Breathing Life into Tradition at Shrove Tuesday Pancake Day Event in Romania
"Do all those people in your church actually follow the stuff you teach here?" asked the Romanian man at the church’s Shrove Tuesday Pancake Day event. He couldn't wrap his mind around the idea that being a part of a church community was in any way tied to the way a person might live his day-to-day life. To him, church was just another box on the checklist in order to fit into the traditional community.
The MTW Romania team and church plant hosted the event to help breathe new life into the traditional practice of Lent this year. They also wanted to show the people who gathered a vibrant church community who actually gets together, loves each other, and takes God seriously. They prepared a paper chain craft for families to count down the 40 days until Easter which included Bible passages to discuss, ways to help the community, and people to pray for. The chain is already raising intelligent questions such as “Why is Jesus called the 'Son of Man’?" and "Why should we pray for our enemies?"
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SEE MOREPray for Orthodox Christians in Romania who are beginning to recognize the significance of some of their traditions.
Pray for Romanians who are steeped in the traditions of the church, but without an understanding of how Jesus could impact their lives.
Pray for the church in Romania to recognize their need for Christ and be vulnerable in their brokenness, something counter to their culture.
Pray for two women, Monika and Andrea, who have recently come to faith against the odds in a hard-to-reach, largely atheistic European city.
Pray for Monika, that God would continue to heal her, give her a new purpose, and protect her life from physical harm, and for Andrea, that she would grow deep roots of faith and be a witness to those like her—unlikely subjects—of the reality of the grace of God.
Pray for Boris and Niki, two national partners from Bulgaria, as they move through a pastoral internship and into a new stage of ministry. Give thanks for God's work in their lives.
Pray that believers in Poland would get theological materials they need in their heart language through a new publishing ministry.
Pray for the Roma people in Slovakia, that God would draw them to Himself, and grow the young body of believers there.
Pray for MTW's work in a part of eastern Norway considered to be the most secular region of the country. Pray as our missionaries and national partners seek seek to be salt and light, and to plant biblical, God-centered churches.
Pray the newly formed denomination, the Presbyterian Church in Poland, and the establishment of a new multicultural, biblical, Reformed church in Krakow. Poland is a new field for MTW, borne out of the crisis in Ukraine.
Pray for the new believers God is drawing to Himself in Ukraine, and for those returning to faith in the wake of war.
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