! Narrative Report! Bible League Bulgaria - March 2014! Stoyan Angelov The month of March started with the Second Module of Training for Project Philip workers in the town of Nova Zagora. The group of 37 people has finished successfully their training in how to evangelize and start small Bible study groups using our materials from Project Philip. One of the participants who is also a coordinator for Project Philip for the region of Elhovo, called Stoyan Angelov, shared with us his recent success in ministry. Every month each coordinator for project Philip has to visit two new places (villages, churches, kindergartens, etc.) and to present there the materials from Project Philip and eventually to organize a group there. Last month Stoyan was praying, asking God to show him which village to go to. God answered his prayers and Stoyan was convinced to go to the village of Radovets. The population of the village is about 650 people and there is no evangelical church there or a home group. When Stoyan went there for the first time he was a little disappointed because he wanted to meet with the Mayer first, but he was not in town. Then he wanted to put an announcement for
an evangelistic event but the director of the local community centre forbid him to do so. Just as he was starting to get discouraged a lady came to Stoyan and asked him what is going on and he told her the whole story. The Village of Radovets The eyes of the lady filled with joy. She exclaimed: For so long we have been waiting for someone to come in our village and to teach us about God and the Bible. She helped him to meet with the Mayer, he not only agreed Stoyan to organise the evangelistic event but also promised to give him a free of charge place, where he can meet with the new believers. The evangelistic event was attended by 100 people. Immediately after that a home group was started, who started studying project Philip and in no time the group grew into a
church. Today Stoyan visits the church every week and 30 people attend the services. That same month, very encouraged by what God did in the village of Radovetz, Stoyan decided to pray again for the second place where he should go. God was faithful again. When Stoyan was praying in the morning God put in his heart a strong conviction that he should visit the village of Sitovo. This is a small village with no evangelical church or home group. When he arrived there the first people he met where some Christian ladies, who told him with tears in their eyes that the previous day they have prayed that God will send them someone to start a Bible Study group in their village. These ladies immediately went around the village to spread the news and many people gathered to hear what Stoyan had to share with them about Jesus. That was how a new small group was started in the village of Sitovo and according to Stoyan it will also soon grow into a church. The Village of Sitovo
So please pray with us for these two new churches and the new believers in these villages. Let God continue to bless them and reveal Himself to them. This month was significant for one of our partnerships. There is a Bible Contest that is growing in popularity in Bulgaria. It has been organised by an organisation called Scripture Union. For the past 2 years we have been partnering with them in setting up the Bible Contest. It gathers teams of teenagers from different churches all over Bulgaria who compete between each other answering questions from the Bible. It is amazing how much these kids learn Participants in the Bible Contest and understand while preparing for the competition. We feel privileged and blessed to provide Bibles and support for these events and most of all to see children s lives changed by the power of the Word of God.
Awarding a participant in the Bible Contest During this month we organised a meeting with the supported from us church planters in the region of Kardjali. They are mostly former Muslims who share their faith with other Muslims. Hari Atanasov - the coordinator for Kardjali, among local people
The region of Kardjali is populated 80% with Muslims. On this gathering the chu rch planters shared their successes in ministry with us and also the difficulties they face. The work among Muslims is very difficult, specific and slow in giving results. Most of Kardjali region, on the map of Bulgaria the people are mistrustful and need a long time of building relationship with someone before trusting him. Some are afraid that if they accept the Christian faith they will be rejected by their families. And of course there are many who aggressively oppose to our church planters when they share about Jesus. But in the midst of all that the church planters feel a growing motivation inside them to continue the work of God. Very often they witness miracles happening and this opens doors for them that no one can close. At the end of the month was held the annual gathering of all the coordinators for Project Philip, from14 different regions of Bulgaria. The Coordinators for Project Philip
This is a time when each of them has the opportunity to share more about his ministry in the region and the needs he sees that we could meet. It is a time of sharing new ideas and planning for the future. At this gathering was decided that Bible League Bulgaria will organise training for teachers in the kindergartens on how to present a Bible lessons to their kids. This training will be for the teachers in the kindergartens with whom we work in the moment, where the kids are studying the materials from project Philip. Prayer needs:! In the beginning of May we will have our fifth and final module of Church Planting Training in the town of Veliko Tarnovo. So please support us in prayer for this training. Please pray for the Third Module of Church Planting Training for the region of Kardjali. May God continue to give strength and motivation to these people who have devoted their lives to serve him in difficult circumstances. Also please pray for the people in our team and their families because during the last few months most of us went through difficult times and faced both spiritual and physical challenges.