Video: Veritas Special Needs Program

Emese Kiss, coordinator for Veritas Social Services, shares about the Veritas Special Needs Program. This program for adults with disabilities was the first of its kind in Sighisoara. The program currently serves 35 adults and provides support for their parents.

Video: Romanian Studies Program

This video was created by Joseph Walls, a film production major from Huntington University (Indiana) who spent his January term 2018 with the Romanian Studies Program. The video focuses on the experiences of his classmate Rebekah Rose, a social work major who spent her time working with children at the Veritas kindergarten and at the Tigmandru Church of the Nazarene's after-school program.

For more information about the Romanian Studies Program, visit RomanianStudiesProgram.org.



RSP - Bekah's Story from Casey Bloom on Vimeo.

A Time to Celebrate!

By Petra Popa, Executive Director of Veritas Sighisoara

On Friday, September 14, sixty friends of Veritas (including past and present staff) gathered in a private garden in the citadel in Sighisoara, to surprise Dorothy Tarrant with a 25-year anniversary celebration. Dorothy came to Romania in 1993 to establish the Romanian Studies Program (RSP). The program began in Bucharest and in 1995 moved to Sighisoara.

The RSP (initially a program of Eastern Nazarene College) has provided more than 500 American students with the opportunity to spend a semester, summer or January term in Romania. They live with a Romanian family, study the language and culture, and serve disadvantaged people in the community. Professor Tarrant's strategy was to find local Romanian Christians willing to work alongside her students, caring for abandoned infants in the town hospital, providing a safe place to learn and play for children found begging on the streets, and visiting isolated elderly.

Groups of students came and went. Some of their Romanian translators went to university and earned degrees in social work, psychology, education, etc. Programs continued to develop and grow for children, teens and elderly and were soon being run by Romanians, with student assistance. Dorothy began to sense the need of a non-profit organization in order to be able to pay salaries and taxes, buy property, write grants and solicit funds.

In 2001 Veritas was legally registered as a Romanian NGO, with Dorothy as the Executive Director and President of a local Board of Directors. The name Veritas, a Latin word meaning truth, was chosen to identify the NGO as a group of people seeking to live as disciples of Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Dorothy wearing the
traditional Romanian
 blouse given to her
by Veritas staff

Dorothy says of the past 25 years: "When I agreed to accompany the first group of students to Romania in 1993, I had no idea that God's plan would be for me to live such a significant part of my life in Romania. It has been a privilege to see Veritas mature into the organization it is today, bringing help and hope to so many."

I, Petra, have been the Executive Director for the past eight years, and we now have 18 staff employed at Veritas. Two hundred forty clients attend our programs each week and 120 meals are served at noon Monday through Thursday and 50 on Friday.

What will the next 25 years look like? Times are changing, and the needs within the Sighisoara community are changing, too. Veritas staff are tackling these questions as they look to the future of Veritas.

Adapted from the Veritas e-Newsletter, October 2, 2018

Video: Central Europe Field Conference

Video highlighting the Central Europe Field Conference, held in Albania in September 2018

Video: The Church of the Nazarene in Romania

Video by Casey Bloom for the Central Europe Field Conference, September 2018

A Short Video about Casey and How She Impacted Our Lives

"What do you say when you talk about Romania?" This is the question that a Romanian teenager asked Casey Bloom as she was preparing to spend several weeks in the U.S. on home assignment earlier this year.

"I try to talk about all of the different programs I'm involved in like It Takes Courage, the children's program in Tigmandru, and the Romanian Studies Program," Casey explained. "I also try to share about the beauty and diversity of Romania and its people and culture, among other things."

"But you should tell them about the impact that you've had on us -- and others!" the teenage girl responded.

This brief conversation spurred to action a few of the teenagers from the It Takes Courage 2.0 group that Casey co-leads at Veritas in Sighisoara. They secretly started work on compiling a video for Casey to share at the churches she visited. They wanted to make sure that the people in the U.S. who support Casey know how much she has influenced their lives.

On her second Sunday in the U.S., while at her home church, it was announced that they would be showing a special video clip. Casey was surprised when the video that started playing was about her! It featured some of the people closest to Casey sharing about how she had made a difference in their lives.

Take a few minutes to watch the video below and get to know this valuable member of the Nazarene missionary team in Romania. 

A Momentous Year for EuNC-Romania

In just a few days, a new academic year will begin for European Nazarene College (EuNC). As this new year begins, let's look back over the past 12 months, to see all the amazing things that God has allowed us to do in EuNC's Romania Learning Centre (LC) since this time last year.

New Personnel

In the summer of 2016, the Learning Centre was left without a coordinator when Michael and Tamara Hudson left Romania. Following a year of transition, Cezi Glendenning stepped in to serve as Romania LC coordinator last autumn. Cezi, an EuNC graduate, serves as Nazarene missionary in Hungary, with her husband and their two sons. 

In addition to his previous roles as teacher and LC librarian, Jonathan Phillips now serves as on-site LC administrator and assistant for visiting teachers. 

Dr. Roberta Bustin continues to serve as teacher and mentor.

In August 2017, the Herndon family moved to Romania. Joshua Herndon previously served as the Spain LC coordinator and teacher for EuNC. Although Josh's primary role will be in district leadership, he will be teaching theological education courses as well. In fact, in just a few weeks, he will be teaching "Vocation and Personal Ministry."

Dr. Pavel Chirițescu, a Romanian pastor/educator in the Brethren Church with degrees from Nazarene Theological College in Manchester, England, has agreed to teach courses for the Romania LC. He taught courses for EuNC in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He will be teaching courses in Church History this autumn and winter.

Other Developments
1. Accreditation. EuNC courses offered in the Romania LC are now accredited by the European Council for Theological Education. In the past, EuNC courses offered in Romania were recognized only towards ordination in the Church of the Nazarene, but now the academic credits earned can be transferred to other educational institutions where students can continue their studies.

2. Collaboration with the Central Europe Field Board of Ministry. In the fall of 2017, the Phase 1 Districts and Pioneer Areas of the Church of the Nazarene on the Central Europe Field came together to form a single united Board of Ministry to help in the area of ministerial preparation. One of the early topics of discussion was what we can do to prepare men and women who have a call to ministry, but who lack the educational requirements to take university-level courses at EuNC. After a series of meetings, the Board of Ministry is now working closely with EuNC to adapt coursework for those students so they can be prepared for ministry. Although these courses will not be offered for academic credit and the students will not earn a degree from EuNC, they will fulfill the educational requirements for ordination in the Church of the Nazarene.

3. Library Development. This year we have added nearly 200 books to the Romania LC libraries, bringing our total to just over 1,100. Last fall, students participated in an orientation to the library, which included how to use the online database and how to find books using the Dewey Decimal System. 

4. Learning Centre Administration. Over the past year, we have completed several important administrative tasks for the Romania LC including the translation and printing of the current Academic Catalogue, beginning to update the Learning Centre webpage (www.eunc.edu/romania), translating admission and student orientation documents, and clarifying various LC policies. But perhaps the most significant accomplishment is that we have reexamined all students' academic records and compared them to EuNC graduation requirements and Nazarene ordination requirements. This has allowed us to create a calendar of courses to be offered over the next 4 years. If all goes according to plan, we will start to see students graduate with the "Certificate in Spiritual Formation" next year and with the "Diploma in Christian Ministry" in 2021. Finally, we anticipate that 6 Romanians will have completed the educational requirements for ordinations by the fall of 2021!

New Students

We have 2 new students that have begun taking courses this year. One of these students is taking courses for academic credit. The other is enrolled in the new track recognized by the Board of Ministry for ordination.

In total, 13 students have taken or audited courses this year at the Romania Learning Centre.

Courses
The direct impact of all of these developments for the students is that during this academic year, we were able to offer 5 courses and 2 practicums. This is the highest number of courses offered within a single year in Romania since the 1999-2000 academic year!

The courses we offered this year:

Church Leadership - Fall 2017 - taught by Jon Scott
Practicum I - Fall 2017 - supervised by Jonathan Phillips & Roberta Bustin
Introduction to the Old Testament - Winter 2018 - taught by Jonathan Phillips
Faith Development in the Local Congregation - Winter 2018 - taught by Roberta Bustin
Christian Doctrines 2 - Spring 2018 - taught by Olga Druzhinina
Practicum II - Summer 2018 - supervised by Jonathan Phillips & Roberta Bustin
Intercultural Missions - Summer 2018 - taught by Teanna Sunberg

What's Next?
As we begin the new academic year, we ask your your prayers.

• Please pray that the momentum from this past academic year will continue in the 2018-19 academic year. We have a full schedule of courses lined up for this next year, which will include "Vocation and Personal Ministry," "Church History I & II," "Language and Written Expression," and "Foundations for Biblical Studies." We will also be offering the Romania LC's first fully-online course: EuNC Orientation (for new students), as well as mentoring, practicum, and internship credits.
• Pray for our current students, who must balance their studies with local church ministry, jobs, and families.
• Pray for our future students, both for those who will come from other Wesleyan-holiness churches to study at EuNC to be equipped for ministry in their respective churches, and also for those Romanian men and women who have not yet responded to God's call to ministry.