Medical Mission to Moldova - September 2009

In September, Trinity Bible Church will send a forth medical team to Moldova. Our work in Moldova began in 2006 (See Picture above) and has continued until now. Medical teams provide much needed help to the community. We visit several villages during the week and provide medical, dental, and eye care. In addition, team members care for the spiritual needs of the villagers through listening, loving, sharing the good news and praying. These trips not only help the villagers, but also support the local church planter by helping to establish the reputation as a positive influence in the community.

Crossover’s work in Moldova

Trinity has followed Crossover Communications International’s (CCI) church planting efforts for several years. After Moldova gained independence from the USSR in 1991, CCI sent in a team to evaluate. They began to implement and repeat a four-step process they call the “ministry multiplication cycle.” The four steps of the cycle are evangelism, establishing, equipping, and extending. This involved evangelizing nationals, discipling them, training them to be church planters and providing a network of support. This network includes ongoing training sessions, a personal mentor, financial support of about $100/month, visiting medical teams, and meetings with peers to exchange ideas and encourage one another. The financial support is limited to three years. After this they are financially independent.

Current Leadership

Fyodor Lupanciuc, a Moldovan from the capital city of Chisinau, planted one of the first churches. He is now the President of CCI-Moldova. The vision of mobilizing a national church planting movement has been realized with the establishment of 100 churches in the countries surrounding the Black Sea, all led by indigenous church planters. Over the past fourteen years a host of national church planters have been mobilized and strengthened by careful selection, theological and ministry training, peer support, and the pastoral care of personal mentors. Seventy-four churches were planted in Moldova. Of the Moldovan church-plants, sixty-five remain active, representing an 87.8% survival rate. There have been several second-generation churches, but leaders are looking forward to the first third generation church. Currently sixteen percent of all Moldovan Baptist Union churches have been planted by CCI trained church planters, and twenty three percent of Baptist Union baptisms are from these same churches.

Reaching beyond Moldova

CCI is now building a Mission Training Center with the plan of sending Modovans as missionaries to nearby Central Asian countries. This is a powerful strategy, by which Crossover will able to mobilize proven church planters who speak the language, understand the culture, and can live on a fraction of what Westerners would require.

Trinity’s Part

Trinity’s involvement in this has been significant. Each month, Trinity sends enough support to sponsor 15 national church planters. We also sponsored the first three Moldovans to work in another country. We helped to buy the land for the Mission Training Center (MTC) and last month made an investment in its completion. The MTC will open this year.