icon
close-icon
image description image description
image description image description
image description
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Where We Work
    • US Regional Reps
    • Our History
    • MTW Staff Careers
    • Contact Us
  • Pray
  • Go
    • Search Opportunities
    • Mission Trips
    • Summer Internships
    • 1–11 Months
    • Longer Term
    • Specialized Ministries
      • Medical
      • Workplace Ministries
      • Arts, Music & Media
      • RUF Mentored Internships
    • Multicultural Mobilization
  • Give
    • Donations Hub
    • Missionaries
    • Projects
    • Estate & Gift Planning
    • Disaster Response/Compassion Fund
  • Stories & More
  • Events
  • Resources
    • All Resources
    • Cultivate
    • Videos
    • 1% Challenge
    • Resources for Kids
  • My Account
    • My Giving
    • My Profile
    • Giving FAQs
    About arrow-dwn
    • Who We Are
    • Where We Work
    • US Regional Reps
    • Our History
    • MTW Staff Careers
    • Contact Us
    Pray
    Go arrow-dwn
    • Search Opportunities
    • Mission Trips
    • Summer Internships
    • 1–11 Months
    • Longer Term
    • Specialized Ministries
      • Medical
      • Workplace Ministries
      • Arts, Music & Media
      • RUF Mentored Internships
    • Multicultural Mobilization
    Give arrow-dwn
    • Donations Hub
    • Missionaries
    • Projects
    • Estate & Gift Planning
    • Disaster Response/Compassion Fund
    Stories & More
    Events
    Resources arrow-dwn
    • All Resources
    • Cultivate
    • Videos
    • 1% Challenge
    • Resources for Kids
    My Account arrow-dwn
    • My Giving
    • My Profile
    • Giving FAQs
Donate
image description image description
menu-icon menu-icon

Countercultural Brokenness: Theft and Transformation in Romania

A troublesome boy, broken by shame, went against cultural tradition and confessed his sin to the church. It was just what the church needed.
Andrew Shaughnessy|15 Aug 2017
image description

They were rotten kids, the kind of hooligans who would volunteer to clean the church and then rob the mercy box. And among the rowdy teenage crew, Nikolai* was one of the worst. Most people said he would never change, never amount to anything. Even the Romanian believers who ran the kids club in Nikolai’s poor Brasov neighborhood, tirelessly discipling young Romanians, leading Bible studies and pouring into their lives struggled to believe he could ever be different.

Ministering with the youth alongside the Romanian church leaders was MTW missionary Derek Ebbers. Today, Derek is the veteran of a decade of missionary service in Brasov, Romania. But at that point, he was brand new—just a year’s field experience under his belt, and with only a tenuous grasp of the local language. For the next 10 years, Derek and the Romanian leaders led a youth Bible study at the church, and Nikolai would come.

“He was trouble,” Derek said of Nikolai, “but I could see change in this boy. He was acting a little bit differently.”

Shame and transformation
Then one day, about two years ago, the leadership finally caught Nikolai and others in the act of stealing from the mercy box.

“We had a sit down with them, and I could really see the Spirit at work [in Nikolai] because he really started to change,” said Derek. “He felt so guilty.”

Then one day Nikolai stood in front of the church during the community prayer time and spoke to the group: “I have to say something.” He openly confessed what he had done before the whole church and asked for forgiveness.

“That was so amazing to see,” Derek said. “I’ve never seen or experienced anything like it in the Western Church in my whole life.

“This is a shame culture,” Derek explained. “In this culture you just don’t ever admit that you’re wrong. And yet Nikolai stood in front of the church and confessed that he had stolen from everybody—not just that he had stolen from the box, because we had made clear that if you steal from the mercy box, you’re stealing from every member of the church. And right there his life really began to change.”

A countercultural church
Many Romanians, according to Derek, don’t believe that they are broken, let alone that they need a Redeemer. A worldview dominated by fatalism and materialism is common, and though people yearn for a spiritual experience, they want it to just happen to them.

The general belief is that, as long as one is baptized and married in the Orthodox Church, on the Orthodox train so to speak, they are headed in the right direction. Yet, once they are confronted with the reality of their own sin, once they are met with the prospect of a Savior who can wash their sins away, it is a reality-shifting worldview that is both impossible to escape and slow to take hold.

“We talk about the assurance of our salvation every Sunday. We have to,” Derek said. “Even for people who have been coming to church for years, it’s such a slow process to internalize—‘God loves me because of what Jesus did. I’m not trying to earn His favor by what I do.’”

“Our whole church community is different because, though failure is not an option in this culture, in our church it’s OK to fail,” he added. “We are broken and we talk about it all the time. We’re broken, but we’ve been redeemed, so it’s OK. And people need to hear that truth over and over again.”

It was that truth of brokenness and redemption, the witness of Derek and his Romanian brothers, and the work of the Spirit that transformed a troublemaking boy named Nikolai. This past June, after nearly 10 years of steady, faithful discipleship and relationship building, and two years after his first encounter with God and guilt and grace, Nikolai became a member of the MTW church plant in Brasov and was baptized.

“They said there was no chance with Nikolai, that this could never happen to somebody like that,” said Derek. “Only the gospel could do that. How we get there, how long it takes, that’s up to God.” 

* Name has been changed.

author-img
Andrew Shaughnessy

Andrew Shaughnessy is a long-time word slinger who spent nearly six years as MTW’s staff writer, gathering and telling impact stories from missionaries across the globe. These days, he’s off working as an analyst and editor in the publishing industry, writing fiction, and mountaineering. He holds a B.A. in history and English literature from Covenant College, and an M.S. in political science from Portland State University.

Get Involved

video

Ministry Expanding: Join a New Team in Southeast Asia

Longer More right-arrow
video

Join an Expanding Team in Occidental Mindoro

Longer More right-arrow
video

Madagascar: New Team Forming

Longer More right-arrow
video

Behold, the Lamb!

In Romania, the traditional Orthodox Easter meal of a freshly slaughtered lamb provides a vivid picture of Christ's sacrifice.

See More right-arrow
video

Breathing Life into Tradition at Shrove Tuesday Pancake Day Event in Romania

He couldn't wrap his mind around the idea that church was in any way tied to the way a person might live his day-to-day life.

See More right-arrow
video

Ministry (and Inconvenience) at the Ring of a Doorbell

Ministry opportunities often show up at the most inopportune time. As a missionary, how do you balance opportunity with inconvenience?

See More right-arrow

Pray for Orthodox Christians in Romania who are beginning to recognize the significance of some of their traditions. 

Related Story right-arrow

Pray for Romanians who are steeped in the traditions of the church, but without an understanding of how Jesus could impact their lives.

Related Story right-arrow

Pray for the church in Romania to recognize their need for Christ and be vulnerable in their brokenness, something counter to their culture. 

video

Ministry Expanding: Join a New Team in Southeast Asia

Longer More right-arrow
video

Join an Expanding Team in Occidental Mindoro

Longer More right-arrow
video

Madagascar: New Team Forming

Longer More right-arrow
video

Behold, the Lamb!

In Romania, the traditional Orthodox Easter meal of a freshly slaughtered lamb provides a vivid picture of Christ's sacrifice.

See More right-arrow
video

Breathing Life into Tradition at Shrove Tuesday Pancake Day Event in Romania

He couldn't wrap his mind around the idea that church was in any way tied to the way a person might live his day-to-day life.

See More right-arrow
video

Ministry (and Inconvenience) at the Ring of a Doorbell

Ministry opportunities often show up at the most inopportune time. As a missionary, how do you balance opportunity with inconvenience?

See More right-arrow

Pray for Orthodox Christians in Romania who are beginning to recognize the significance of some of their traditions. 

Related Story right-arrow

Pray for Romanians who are steeped in the traditions of the church, but without an understanding of how Jesus could impact their lives.

Related Story right-arrow

Pray for the church in Romania to recognize their need for Christ and be vulnerable in their brokenness, something counter to their culture. 

close-icon

Donation Error

Please enter valid amount.

mtw logo
Mission to the World
1600 North Brown Rd
Lawrenceville, GA 30043
United States
Donor-Advised Fund Portal
Circle Portal
About
  • Who We Are
  • Where We Work
  • US Regional Reps
  • Our History
  • MTW Staff Careers
  • Contact Us
Pray
Stories & More
Events
My Account
  • My Account
    • My Giving
    • My Profile
    • Giving FAQs
Go
  • Search Opportunities
  • Mission Trips
  • Summer Internships
  • 1–11 Months
  • Longer Term
  • Join the Story
  • Specialized Ministries
    • Medical
    • Workplace Ministries
    • Arts, Music & Media
    • RUF Mentored Internships
  • Multicultural Mobilization
Give
  • Donations Hub
  • Missionaries
  • Projects
  • Estate & Gift Planning
  • Disaster Response/Compassion Fund
Resources
  • All Resources
  • Cultivate
  • Videos
  • 1% Challenge
  • Resources for Kids
image description
image description
image description
image description
image description
image description
1-678-823-0004
[email protected]
mtw logo
Mission to the World
1600 North Brown Rd
Lawrenceville, GA 30043
United States
Donor-Advised Fund Portal
Circle Portal
About arrow-down
    • Who We Are
    • Where We Work
    • US Regional Reps
    • Our History
    • MTW Staff Careers
    • Contact Us
Pray
Stories & More
Events
My Account arrow-dwn
    • My Account
      • My Giving
      • My Profile
      • Giving FAQs
Go arrow-dwn
    • Search Opportunities
    • Mission Trips
    • Summer Internships
    • 1–11 Months
    • Longer Term
    • Join the Story
    • Specialized Ministries
      • Medical
      • Workplace Ministries
      • Arts, Music & Media
      • RUF Mentored Internships
    • Multicultural Mobilization
Give arrow-dwn
    • Donations Hub
    • Missionaries
    • Projects
    • Estate & Gift Planning
    • Disaster Response/Compassion Fund
Resources arrow-dwn
    • All Resources
    • Cultivate
    • Videos
    • 1% Challenge
    • Resources for Kids
image description
image description
image description
image description
image description
image description
1-678-823-0004
[email protected]
Manage Consent

To provide the best experience, we use cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent may adversely affect certain features and functions. If you wish, you may view our privacy policy.

Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}