Stuart's Briscoe Bulletin: Romania and Hungary

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

How important is encouragement? Stuart writes about the recent ministry trip he and Jill made to Romania and Hungary, in which they gave encouragement and also received encouragement from those they visited.

A Ministry of Encouragement in Romania and Hungary

A relatively short trip took us across the Atlantic once again. This time to Hungary and Romania. Two entirely different types of ministry were on the agenda. Over the years we have ministered quite frequently to the men and women associated with the Summer Institute of Linguistics – an organization, which as its name suggests, specializes in highly skilled translation work at the invitation of governments around the world. Usually the first week of their conferences focuses on the physical and spiritual well being of the linguists and their support staffs and the second gets down to the business of training, evaluating and overseeing the work. Naturally we were invited to help in the former!

The conference was held in a “palace” – so called but not really – that was one of about a dozen similar establishments owned by the same family. Situated in 60 acres of mature woodland the building itself was unique in that it boasted 52 rooms, 365 windows, 12 chimneys and 7 of something, but I forget what! I didn’t have time to count, but I’m sure there must have been 2010 begonias in the splendid flowerbed outside the main entrance. About 150 conferees – nationals from about 20 countries, assembled from around the former Soviet bloc.

Conferences of this nature usually start quite slowly for visiting speakers because those attending usually know each other and have not seen each other for a considerable time. So until we get the chance to speak in a plenary session we tend to spend quite a lot of time on the outside looking in! But if the messages we bring resonate with the people, the momentum picks up dramatically, and we find ourselves very busy indeed towards the end of the conference dealing with a host of issues common to people living in cross- cultural situations which are often hazardous and tension filled.

The theme of the conference was “spiritual formation” – a term often associated with monastic orders with particular stress upon spiritual disciplines such as meditation, fasting and solitude among others. While we didn’t emphasize these disciplines specifically in our teaching we certainly addressed the issue of spiritual maturity from Philippians (in Jill’s case) and in my teaching, the “making” of Simon Peter (see Mk. 1: 17.) The most common words we heard at the end of the conference were “encouraged,” “refreshed,” “renewed,” and so we went on to our next assignment encouraged, refreshed and renewed!

After a two hour drive to Budapest airport, a flight to Bucharest and another to the former capital of Romania, Iasi, (pronounced “Yash”) we were warmly greeted by a young ministry couple whose urgent and persistent pleas had led us to accept their invitation to help them in establishing a ministry of encouragement among various churches in their vicinity. We had not been with them many minutes before we realized how much encouragement was needed in their case! A few days before our arrival a church meeting had been called to evaluate the minister, and it ended with a vote that resulted in his firing! The vote was 71% in favor of him and 29% opposed, but despite the fact he had served the church faithfully for 16 years, his ministry was terminated immediately.

The pastor and his wife had envisioned the conference, put together the team to organize it, and were themselves the only interpreters, so they wondered if the conference should be cancelled. But the church leadership wisely allowed the conference to go forward, and the young couple demonstrated great grace and fortitude in fulfilling their responsibilities.

The theme we had been given was “God’s Vision for the World.” I taught from Ephesians where Paul outlined the grand eternal, cosmic scope of God’s vision to take a broken world full of broken people and institutions and remake them through the work of Christ and the power of the Spirit to His own eternal glory. As Paul did in Ephesians, we laid out God’s vision for the church as an agent of His transforming work and then went on to show how God has a vision for family life too. Even though some of those opposed to the pastor pulled out of the conference at the last minute, others rallied to the cause, and all who attended experienced a time of great blessing.

We came away grieving for our friends but rejoicing that they had been encouraged in their faith and strengthened for what promises to be a difficult time of adjustment and challenge.

As we completed our ministry on Sunday night and had to get up at 4:30 in the morning for a long flight home, we hoped to get an early night after the service. This hope was dashed as the warm-hearted and demonstrative people of Romania expressed their appreciation and love in no uncertain terms – and at great length! But what’s a night’s sleep compared to seeing faces radiating the light of joy in the midst of pain through the encouragement of the Scriptures and the community of faith?