The first resistance

Today was a very interesting day. We had the first meeting that could be construed as resistant. Going into this trip, we knew that Romania was going to be just plowing and seed planting. The idea was to come here and make relationships to see if there was anyone in the country that shared our vision. To enable us to do that, Isaac Matei arranged meetings with those he is connected with that he thought would be supportive of our vision and the reformation message. So, we met at lunchtime today with a group of pastors who pastor several churches from around the country. They meet together two or three times each year to share what is happening in their congregation and ministries and to lean on each other as pastors. As it turns out, we probably caught them on an off day which didn't help our cause or theirs. Prior to this meeting today, they had been having twelve to fifteen pastors in attendance. Today there were only four, and the opinion amongst them was that their little group is withering. That certainly had to be discouraging for them.

Lunch was fantastic with traditional Romanian food, a chicken and vegetable soup, a potato and ham dish, shredded cabbage with vinegar (almost slaw-like), and breaded chicken breast. Umm umm! After lunch, they wanted us to share who we were, why we were at their meeting, and what we were all about. They were exceedingly gracious and welcoming, but it was obvious that they knew practically nothing about us or our mission. Bruce gave his testimony and the basics of the reformation message that we teach. I suppose resistant is a little strong of a word to use for their reaction, but it was apparent that they couldn't wrap their heads around just how they could implement the things we teach in Romania. A German is sort of the head of the group, and he had some encouraging words to share about his agreement with our principles and our vision. But he and another pastor were concerned that we were proponents of "Kingdom now" theology, that of a Christian takeover of the world immediately as this is the kingdom of God on earth now and we have forceful dominion. Bruce did an artful job of explaining how we don't have that idea but stress instead self-government and bottom-up change of self, family, church, and state and long-term transformation of the nations through the example and witness of the successful application of Godly and Biblical principals. That explanation helped and we ended on agreement, but it was just apparent that they had more questions about our theology than a grasp of the vision. All promised to email with questions, and that should be interesting. There was one pastor who seemed really open in private, and I pray that he is a spark for this group and Romania.

More to come...