March - 16

BULGARIA Population 9,036,000 Peoples Slavic 84%. Bulgarian 6,950,000; Macedonian 225,000; Russian 18,000; Serb 9,000; Czech 9,000. Turkic 11% (Officially 9%). Turks 990,000; Gagauz 12,000; Crimean Tatar 6,000. Gypsy 4.6%. Speaking Romani, Turkish or Bulgarian. Other 0.4%. Armenian 27,000; Greek 11,000; Jews 3,200. Literacy 90%. Official languages: Bulgarian, and locally, Turkish. All languages 12. Languages with Scriptures 5Bi 3NT 5por. Cities Capital: Sofia 1,222,000. Urbanization 68%. Economy Long one of Europe's poorest countries. Communism left a legacy of inefficient, polluting heavy industry. Since 1990 some progress in liberalizing the economy and adapting to market forces. Much poverty remains, but much potential for growth. Public debt/person $1,220. Income/person $5,300 (25% of USA). Politics A nation since the fifth century, but rarely independent. Ruled by the Turkish Ottoman Empire 1396-1878. Communist rule of particular severity 1947-1989. Multi-party democracy instituted in 1990. A see-saw struggle for power since then between the Democrats and Socialists (ex-Communist Party) with the Turkish Party holding a balance of power in parliament. Religion Orthodoxy the state religion until 1945. Communist oppression and ruthless control of denominational leadership until 1989. The new democratic constitution proclaims freedom for all denominations, but makes the status of the Orthodox Church one of ambiguous primacy. Statistics below are approximate; the rate of change since 1989 is rapid. Non-religious/other 17%. Muslim 13.9%. Christian 69.1%. Growth 9.9%. Protestant 1.25%. Growth 17%. Roman Catholic 0.83%. Growth 1.3%. Orthodox 66.9%. Growth 9.9%. Marginal 0.02%. Growth 17.6%. 1. Bulgaria's political and spiritual transformation has been one of the most dramatic in the former Communist bloc: from one of the most repressive regimes, with severe persecution of Christians, to multi-party democracy (albeit tumultuous). Across the country is a yearning to fill the moral and spiritual void Marxism created. There is a desire for an identity and a hope. Pray that this may be found in the Lord Jesus through the preaching of the gospel. Many forms of eastern and western cults and also the ancient, but very live, occultism of Bulgaria vie for a following. 2. All Churches have shown dramatic growth. Many non-religious and atheist Bulgarians have returned to Orthodoxy. The great change is among Evangelicals, who have more than doubled in numbers in three years; in Sofia they have quintupled. Evangelistic outreach among Bulgarians has elicited good response and possibly 4,000-10,000 Turks and Gypsies have come to Christ since 1990. Praise God, and pray for a continued and conserved harvest. There are signs that the initial enthusiasm is wearing off. 3. The growth has been amidst pain. The dire effects of outright persecution -- with many Christians imprisoned or killed, and manipulation through informers, infiltrators and imposters in the churches -- are still to be seen. The subversion of the Orthodox hierarchy was particularly widespread. Some leaders courageously suffered, others compromised -- a fact that still breeds division, mistrust and lack of cooperation in Orthodox, Protestant and Pentecostal alike which may lead to new Orthodox and Pentecostal denominations. "Sheep-stealing" -- even of whole congregations from one denomination to another -- has unfortunately developed into a fine art. Pray for repentance, reconciliation, healing and spiritual unity. These tensions still prevent the formation of a national Evangelical Fellowship. There is a National Committee for the AD2000 Movement linking five denominations and setting goals for the decade. 4. Maturing the Church is the major challenge for the '90s. Pray for: a) Bible-based teaching of believers. Only a handful of Christian leaders have had formal Bible training. The hunger of the new Christians is matched only by their ignorance of Scripture and tendency to legalisms. b) Leadership training. Underground TEE programmes of the '80s have blossomed into the interdenominational Logos Bible Academy in Sofia as well as four other Pentecostal denominational schools. Pray for the provision of the right staff, funds and facilities and, above all, spiritual life for these programmes. c) The right structures to enhance growth. The tendency is for autocratic, central leadership and a desire to build mega-churches. Pray for a clearer vision for multiplying churches and plurality of leadership, thus avoiding personality clashes and denominational divisions. Networking and loving communication between leaders is a great need. d) The discernment of doctrinal error. Every modern heresy and cult seems to have targeted the country -- Mormons, Children of God, Jehovah's Witnesses, extreme "prosperity" teachings, as well as eastern cults. Christians are being swayed by every wind of doctrine. e) The multiplicity of new indigenous agencies that have sprung up for reaching children, prisons, and ethnic minorities, and for providing literature, Bibles, and Christian teaching in schools and camps. There are also international agencies setting up local branches -- CEF, EHC, TWR, Gideons, and the Bible Society among others. The need for wise coordination and adequate funding mechanisms is urgent. 5. Ethnic minorities need specific prayer. a) The Turks were deeply offended by the Communist campaigns in the mid '80s to impose Bulgarian culture upon them. In 1989, 350,000 fled to Turkey. The collapse of Communism led to the return of half of them and to restitution of their cultural rights. Muslim missionaries from Turkey and Iran have been assiduously seeking to make them stronger Muslims. At the same time there has been a work of the Holy Spirit leading to hundreds of groups of Turkish believers across the country. There were reckoned to be at least 4,000 believers in 1993. This is the first known major spiritual breakthrough among Turks. Pray for Christians with knowledge of Turkish as they seek to disciple the many Pentecostal and indigenous groups (WEC, OD, OM, Ichthus Fellowship -- the latter three with more short-term involvement). b) Gypsies are generally despised and at the bottom of the social order. Some are Orthodox or Muslim and others still deeply involved in the occult. Among them thousands are turning to the Lord, mainly through the outreach of the Church of God in the Bulgarian language. Others are linked to the indigenous Turkish-speaking movement. A third (180,000) of all Gypsies use Romani as their first language, but lack of a New Testament is a major deficiency. Illiteracy is widespread, and there is a great challenge to patiently teach the fundamentals of the faith. c) Pomaks (300,000) are Bulgarian-speaking Muslims; a specific ministry is needed to reach them. Several congregations of new Christians have been planted in the south of the country. Pray that there may be warm and close fellowship between the Christians of different ethnic groups. Ancient Balkan inter-ethnic hatreds and mistrust are still potent. Both Turks and Gypsies have formed political bodies to combat discrimination. 6. Foreign missions have increased personnel committed to Bulgaria. There is great need for long-term missionaries and tentmakers who will learn the culture and language and who earn the confidence of the people through effective role-modelling life and ministry. The need is less for pioneer evangelism than for providing teaching skills and support to an evangelistically-minded church. Pray for: a) The calling of the right workers to serve in this day of extraordinary opportunity. Significant missions: SBC (6), (intteams)IT (4), []SEND (4), YWAM (4), OM (3), WEC (3). b) Wisdom in use of short-term visits and ministry. Too much has been done (and even undone) by enthusiastic but ill-prepared visitors on foray ministries. All needs to be integrated into a wider coordinated strategy that has been developed indigenously. High-powered western evangelism is meeting with rising scepticism. c) Sensitive use of foreign funds. The chronic lack of finance and poverty of those in Christian work makes every infusion of funds a potentially damaging or distorting influence to the spiritual life of churches and individuals. Employment by foreign agencies can easily take away key workers from the ministries most needed by the church. Yet how vital such help is! 7. Young people. The authorities are eager to have moral and religious education in schools, so there is freedom for Christian input in many schools. Pray that neither Orthodox sensitivities about Evangelicals nor Western evangelical insensitivities limit opportunities. Millions of Bibles, books and pieces of literature published in the West have been distributed in schools, but not always adequately used. Pray that all this may lead to a good understanding of the things of God and many new Christians. 8. Christian help ministries. a) Literature. New Man became the first Bulgarian Christian publisher with a wide-ranging vision for producing solid evangelical books, Scripture aids and teaching/evangelistic materials. Pray for viability in the prevailing poverty and flood of Western-produced subsidized literature. EHC has plans for a nationwide literature distribution campaign. Effective cooperation between foreign and national literature agencies is needed. b) Bible translation and distribution. The present Bulgarian Bible is archaic; but the new Living Bible soon to be available is not acceptable to some. Pray for consensus among Christians on the issue. Pray for the early availability of an effective modern translation. Distribution of 70,000 of the Cyrillic-script Turkish New Testaments has had a significant impact. Higher levels of illiteracy among Turks and Gypsies are a hindrance. Many Bibles are being printed locally. There is a need for the Scriptures in Romani for the Gypsies. c) Radio. Local television and radio programming is increasing; TWR has set up a studio. The potential is enormous; finance and caution about Evangelicals are bottlenecks. Four international broadcasters transmit five hours/week to Bulgaria.