July Romania #2

“Be careful what you pray for, because you may be the answer to that prayer. When you pray for workers for the harvest, you might be the one God will call to labor,” Claudio shares.

He’s leading a session at the M4 Ready Camp—a weeklong gathering of folks interested in church planting in Europe. M4’s focus is to ignite church planting movements across Europe. They’re serving and equipping national and regional leadership teams to collaborate in recruiting and coaching church planters to launch churches that glorify God and impact society.

Claudio is one of many Romanians, at the camp, but he’s in good company with Christ-followers from Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia and the United States. From working in the kitchen to teaching, from leading worship to praying with people, our Woodmen team is here with open hearts and open hands, serving however we can.

 It's day two of the camp, so everyone is getting to know one another. It’s toasty hot—in the high 90s the last three days. But the heat is just adding to a spirit of mutual support as we dive into what God has for us.

“We want the camp to be a learning community, so we’re facilitating environments where we all grow and disciple each other,” says Nelutu Iubes, M4 Country Director for Romania. “We’re pioneering something new here this year. There are not ‘staff’ and ‘campers.’ We’re all coming together to serve and learn from one another.”

 In a session on worship this afternoon, Gabriella from Romania shares, “Sometimes we might not feel worthy if we’re just humbly serving, but God is helping me to find purpose in a simple life.” 

The group, comprised of Ukrainians, Romanians and Americans, has fun riffing, imagining a new paradigm: What if we celebrated, gave more affirmation to those taking out the trash or doing simple acts of service? Those tasks, if they’re serving others and serving God, can be worship, too. They can reflect our God who brings order from chaos. And sometimes they set the stage for even more impactful ministry. Maybe we should have spotlights and fog machines for taking out the trash? Or maybe a celebration with fireworks?!?

In this morning’s session, Stas, from Ukraine, was having trouble putting words together in English to share an insight on how God transforms lives. The group came up with a plan: Stas shared his idea with David, also from Ukraine. David knew Romanian, so he could translate the idea to Philip. Philip then translated the idea from Romanian to English, so the rest of the group could learn from Stas’ insight. Did the process take some extra time? Yes. Did it take a community to facilitate learning for everyone in the group. For sure.

But in the end, brothers and sisters in Christ are here together, breaking down walls and growing in Christ. And we’re all united in serving one another along the way.

And that’s an answer to prayer. Will you take a moment and join us in praying for the church planters of M4 Europe? And, like Claudio says, be careful what you pray for.

- Don McCaleb