Bulgaria Mission Trip
Trevor & Sharon spent a weekend ministering to Ukrainians displaced by the war, seeking refuge in Bulgaria. 14 May 2022
Thank you for your prayers! We have spent each day with one of the Pastors here, and then the evenings for meetings and ministry at different churches and with young adults. We already knew all the Pastors both from Ukraine and Bulgaria which is such a great foundation of relationship to continue building on together. God is underlining strong connections in Europe for Revival Fires in this season.
Pastor Andrey is a Ukrainian Pastor who moved to Bulgaria 5 years ago in response to a prophetic word that there would be a great migration, and the instruction, ‘Get Ready!’ He held on to this word and then when the conflict started, he realised his purpose for being in Bulgaria.
Three days after the conflict started, he began food distribution. He saw a multiplication of food as what his church distributed far exceeded what they had! At first 80 people everyday came to the basement of a building he had for his church, for food, clothing and aid, and help finding work and apartments for those fleeing the conflict. The basement was open daily and from the beginning till now, approximately 6000 people have already visited the distribution centre. Some came once, and some return; some want to stay in Bulgaria, but many want to eventually return home.
They are constantly looking for new ways to communicate with and serve these precious displaced people. They invite them to come to the church and connections are made through their Facebook page to keep in touch with around 3000 refugees.
One new tool is Superbook – a Children’s programme which is run on Saturdays with volunteers from the church. Around 20 children attended when we visited and they were engaged in fun activities alongside the teaching from the Bible story. While the kids are in the club, the Pastor and team meets the mums to share the gospel and minister to any needs.
Then last month they had camp for young people. They took them away for a break at a coastal retreat centre with the youth pastors – and 20 unbelievers came too!
Pastor Andrey told us ‘This is the reason I came to Bulgaria: many times I wanted to go back home but now I understand why I am here. When we started the church, we had 6 people in our small group. 5 were diagnosed with schizophrenia and you can imagine, it made us question everything we thought God had said! But now we understand and the church has grown and now we have this new centre. I try to be there at the centre most days between 3 and 6 pm when we are open for distribution and helping Ukrainians. Our church is exhausted as it has helped so many people, and now some local unbelievers even come to help. A lady visited today who simply wants to offer medicines and food. My main vision is for every visitor to experience a safe place and to hear the good news about Jesus. Visitors love the atmosphere of the centre and say it is the best place in Plovdiv to find help.
Most of the Ukrainians want to go back home. We have around 200 people per week visit now, and a few come to the service. I am sad as I want them to come to church and find faith. But the seed we plant will grow at the right time. We just do our job and keep planting more seeds. Some of the people we help don’t like that we are Christians. They just want the food and aid. And some seeds planted 5 years ago in hearts that were hostile to the gospel, have now taken root and we have seen people’s lives turn around!
The provision of the centre is a real blessing, but the bigger blessing is the people who come here for help and find the love of Jesus meeting their needs. This new ministry has taken us from ankle level to knee level and higher in the river of God, to pour out what He has given us. We say a huge Thank You for all your support!’
The church family has already renovated and painted the centre, laid new carpet and bought tables, chairs and shelving, setting up both the foodbank and clothing bank.
Our evening meeting there had about 60 Ukrainians, both unbelievers and church family, all responding to the message and receiving prayer. Andrey and Marina are passionate to keep the presence of God as their main DNA so that all can touch Him and be transformed.
