering encouragement to those in attendance.

During free times, attendees gathered in the conference center café to play games, talk, and relax together. Adelina stayed up until nearly 1 a.m. playing Monopoly with her new friends from the Kosova-Albania District.

"I am born in Kosova and I live in Sweden and I hang out with Americans," she said. "Sometimes I am feeling lost — I don't know who I am, where I belong, but being here with all these people, I realize that I'm not lost. I have a big family. We are one family in Christ."

Bucharest congregation integrates trafficking survivors into the life of the church

By Gina Grate Pottenger
Reprinted from Engage Magazine

Open Door – a shelter for trafficked young women in Romania – opened a year ago, through the leadership of Monica, a Nazarene church leader in Bucharest. The new shelter is currently home to five women in their 20s, all Romanian. The team is also assisting two others who aren’t living at the shelter. Monica would say that she’s learning as she goes along. But so far she’s already learned quite a bit.

We sat down with Monica to find out how the shelter works, what services are offered to the women, and most importantly, how the local Nazarene church is integrating these women into the life and love of the congregation.

Engage: How did you prepare the congregation to receive these women?

Monica: I’ve asked the church to pray for these girls months before we even opened the shelter. I told them the vision I had and I told them that I know that as a church we have so much to give these women. Initially they were very rejecting toward the idea of having them in the church. It wasn’t from everybody, it was from a small group of women. I challenged them but I know God was the one who turned their hearts around. Months later they came to me and said, “What can we do? How can we help?”

When they [the survivors] come to church, I’ll introduce them as, “This is my friend such and such.” And nothing else. There is a very small group of women in church that pray constantly … and [are] very trustworthy and they know these are the girls from the shelter and the main reason they know is they would pray more specifically for them and interact more specifically with them. Some may guess they’re from the shelter.

Engage: How do you invite the women to the church?

Monica: We tell them everybody here goes to church on Sunday and it’s not mandatory for them to go, but we would be more than happy to have them with us. We realize that God had prepared their hearts and minds even before they got to us because they all say the same thing: “Do you think I can come? Is it OK if I come?”

It has to be their own choice.

Engage: What kind of activities do you involve them with at the church?

Monica: When they come to prayer group on Wednesday night, this is when we split in small groups. Men have their own separate group.

Since they’re all in their early 20s we integrate them into the youth group as well. The youth group from our church has been very involved in the work at the shelter. Some are hired at the shelter, some are volunteers. The youth group are [age] 17-24. They take [the women] out to a movie or go eat together after church service on Sunday; they play games, they have a karaoke night.

[One young woman] helps pick music for youth night and sang in church at Christmas, and she wants to sing again.

Engage: What does the local church receive from integrating these women in the life of the church?

Monica: The greatest thing our church receives from them is their need to be loved and by this our church learns how to just love a broken person.  I’ve seen a lack of gossip and more sensibility. They’re much more sensitive to emotions than they used to [be] or feelings. And a lack of judgment. When this gal brought her testimony on Christmas day in church, they were all in pieces crying their eyes out.

Engage: What are some of the challenges you deal with in ministering to these women?

Monica: I told everybody to expect the unexpected. They live the life of lies, terror, manipulation. Are we surprised that they lie, or steal or break the rules?
God does discipline, but it’s still in a loving way, and so that is exactly what we’re trying with them.

They have been hardened by the punishments they got for looking the wrong direction or looking the right way or not guessing what the other person is thinking. I’m talking about physical torture, flogging. This girl, my daughter and I took her to see The Hunger Games [movie]. At some point one of the young guys [who] was up against the system is caught by the law enforcement guys and is being flogged. And just like that, she looked for a nest in me and said “Moni, I can’t look at that because that’s exactly what he was doing to me when he was flogging me.”

Engage: Your team has worked to help the women at your shelter find real jobs. What happened?

Monica: Starbucks agreed to be our partner, and they held up their side by interviewing three of our girls for jobs. When it was their first day to go to work, all three of them flipped out. We still don’t know why. We are trying to figure this out. We know they deal with feelings of failure, they say, “I’m no good, I’m a failure.” But it’s deeper than that and we’re trying to understand what’s going on.

Engage: Would you share the story of one of the young women at your shelter?

Monica: So far most of them -- the vast majority -- come from broken families; probably a higher number from rural areas, but broken dysfunctional families with at least one parent out of the picture.

We’ve had a case of a girl, she was a runaway, moved to another town, living on her own. She had a group of friends and they were all going out. She noticed night after night this guy watching her, not saying anything. Suddenly he approached her one night and said, “I’ve been looking at you. You’re so pretty. I got up the guts to come talk to you.” She opened up, they became good friends, they even kissed. He would call her every morning and say, “Did you eat breakfast?” By bedtime, he called and said, “Are you OK? Honey, sleep well. Don’t forget I love you.” For eight months, he bought her little trinkets.

Suddenly he offers her a job prospect as a babysitter. He even brings in a woman who told the girl she lives in the U.K., she has two little kids, here’s a picture. The girl trusts everybody 100 percent. This guy wasn’t even 18. He tells her, go with my friend [to the U.K.] and I’ll turn 18 in a few days, I’ll come after you.

She takes off with this other guy, they get to a hotel and they rent a room. She asks, “Why only one room? I’m expecting to see my boyfriend.” The guy says, “Are you serious? I just bought you for 5,000 Euros. You’re mine. He just sold you to me. He didn’t tell you this?” The entire universe collapsed within seconds. Then he says, “By the way, you start working tonight. Your first client comes in an hour.”

Engage: How can Christians get involved in this fight against slavery?

Monica: In order for us to find out about these cases, we need to build relationships with these people. As part of the church we can’t be spectators. We cannot be just observers. Contact people, make relationships, get involved.