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News From Romania
Feb 24, 11:30 AM
I have just returned from a week in Romania, where we took our doctoral students in order to give them some experience in international, cross-cultural ministry. All ministry is cross-cultural to some degree. This was intensely so in that there is a drastic contrast between the language and lifestyle of Romania and that of the West, especially America.
When you cross the border from Hungary, you enter a world that is markedly different economically. Hungary has reaped the prosperity of membership in the European Union. It has failed to kick in just yet in Romania. They are still crawling out of the pit of communism and the pathological reign of Nicolae Ceaucescu who drained the resources of the country to feed his sick self absorption and quest to be seen as a significant world leader. Repression has long lingering effects in people. For many years they lived in a state where if you got noticed you got gone. So the key is to not stand out or to exhibit very much in the way of self-expression. If you can get beneath the surface, you will find the people of Romania warm and loving.
We were in churches of the Romanian Baptist church. In some ways, they represent a similar religious oppression. Nobody moved much or exhibited any kind of spontaneous response to the ministry. They do not allow women to teach or preach in their churches. Our students found this difficult in some ways. However, they learned to strip their preaching of any kind of cultural bias and language; they quit trying to be entertaining and spoke the message of salvation with direct clarity. It will help their preaching.
So it was a good and challenging week. Now, I turn my attention to the next couple of weeks and then to Asia where I will be going on March 13. I will be teaching over the next two weeks and we have a book signing in Athens on the 8th of March.
We are working to make improvements in the web site. It has required a lot of patience. One of the things we have been asked is to make it possible for you to buy books through the site. We hope to have that up for you soon.
Thank you all for caring and supporting us. I cannot tell you how much we appreciate you and give constant thanks for your faithfulness as we lift you up in our prayers.
Love and blessings from Kent and Sandy.