REACHING THE 98%

My husband Adi and I (Jennifer) serve in Timisoara, Romania, and whilst Romania is considered a very religious nation, with over 90% of the population of 20 million classifying themselves as Christian, to many this may mean little more than a cultural identity or simply attending a church, rather than an active relationship with the living Jesus Christ.

From our personal experience over many years, we saw that whilst Protestant Christians were keen to have children as a part of their church, many lacked the training and resources needed to effectively reach children in their communities with the gospel. We also saw that in many places children were only taught a moral gospel of being ‘good boys and girls’. We were struck with the need to encourage and equip local Christians to teach children the true gospel of grace, how to become followers of the Lord Jesus and to grow in their faith.

It is our aim to encourage and equip local Christians to share the gospel of Jesus with the children of Romania, so that all children through every part of Romania get to hear and respond to Jesus. Whilst we are based in the city of Timisoara, through our partnership with AMEC (Child Evangelism Fellowship) our ministry extends to other parts of Romania, even to Romanians living throughout Europe via online training. Most recently we were encouraged to be able to assist in three local AMEC conferences, over three Saturdays in three different counties. The theme was "Beyond Words", challenging and equipping children's workers to find ways to teach Biblical truths in engaging and interactive ways. Our prayer is that those who attended were encouraged and equipped to use new and creative methods to teach the Scriptures to the children in their churches and communities.

—Adi & Jennifer Grocott, ECMers in Romania