One of the major goals of BIG Impact is forming leaders for the young generation from the evangelical churches in Romania. Cristi Petricioiu, the coordinator of the youth network, shares the following challenge:
I recently had the opportunity to reflect and give an answer to the question: What responsibility do we have towards those who are not saved? Many times, as Christians or as churches, we know very well what our responsibility is – that of sharing the Gospel – but how much effort do we channel towards evangelism initiatives in churches, in the street or in other less friendly environments? How much do we prepare for such search and rescue operations and how much time do we spend in prayer for the unsaved?
Together with 11 other Romanian youth leaders, we attended the annual JV conference in Malenovice, Czech Republic, where, along with some 200 other participants from 12 Central and Eastern European countries, we spent a week full of challenges and excitement.
The conference was about how to “Search and Rescue” the unsaved. During the entire conference, the participants were divided into 4 teams and a leader (almost every team had young people from 5 countries) – the first day and a half was spent learning evangelism methods, attending presentations and motivational seminars for remembering the evangelism tools. Everybody who has been involved in rescuing someone physically knows there are basic rules to follow which require skill, precision and speed. Many times these things make the difference between life and death. In the short time of training we had, these images were printed into our minds.
During one afternoon and early evening we were sent (in a heavy rain), to 15 cities in Czech and Poland, without translators, without ever being in those cities before and without details about the locals and the city (which was true for most of us).
I think it is fair to confess the emotions we had in that day: anxiety, fear of unknown, questions about how to share the Gospel with those who will not be able to understand us and what will we do when we will not be listened to. Still, at the end of the day, when we came back to the base and shared our experience, the joy was very big.
Around 30 people have chosen Christ as their Lord and Savior and over 500 people heard the Gospel in a clear way, even though not all came to a decision.
While walking on the we streets filled with people whom I did not know, praying for their salvation, one thought kept coming to my mind: What if our young people would go in teams of 5 (or 2) on the streets of our communities and we would share salvation with our neighbors, friends and fellow citizens? For sure we would show the concern of our Shepherd, who goes to find the missing sheep, to bring it to the safety of his stable!
Other news and prayer requests regarding the youth network:
– There is a massive investment in building and nurturing youth leaders in around 25 churches in Dobrogea, Muntenia and Deva/Arad, with the help of Bill and Bobbie Trenckmann and other youth leaders from local churches, through weekly and/or monthly meetings.
– We intend to develop an executive youth leaders team, who are available, involved in ministry and passionate about developing other leaders.
– We are getting ready for a summer with camps on the platform of JV/BIG Impact
– On JV website you will be able to find the Romanian version of the Shift 1/9 course, specially designed as a tool that can be used in one-on-one relationship in evangelism.