Romania In Mission Together
Project Information
Strengthening and expanding the church and contributing to the transformation of society.
Describe the need affecting community
Our current faith and local community needs are for renting facilities for worship services, activities, and an office for the logistic activity of the NGO of the UMC church in Romania. Projects of the local churches in their community (working with the orphans in the cities of Cluj and Sibiu, diaconal and humanitarian work in the poor villages close to the city, evangelism and discipleship projects). Support for the salaries of the pastors and workers. Projects for planting new UMC churches including finishing the building for the church for Roma in the village of Comsesti.
How will this Advance project help to address the need?
The purpose of this project is to offer financial support for the local UMC churches that were planted in Romania in 2011. Ten years later, there are three UMC churches, all in Transylvania – two in urban areas and one in a rural area. The local churches are very much involved in different social and spiritual work: projects with teenagers from orphanages, working with teenagers from the poor villages near the cities, working with Roma children and their families in the villages, diaconal and humanitarian work in the villages, and planting new churches in urban and rural areas. All these evangelistic, discipleship, or social activities and plans for the development of the UMC church in Romania need financial support. The members of the church are doing their part but there is still a need for financial support of the coming visions and practical programming while we continue to grow.
Describe the primary goal of the project
The primary goal of these churches is to reach out to everyone by inviting them to events allowing the Orthodox, Greek Catholics, other Protestants, even Hungarian Reformed Christians to find a home in the UMC and to love them all the same. To start home groups, bible study groups, disciple groups, some of them to strengthen the local church or the new believers, some with the hope that from this home-groups that will be in different areas will become new local churches. To strengthen the connection with the global Methodist family and to develop a common vision of what it means to be a United Methodist Church in Romania. To continue the village ministry including evangelism, diaconal activities, and humanitarian aid, working with Roma to launch the United Methodist church in the Roma village. To finish the church building/community center in the village.
Contact Information
urs.schweizer@umc-cse.org