There was an annual Convention of the Evangelical Christian-Baptists of Moldova on September 15-16 which took place in the “Bethel” church in Kishinev. The main slogan of the convention was the words from Ephesians 4:3 “be diligent to preserve the unity of Spirit in the bond of peace”. The convention was attended by 450 delegates and guests. Many of the guests as well as the representatives from the partnering organizations and association of churches welcomed the convention’s delegates. Among them were Viorel Yuga, President of the Baptist Union of Romania, Churck Rogister, the head of the SBK Missionary department, South Carolina, Igor Bandura, the vice-president of the Ukrainian Union of Slavic ECB Churches, Peter Choklya, Chairman of the association of Moldavian Churches of the U.S. and Canada, Genrih Beck, president of the “Vector of Hope East” Missions, Waldemar Shreder, Chairman of the “Bridge to Life” Fund, etc. The joint choir of Beltsy, mutual group from “Bethany”, orchestra, and choir from the church of Kolishab as well as many other singers and musicians created an especially joyful atmosphere by their worship of God.
It was a great joy to get to know the staff of “Our Days” newspaper in Moldova. The newspaper has a wide circulation and respect of the readers. A few people approached me with thankfulness and positive feedback about the content of the newspaper. Special thanks to Ivan Nikolayevich Bruyako for his faithfulness to the format and the content of the newspaper which makes way for regular readers in different countries of the world including Moldova.
Ion Miron was in charge of the convention’s program. I was one of a few of the convention’s speakers, and I took advantage to give them a greeting from all of the PCSBA churches. During the first day of the convention, there were reports of the Bishop, secretary, and vice-bishop. After discussing the reports, there was an election of a new team of the elders’ leadership.
Nikolai Grigorievich Voziyan was elected to be the new Bishop, Ion Miron was elected an executive secretary, and Sergey Germanov was elected vice-bishop. The convention’s delegates prayed a prayer of blessing on the new leadership of the union including the regional leaders, as well as the leaders of the youth and women’s ministry of the union for the next four years of ministry.
Brother Valeriy Giletskiy was over the business part of the convention. He answered the questions pertaining to the amendments into the current bylaws of the association, after which these amendments were affirmed by the delegates’ votes.
After the closing of the convention, all the delegates and guests were invited to the dedication of three foster homes for children in the village of Baltsata of the Kriulyanskiy county. Thirty pastors who came to the 33rd convention of ECB of Moldova took part in the prayer of dedication. The main sponsors of this project were “Bridge to Life” Fund as well as “Vector of Hope East” Missions. After the ceremony and prayer of dedication, the keys were symbolically given to the three families that decided to live in these houses.
On Sunday, September 17, there was an opportunity to visit two churches in Kishinev, “Bethel” and “Bethany”, and participate in the service as well as fellowshipping with our missionaries in Moldova, Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Tsvirinko and his wife Nina. We were happy to hear about the great progress that Vyacheslav Mikhailovich made in raising up the new generation of students, future ministers not only in Moldova, but also in the Asian countries.
Between the services we were invited to visit a newly elected Bishop Nicolay Visiyan at his house. During lunch, we had a great discussion about the development of partnership between our associations as well as opportunities to participate in projects together not only overseas, but also in Moldova. Later that Sunday evening, after visiting the churches, we were invited to a departing reception which took place in the building of the Union of Baptists of Moldova. The guests were thanked for coming to the convention and given Moldavian candy with best wishes and blessings upon the continuation of the partnership in serving together.
As I was going home, I heard multiple times from the local brothers that Moldova is one of the poorest countries of Europe, but I thought that this country is rich in fellowship among brothers and sisters who are dedicated to God in ministry, rich in dedicated missionaries who are ready to minister in different parts of the world, rich in freedom that God gave to Christians in Moldova, and most importantly, rich in every spiritual blessings which we have in Christ!
Ivan Mileyev
MOLDAVIAN PHOTOS
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