Romanian pastors in the States seek ‘a new blaze’

ALPHARETTA, Ga. — “We need a new blaze,” said Ted Cocian, pastor of First Romanian Baptist Church of Atlanta.

Romanian Southern Baptists need to move quickly, Cocian and other pastors agreed, in order to reach a vision of doubling their congregations and revitalizing the Romanian Baptist community in North America.

That “new blaze” is a call for each of the 45 Romanian churches that are part of the Southern Baptist Convention to focus their energies on planting one church or more — thus increasing the number of Romanian Baptist churches to about 100 by the year 2020.

The pastors recognize they are commanded to make disciples of all people — Romanian or not. But among the 500,000-plus Romanians living in the United States and Canada, the influence of Christians is dwindling as second- and third-generation Romanians leave churches in large numbers.

Liviu Percy, pastor of the Romanian Baptist Church in Charlotte, N.C., said a fondness for the good old days keeps Romanian churches from reaching outside themselves.

“Romanian culture is so rich,” Percy said. “We enjoy good music, good plays, good poetry, and it’s easy for our members to think that this is all church is about. But these cultural experiences and fellowship are just the beginning.”

Romanian pastors came from California, North Carolina, Michigan, Texas, Ohio, Illinois, Florida, Massachusetts, Georgia and British Columbia for the March 24–26 sessions at the North American Mission Board in Alpharetta, Ga.