Moldova

LICHT IM OSTEN (LIGHT IN THE EAST) Moldova is at present focussing its main attention on children, teenagers and young people who we want to reach with the Gospel. To achieve this goal, we teach religious and moral education at primary schools and ethics at secondary schools in the whole country.

To supplement this we start Christian clubs and centres for children and young people in churches and outside them, and organise camps. Through this fellowship with Christians, young people have a chance to get to know the Christian faith and find their way into a Protestant church.

Our teachers teach Bible classes (in primary schools) and Christian ethics (in higher classes) in general education. By doing so we can make a great impact on children, teenagers and young people in our country. Topics such as the prevention of drug and nicotine addiction, bullying, HIV, and topics such as premarital relationships, love or indifference make for suitable discussion starters with young people and we can share the Gospel with them.

We organise Christian clubs for children and teenagers.

We take food parcels to needy people, large families, single mothers, problem families in poor circumstances and introduce them to the Gospel.

Pastoral and evangelistic ministry in Moldova.

Mobile children's playgrounds, outings and camps for children, teenagers and young people.

We distribute Christian literature, New Testaments and Bibles as well as the magazines FAITH AND LIFE, TROPINKA and FELINARUL in Moldova, Gaugazia and Transnistria. As it is forbidden to import Christian literature into Transnistria, we take it there in small amounts, sometimes just a few parcels.

Evangelisation through sports, a ministry to coaches, home Bible groups, tournaments with Christian and non-Christian teams, sports meetings on school grounds with the aim of sharing the Gospel.

At the moment we have 16 staff members: 3 missionaries, 3 office workers and 10 teachers, 3 of whom teach in Chişinău, 3 in Gaugazia, one in Transnistria and one in Rezina. One of the missionaries is responsible for mission in sports.

"Yesterday we took a food parcel to a single mother of four pre-school children. Her parents are dead, her husband left the family and does not bother about them. They live in very poor circumstances; The front door is full of holes, the wallpaper and the linoleum are shabby and partly torn off, the washing machine is old and rusty. We told the 25 year-old mother about Jesus and invited her to church. I am so glad that she has since come and understood that for her God is the only comfort, the only hope and the only way out." (Sergei Botes, teacher in Transnistria)

"I met Vlad (21 years) "by chance" a few days before our camp and invited him to come. There he asked a lot of questions about God, sin and a life in faith. At the end we invited Vlad to our church and he really did come to our service. Afterwards he came to me and said he would like to become a Christian and confess his sins. I asked him if he realised that conversion not only meant repenting his sins but also following Jesus every day. Vlad said he did, and we prayed together. The whole youth group rejoiced with him. A short time after this Vlad wanted to go again to the camp - this time as a volunteer. (Zhenya Pokidko, missionary and teacher in Chişinău)