Bulgaria is viewed by many within Bulgaria as a post-Christian country, that is, that Christianity was once a major religious faith among the people of Bulgaria, but through history has been replaced, first by Turkish Islam, then by Communism. And now, though the state acknowledges Orthodox Christianity as the nation’s historic faith, effectively, 90% of all Bulgarians practice no religious faith. Of the remaining 10%, 8% considered themselves Muslim, though even among these, most are not religious, but simply cultural Muslims. What that leaves is less than 2% Christians, and less than 1% Protestant/Evangelical. The good news is that, as any sociologist will tell us, it only takes 1% of any population, sufficiently motivated, to effect change within a group. And, on top of that, this 1% actually has Good News to bring to their fellow countrymen! Please take these numbers and pray for the 1% of the Gospel-proclaiming churches God’s own words: “Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I, send me!'”
Below you see John with three pastors who represent another spectrum within Bulgarian society. On the left is Pastor Stoycho Apostolov, President of the Evangelical Baptist Churches of Bulgaria, and pastor of Mladenovo Baptist Church in Sofia, an urban church; Pastor Stoycho is ethnically Bulgarian. To the right of John is Nachko Zaitsev, ethnically Roma (what we know as, Gypsy), and pastor of Second Baptist Church in Mladenovo-Lom, a small town church; and to his right is Pastor Boris, also ethnically Roma, pastor of a Pentecostal church near the town of Lom. Please pray for these and the other pastors of evangelical churches who need to work side-by-side in harmony, with one voice lifting up the name of Jesus.
It is this varied strata of society that the Lord is sending us to, to encourage the pastors and their families of such variety of people and backgrounds, to link arms and serve the Lord despite their differences. Pray for us as we prepare to reach across all lines and “strengthen the churches” that they may “increase in number daily.”
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