The Baptist Union of Romania (BUR) said it is looking to the Bible rather than political or legal judgments in dealing with a divisive political history that impacted the denomination.
At issue is the matter of pastors who may have cooperated with the secret police when Romania was under Communist rule, resulting in the persecution of many Baptist pastors and church members.
One of those persecuted was Paul Negrut, now president of BUR. Negrut said Romanian Baptists have agreed to deal with their Communist past in a biblical, pastoral way.
Negrut said each pastor who may have cooperated with the secret police has been asked to share the information they disclosed.
“Once that is done there will be no judicial decision, but we will deal with this pastorally and forgive the person and move on,” he said. “Because of this,” Negrut said, “there is no tension from the past and we can focus on evangelism and church growth as our priority.”
Negrut said there are currently more than 100,000 baptized believers in 1,800 Baptist churches in Romania. When Communism ended in 1990 there were only 600 churches. In addition, he said more than 10,000 people were baptized in 2001.
Negrut said that Baptists feel a greater sense of unity than ever before, not only because of their decision to deal with what happened under Communism, but also in their commitment to the principle of separation of church and state.
During this time of great economic hardship in his country, Negrut said the government issued laws for pastors to register and receive government subsidies.
“This was a great temptation,” Negrut said, “because a Baptist pastor makes in U.S. funds $80–$100 per month.
However, he said pastors met and prayed and decided to say no to the government offer.
In an effort to strengthen the work of the BUR, Negrut said they have asked pastors “who may have entered the ministry for many different reasons” to take a year out of their schedule for prayer and reflection to see what God is calling them to do.
Addressing other issues, Negrut said there have been many attacks on churches in Romania, including one in 1997, when a group of people beat up nine Baptist Christians in the town of Ruginoasa on Easter.
Negrut thanked BWA General Secretary Denton Lotz who met with then-President Ion Iliescu in 1991 and again in December 1997 when he met with President Emil Constantinescu.
In the meeting with Constantinescu, Lotz urged the president to grant religious freedom to all people. Negrut said the appeal had a profound impact but it was now time to address the issue again, especially as it is concerned a new proposed law that would give priority to Orthodox religions because of an anti-evangelical clause in the new draft law on religions.
Sharing an example of harassment Baptists must still endure, Negrut said several Baptist pastors received permission last November to show the “Jesus” film at a town hall. When they arrived in the town and were at the home of some friends, one of the town’s priests came with others and began to “call down curses on the Baptist church.”
Negrut said they threatened to throw the Baptist leaders out of the town and even to harm them. This continued for quite a while and one of the people with the priest pierced one of the van’s rear tires with a knife, causing a flat tire.
Negrut said the harassment continued until Baptist leaders were forced to leave the town.
When the television reporters tried to interview some of the people who were involved in the conflict they were met by 400 to 500 angry people who had again been stirred up by the priest, according to Negrut. (BWA)
Share with others: