Make a gift to support our local partners

DONATE NOW

God has called me to be the senior pastor of a 150 members church in Constanta, in the eastern part of Romania by the Black Sea. We are focused on evangelising people in an area characterised by ethnic diversity (Turks, Tatars, Gypsies, Russians, Romanians), religious diversity (the entire area has the biggest Muslim population in Romania), and is also an area characterised as the centre of moral depravity and prostitution in Romania.

The density of evangelicals in this area is very low. Therefore, I believe God called me here because Constanta needs many more churches planted, both in the city and in surrounding towns and villages.

Related prayer news and stories

• UK: pioneer recruitment

  We continue to pray for people considering studying with CMS on our Pioneer Mission Training course and for churches considering whether to participate in Pioneering Parishes. Please pray that God will give more and more people a heart for mission among those on the edges of church, society and our comfort zones. Read more

• Ukraine: frontline chaplains

  Continue to pray for local partner Valery and other people who are serving as chaplains in hospitals and at the frontline. Pray especially that chaplains have personal and spiritual strength to keep going in this vital but tiring role. Pray for favour with frontline military commanders who decide whether to permit chaplains to visit troops.… Read more

Sergiu’s story

I grew up in a Christian family and I became a Christian in 1992, after an evangelistic camp.

The first defining moment of my life was in 1989 when I heard the call to God’s ministry. I did not take it seriously at that time, but when I was saved I reconsidered the call. Two persons impacted my life: the first was the old pastor from my home church in Curtici, pastor Grec Traian – he was my mentor; then, the second person who impacted my life was pastor Ilie Tundrea, he is the senior pastor in Tinaud Baptist Church, the first church that I pastored as an assistant pastor.

I married Ramona in November 1999 and we have two daughters, Dania Ruth and Neria Hannah.

My main ministry as a pastor started in 2002 in Dobra. I served the Lord there in Zion Baptist Church. When I first started there the church was 30 members, weakened after several conflicts between its leadership and between its members. With God’s help I managed to reunite the church, bring back some of the people who left the church and I managed to give the church a direction and a vision. We started evangelism again, we developed a plan to plant a new church and lately we decided to get involved in short term missions in southern part of Ukraine.

I was invited to minister another church 5km from Dobra, in Mihaiesti. Since the situation was different 100 per cent in Mihaiesti, we were able to reach the goals that we set in one year compared to Dobra where we reached this level in seven years. I praise God for the ministry that he gave to me and for the help I received since I followed his call.

I started my ministry in Constanța in August 2014 in a critical time for the church. The problem that the church was facing was that the pastor had to step down from the position because of his wife’s illness. Also, two of the four elders become very ill during this time. Therefore, I had to take full responsibility and I had to start working on taking the church through this time of crisis.

Since I arrived here, I was able to make a few changes and adjustments and I was also able to give the church a proactive orientation.

My goal is to make the church feel like a family and to concentrate in bringing other people to Christ and into the family of the church. The mission of the church is to become a place of love, forgiveness and redemption.

I started an intense programme of pastoral visits – which allowed me to get to know most of the members very fast. We restarted the Sunday afternoon meetings – with a new and more attractive format. We were able to reorganise the children’s ministry department. We began an intentional discipleship programme for the young leaders (already involved in serving the church) and oriented all the leaders in mentoring and discipling new possible leaders. We reorganised the small groups (house groups) with most of the members of the church, and implemented a new paradigm for these small groups: mission and evangelism oriented. At the same time, I was able to present to the church new Bible study calendars each year particularised for the needs and purpose of our church.

I am part of Church Mission Society because of the vision of partnering churches from this part of the world (Constanta, Romania) with churches in United Kingdom. Specifically, CMS intermediates the partnership between the ministry God has called me to in Golgotha Baptist Church and a church in UK. Also, I believe CMS is the place for further ministry development and for future relationships with other missionaries and ministers.

Make a gift to support our local partners

DONATE NOW