Building Leaders in Moldova - CP071

CongreGate

For the past few years, our church has been encouraging and building leaders in Moldova through short-term missions trips. Mark and Micah just returned from another trip and share some of the things they are doing and teaching in Moldova to help build godly leaders there.

In Moldova, the official church is the Orthodox Church. Most people believe they are Christians, but follow a works-based religious system. There are smaller groups of Baptist and Pentecostal Christians that are hungry for the word of God and eager to hear Biblical teaching. We have been investing in their leaders by teaching principles from Mark's book, A Faithful Man.

In addition to teaching the men how to lead their families and their churches, they also had the opportunity to talk about age-integrated church. One of the churches was so excited to learn about the age-integrated church model that they decided to transition right away.

Our main focus has been to challenge the men to love their wives and families by leading them well. The women are encouraged to see their husbands excited about learning and growing as leaders. Many of the challenges the families face are very similar to the struggles we face here, like raising children well and balancing the demands of family and ministry. We are encouraged to see how the power of God's word transcends cultural boundaries and changes lives.

Mark and Micah also share their funniest cultural experience...a trip to the sauna. Thankfully, our Moldovan friends decided to wear swim shorts for them (something they don't normally do)! After sitting in the roasting hot sauna for 20 minutes, they jump into a cold pool. And then back to the sauna again! It gets better. Just listen to the story...