More than twenty years ago when we set the bases of our ministry we were glad to be blessed in every aspects of our lives and work. During the years, we learned a very important lesson: the blessing is something that you receive to give away. Being a blessing is better than being blessed.
So, having that in our minds and lead by His Spirit, last summer we were challenged to step deeper into a very well known filed that we call Mission. God also gave us some dedicated young people, eager to share their faith beyond the church gates, in some of the poorest communities in our area. So, whether we’re talking about gipsies or children or prisoners or street people, our missions teams “preached” the Gospels in the most practical possible way.
In the children communities, they organized Bible Clubs, VBSs, camps and also regular visits. For example, in Sardu, a village close to Cluj, they even started a training course with the local youth leaders, so they would be able to continue the ministry when people from Cluj would stop coming. Some of them are able now to stand up and present the Gospel in front of the others. They are very enthusiastic that they can be a part of God’s ministry in their own village.
In other gipsy or poor communities, they are also taking care of the children, visiting them and organizing camps. We remember the mission from Frata, where the children had the opportunity to go in a great camp, deep in the mountains. It was also a real challenge for their parents, being a remote location with no cellphone signal. It was a matter of trust that our team gained in the years they visited the community. Some of the parents were a bit worried not being able to reach their kids at the phone, just having to hope for the best and wait for them to return.
With the children from Sacel, another village were our teams work we had another new situation. In the camp they organized, they put together kids from the village with children from our city church, so they can develop new relationships overcoming all the differences as part of the same family. This was a good lesson for all of them, encouraging them to continue to invest in communities like Sacel.
These were just three examples from the Mission field, but this is not all. Some of our groups were also regularly visiting elderly people. Other, prepared food for the street people they visit on Saturdays and also made a number of visits to the State Penitentiary to meet the kids detained there. They are young people that made mistakes and now stay behind bars with not much light cast upon their future, or at least they cannot see it. Our teams encouraged them to see beyond what they did and look for the real forgiveness.
Working in the missions field is something that we all should do as Bible teaches. In its simple and personal ways or in a more organized manner, as we’re doing in our churches for years. What was different this time? What our young people did in the field by their own initiative, produced a transformation inside them. You cannot help others without helping yourself and strengthening your group and your church.
