A Place to Worship

By: Scott and Candace Gottfried  

As we entered the village on dusty roads, we were overcome with emotions at the sight of the homes built with limited materials, some lacking floors, door, and windows, some with clothes hanging on lines, or chickens and baby goats in the dirt yards, and most surrounded by fences.  When our eyes met with the eyes of the beautiful Roma children and adults who seemed to lack hope, we knew it was a village in need of God’s salvation, love, peace and joy.

Our team could not get out of the van quick enough to survey the church and start gathering ideas. We were overwhelmed with excitement to come build the church in Csokaly. Our church, Fairview Baptist, means so much to our team and we wanted this village to also have a place of worship; a place to study the word of God, to sing praises, to pray to our Heavenly Father, to fellowship with friends, to disciple, and to teach the children to love and serve Jesus. The church building is not the “church.” but it is a gathering place for His people. It was an honor for our team to have a part in building a place where people’s lives will be changed for generations to come.

With long days of hard work from the Americans and the Roma, we saw amazing things happen in just one week. Not only did the door get moved, a new ceiling framed, sheet-rocked, and painted, the interior painted, an outhouse and wood shed built, but more importantly relationships were made, construction skills taught, and a place of worship was built in the village. 

The excitement in the faces of the people as they entered the door of the church on Sunday was astounding. The children began to dance with arms wrapped around each other. The adults began to clap, smile, and sing together as the worship service began. Tears filled our eyes as we witnessed God moving in this church.  It is our sincere prayer that God will use this place to bring salvation in Jesus Christ to the Roma people in this village. The bible teaches that the moment you receive Jesus Christ as Savior, the Spirit of God comes in and gives new life.  The Bible also teaches us that the Spirit of God produces the fruit, “but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control: (Galatians 5:22-23).

Victims of discrimination and ostracization for generations the Roma people have resorted to self-preservation. It is our prayer that God will move in these villages, bring salvation and the fruit of the spirit into their lives and community. Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control will make remarkable changes in the relationships between husbands and wives, parents and children, and between neighbors. We wait in anticipation of God’s work in this village and the surrounding villages as He continues to call his people to go, send, and pray. May God be given all the glory as He continues to call more of His people to support the work in Romania.

Click here to see pictures.

For more information about supporting the building of Roma churches in Romania contact Teresa Jones, (919)459-5573, tajones@ncbaptist.org