Dear
Praying, Helping Friends:
There is
again a lot of news to share about the work, which should not be surprising
since we have 15 church planters working in
Hungary,
Ukraine, and Romania. I hope to give you some highlights
and, at the same time, keep the big picture before you.
This work is different. One
lady who recently saw our new DVD (please write me and ask for a copy) said:
“This is brilliant! Training
nationals to reach their own people! Why
isn’t all missionary work being done this way?”
I said, yes, it’s brilliant, and Paul did it this way.
But there’s a problem. It
requires a vision, and it calls for a lot of patience and hard work.
Yes, the best way to do missionary work is the hardest.
It’s like home schooling. When
it is done right, home schooling is the best way to educate children – and the
hardest. There are amazing parallels
between training nationals to reach their own and training children in a home
school environment. Both are
“brilliant” when done right. Both
seem innovative although they are really the earliest ways of doing missions and
of raising children. Yet long before
the rise of capitalism and mass production and Karl Marx’s reaction to it,
people were educated at home and missions was done by training national workers.
The Reformation, of course, was a glorious event.
And so was the modern-day missionary movement which followed it.
But that movement, which depended heavily on modern technology and the
benefits of mass production, had its own kind of mass production.
It depended heavily on the foreign missionary and his ability to get the
job done rather than training nationals to reach their own people and build a
strong and distinctly national church. It
also tended to be side-tracked by a lot of social, humanitarian work.
So that, when we begin again to train nationals to do the work
themselves, it suddenly becomes a new and brilliant way of doing the work.
What irony, in view of the fact that this was exactly how the Apostle
Paul carried on missions and did his work! A
close study of his three missionary journeys shows this.
It is not, then, that the American missionary is not needed.
It is, rather, that he must have a vision to train nationals in the
building of a national church.
So while the biblical method makes sense, it is hard to do - hard
because it requires a strong commitment to teach and train nationals, then guide
them carefully as they are worked into ministry.
And when this is done, to turn the work entirely over to them and go
home. So the common method which
focuses on sending Americans and relying on them to do the bulk of the work is
very recent, very flawed, and doesn’t get the Great Commission done.
One hybrid approach is for seminaries in this country to invite nationals
to come to America, get their education here, then hope they will return home and work
productively there. The Lord can use
this method in some situations, but, overall, it is also very flawed.
The only real way to train nationals is to erect the seminary in their
land, teach and train them there, then pick the best of them and fund them if
necessary for a time. Of course, if
funding is necessary, there must be strict accountability.
And this means a lot of work and careful oversight.
But if the Lord is in it, it can be done.
And to see nationals growing in the Lord and in their ability to build
their own congregations and help in this Word-based, Christ-centered,
Spirit-driven process – there is nothing like it.
Turning to
Romania, Attila Szasz is having a good response to his varied efforts in
evangelism, whether home to home visitation, Friday evangelistic meetings, or
developing contacts at the nearby University
of
Kolozsvar. He also edits our children’s
paper, “Little Pilgrims”. Sandor
Molnar finished the construction of his church building late last year and
is again giving himself full-time to evangelism and pastoring his congregation.
Lehel Laszlo is seeing greater and greater interest in
Erdoszentgyorgy while continuing to look for land and/or a building where the
work can be permanently located. Recently,
Gabor Curcubet went there and spoke on creationism.
About 25 high school students and several teachers saw the video and
heard him. For people in Romania, who are so used to evolution (brought in under Communism), it is astonishing
to hear that God created all things. Kalman
Kovacs helps Ferenc Kovacs in many ways, preaching for him and leading Bible
studies when Ferenc must visit our men and give communion to far-away
congregations. Ferenc Kovacs
directed our Easter conference in Szovata this past weekend and was looking for
80 to 90 people, representatives from our 12 congregations and two preaching
points in
Romania. Sandor Tamas continues to
help Gabor in many ways, teaching and doing a lot of personal evangelism.
He also preaches for our other men at times and researches good articles
for our quarterly magazine, “The Narrow Way.” Gabor
himself is pastor of two congregations, an evangelist, and works hard to
maintain our efforts to have home schooling legalized in
Romania. Szabolcs Simon has three of
our congregations and heads up the work of our foundation (legal basis of our
work) in
Romania. Csaba Zolya is working hard
with others to finish construction on his new church building/parsonage.
He reports great progress and says that he and Ibolya plan to be married
in early May.
In
Hungary, Imre Szoke pastors, works on publications, and helps me direct the work
of Karolyi Gaspar Institute of Theology and Missions. (We now have nine
students.) This past weekend we had
an Easter conference in Miskolc
where 70 to 80 people were expected from all over
Hungary. Gyula Bagoly works side by
side with Imre in these efforts. Two
years ago, the Lord gave us the first group ever that wanted to join our church
as a group. A year ago, it was
formally organized as a congregation with 14 members, but we still could not
send a full-time resident pastor. Finally,
last fall, we decided to send Gyula. We
wanted to strengthen this congregation and another in nearby Kaposvar.
But this will also open the door for us now to expand our work in
South Hungary. Exciting!
Mihaly Siko is also seeing very encouraging growth in his
congregation in
Budapest
where two million people live. In Ukraine, we have recently had to take a closer look at the work to try to do some
things better and differently. As a
result, Bertalan Lorinc and Istvan Gal and Geza Demeter are
trying to improve their visitation efforts, take on hospital visitation, become
involved in community affairs where key people can be met and influenced for the
sake of the gospel, and train our members to be more involved in evangelism.
Let me say a little more about sending Gyula Bagoly to our two
congregations in
South Hungary
. Balatonalmadi, where he will be
living, is a recreation center known all over
Europe
. We felt that the one big problem
we might have would be finding a place for him to live and the congregation to
meet. Most properties we looked at
were around $200,000, but we learned about one for $150,000 which was exactly
what we wanted and in a perfect location. We
got the price down to $147,000, then made a deal last month.
It’s too long a story to tell, but we owe only $12,200 more on it, and
it will be ours. We must also pay
$8,800 in transfer taxes, and estimate we will need $12,000 for improvements and
modifications. The bottom floor will
then be ready for the congregation, the floor above that for Gyula and his
family, and the floor above that for guests (four rooms) - very important for
future conferences.
This is a wonderful development. We
must now make a final payment of $12,200 on May 5, then begin immediately on
these improvements costing $12,000. We
must also make this tax payment of $8,800 in June.
It comes to $33,000, all of which will be needed very soon.
This is a very large sum of money, but we look to the Lord and make this
need known to you, urging you to pray that He will bring in the funds and help
you make a special sacrifice at this time. And
don’t think your small gifts are not important.
The fact that you have read this letter to this point shows you love this
work. And remember, as money is
spent this way, it hastens the day when the work can be turned over to our
Hungarian men and our board can turn its attention to other lands. “World”
is the third word in our mission’s name and, indeed, our work will never be
done until Christ’s church is established throughout this world of His.
Pray for 1) our 15 men and 22 congregations 2) our school and students 3)
publications 4) conferences 5) summer camps 6) our varied evangelistic efforts
7) home schooling in
Romania
where Gabor Curcubet leads our efforts to influence a new education law now in
the making and for 8) daily strength for Clara and me.
Pray also that cataract surgery on my right eye on April 1 would be
completely successful. Finally, if
you have a computer, please try to visit our mission’s website: www.WBWMission.org. And
don’t forget to ask me for our new DVD.
Yours in
His glorious service,
Bob and
Clara Rapp
