Methodists congregations grow in Romania
5/1/2003 News media contact: Linda Bloom · (646) 369-3759 · New York By United Methodist News Service During
the past decade, Korean Methodists have developed a small number of
congregations in Romania, training people there to continue the
evanglism work themselves.
Now, the United Methodist Board of
Global Ministries is trying to help Romanian Methodists make contact
with their counterparts in other European countries. The Rev. Peter
Siegfried, a board executive, told United Methodist News Service he is
planning a fall consultation with church leaders there.
Besides
the Board of Global Ministries, participants in the Romania consultation
would include representatives from the United Methodist judicatories of
Central and Southern Europe, the Korean Methodist Church in Romania and
the Church of the Nazarene, which has three congregations in Romania.
The Church of the Nazarene is a member of the World Methodist Council.
Although
the Methodist presence in Europe dates back 150 years, Siegfried said,
no mission or church was developed in Romania. But in 1992, Korean
families, who had business in Romania, invited the Korean Methodist
Church to send a missionary to that country. The Romanian Methodist
Association was registered and a church was built.
In 1995,
Korean Methodists opened a theological institute to train pastors and
missionaries. A new building for the institute was constructed three
years later. By then, there were four local churches - two in Bucharest,
one in Pitesti and one in Constantza.
An émigré from Cameroon
trained at the institute and started a congregation in Judet Arges in
eastern Romania in 2001. That congregation now has 35 members, according
to Siegfried.
As of 2003, the number of congregations had risen
to 11, including seven in Bucharest. Adult membership includes about 60
Koreans and 200 Romanians. Eight students are in training at the
theological institute.
He noted that the Rev. Charles A. Green, a
United Methodist pastor from Philadelphia, has met with Methodists in
Romania, who expressed interest in contact with the United Methodist
Church.
Siegfried would like to hear from other United Methodists
who have church relationships in Romania or are interested in
partnerships there. E-mail psiegfri@gbgm-umc.org or call (212) 870-3889.
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