Remember the Children recently hosted four Romanian couples at the Exponential Global Conference (EGC) in Orlando, Florida.
Exponential Global is the premier conference in the US totally focused on the topic of church planting. Experiences like this are unique for our Romanian friends as they do not have access to this kind of development and training in their homeland.
Planting a church can be long, slow and discouraging at times. It is opportunities like this, thanks to your generosity, that encourage, inspire and refresh our team members for their next season of ministry. By investing in them, you are ultimately investing in the lives of the orphan children, refugees and communities they serve.
We believe in the power of local leaders – and so in 2025 we are prioritizing leadership development for our ministry partners in these two ways:
1) Church Planting: RTC is providing scholarships to future church planters to attend one of two Exponential Conferences – in Orlando or Berlin. Training like this is key to the success of new churches by providing access to invaluable insights, strategies, and networks. We are praying for God to use this opportunity to inspire our Romanian partners to know how to do this important work.
As we enter 2025, I am excited that our connection with people participating in short term service will be increasing. In April we have two teams going to serve, one with Agape Church and the other with the Eastern European Bible College. This summer, in partnership with CMF International, we will be hosting six summer interns for mission service. We also anticipate summer mission teams from Azusa-Pacific University and Northside Christian Church, Yorktown, Virginia. Our annual Christmas trip is already taking reservations, and we would welcome you to bring a group from your community to serve with us.
Mission service can be transformative in your life, and the lives of those you serve. We invite you to come with us…
The war in Ukraine continues to fill the country with conflict and violence. As we continue in prayer for our friends and neighbors to Romania, we also continue to send support. One of our main partnerships has been through our friend Jaco. This year, we have supported his ministry to amputees in Ukraine.
The coffee shop space is envisioned as a vibrant community hub that will not only will help in time support our mission financially (in time) but also serves as a welcoming space for meaningful engagement around God and the Christian faith. Through weekly events like music concerts, book discussions, Bible study sessions, debates, outreach events, we aim to create an inviting atmosphere for those curious about Christianity and God.
Yesterday my phone began to chime with messages from concerned individuals asking me how things were in Romania with the outbreak of the war in neighboring Ukraine. As you can imagine there is concern, and they have seen dramatic economic inflation in the last few months as Russia’s buildup was happening along the Ukrainian border. A colleague summed it up best when he said to me yesterday, “we are not afraid, but we have a lot of anxiety.”
As January comes to a close, we are still getting reports from Romania about the good work that is being done because of your generosity at Christmas time. Covid-19 continues to disrupt our abilities to visit with people in a timely manner because of local government restrictions, but our team remains diligent and continues to do their best to get to everyone as they are able.
