Churches Born in a COVID World
By Scotte Staab
I could hear the excitement in Alex’s voice as we reconnected over the social media app, “WhatsApp.” Dr. Alex Vlasin, professor at the University of Bucharest and mission’s teacher at the Baptist Seminary in Bucharest, passionately shared with me the power of the gospel in Europe, born in the devastation of the COVID-19 virus.
“In January, my family and I began to worship with the international congregation at the Spiritual Revival Baptist Church of Bucharest,” Alex started. Led by an African National, Peter Rong, a Bucharest Baptist Seminary graduate, the church wanted to reach the many ethnic groups represented in Bucharest, a city of about three million people. Then the growing menace of the virus began to grow on the horizon and the pandemic sneaked its sinister tentacles through the Western Border as many Romanians fled Italy. In the dark early days of the viral attack, it was the church that set the tone for the nation.
It was the Romanian church that announced the unprecedented suspension of all services in the country.
The Romanian media noticed and lauded the church for this decision. Secondly, the church began to organize, where possible, digital alternatives for public worship. Applications like Zoom, YouTube, Skype, and others began to allow church families to connect in an intimate way. Churches began videotaping sermons and having music teams lead their congregations in worship. Some pastors led from their homes, teaching and preaching in this intimate setting. They also continued Romanian Baptist forms of meaningful self-expression by sharing personal poems and uploading personal testimonies to encourage the flock.
Back in Bucharest, Alex saw the importance of encouraging and actually growing the church through digital media. He purchased a professional grade Zoom program and then shared it with many church plants throughout Europe, Spain, Italy, Siberia, Cyprus, and Dublin, Ireland. The family at Spiritual Revival Baptist Church also began to simulcast in English, Cachin, Farsi, French, and Romanian. Their church attendance has grown from fifty in January to one hundred and fifty now!
The fruit of the power of God is undeniable and has spread to other parts of Europe. The Cyprus church plant was started as the virus began to creep through Europe.
Dr. Vlasin encouraged the pastor there to lead this “new flock” through Zoom. Many people came to Christ and they are scheduling a baptismal service as soon as restrictions are lifted. They have responded to this crisis as Joseph responded to his brothers’ treachery in Genesis 50:20: “But as for you, ye thought evil against me: but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.”
