Victory Baptist Church, Hunedoara, Romania

December 1989 saw the fall of Communist regimes across Eastern Europe.  Few of those regime changes were as dramatic as the Christmas revolution in Romania which saw the overthrow of Nicolae Ceausescu, last of the old-style Communist leaders of Eastern Europe.

Although under Communism churches were strictly controlled and frequently oppressed, Romania had well established Orthodox, Baptist, Pentecostal and (among the substantial Hungarian minority of Transylvania) Hungarian Reformed churches.

In 1991, the Sussex Baptist Association arranged a visit to the Sibiu Baptist Association.  Christians from churches across Sussex, including Crawley Baptist Church, went to Romania for the two week trip taking medical aid and gifts for some orphanages, while visiting a number of churches in smaller towns and villages in the area. 

One of the churches visited was ‘Victory’ Baptist Church in Hunedoara.  It became apparent that we had a number of things in common.  The towns of Crawley and Hunedoara had similar populations, both churches were at the start of building projects and the membership of the two churches was similar.  It was also apparent that while this was a period when many people from British churches were going to Romania, few were going to Hunedoara, located a little off the major roads through the country.  Maybe this was the church that we should build a relationship with.  We started to see God’s hand in it.

Communication in those early years was difficult.  We spoke little Romanian, few people in Hunedoara spoke much English and it was difficult to keeping contact.  But in 1993 another visit by four CBC members, including our then Minister and his wife, developed the relationship.  We got to know the Minister at Hunedoara, Ioan Marcoi and his wife Maria.  Relationships were built with other church members.  We experienced more of the legendary Romanian hospitality, quickly learning the Romanian for ‘have some more food’ and for ‘but I’m full!’  We also found that while we were trying to set about raising money to build our new church building, the church in Hunedoara was already in the process of laying the foundations for theirs.

As the process of raising the money for our new church building got under way, we felt it right to allocate ten percent of the money raised to other churches.  Primarily this would be for the church in Hunedoara to help them fund their new building. 

Visits between the churches have followed down the years.  Communication through the language barrier remains difficult but those young Romanians who have become teenagers since the revolution have been able to learn English in school.  Computer technology has also become more available leading to contact being made via email.  The entry of Romania into European Union membership has opened up travel between the two countries.

With the completion of new church buildings both in Crawley and Hunedoara new areas of the relationship have opened up.  We have been able to assist in running conferences in Hunedoara, a joint CBC/VBC youth camp in Romania and have shared our experiences of running the Alpha course in both countries.

We look forward to seeing how the relationship develops in the coming years.