The first day after he arrived in Melbourne, Australia, as a refugee, Mark Hobafcovich and his friends were greeted by a member of a local Romanian-speaking church. Because of his witness during a vulnerable time, Hobafcovich eventually accepted Christ and a call to Christian ministry.
Today, as a missionary and church planter, Hobafcovich is passionate about making it possible for others to have the opportunity of worshiping in their own “heart language” — the language they use when they relate most intimately with God and others. Even among immigrants who are reasonably comfortable with English, communication barriers sometimes get in the way of true worship.
“I’m sold out to this ministry because I am a recipient of it,” he said.
Hobafcovich and his wife, Christine, are among nearly 5,200 missionaries in the United States and Canada supported by the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions. They are also featured during the March 7–14 Week of Prayer and North American Mission Study, which this year focus on “The World at Our Doorstep.”
As a national missionary with the North American Mission Board (NAMB), Hobafcovich previously worked to help European, Middle Eastern, Brazilian and Haitian churches plant new language congregations.
In January he began serving on the staff of NAMB, where he coordinates the work of national missionaries working to help start churches among all people groups.
After accepting Christ and being discipled by the Romanian congregation in Australia, Hobafcovich planted two new churches in Australia. He later started a Romanian congregation in Nashville and became church extension director for the local association.
His work as a national missionary is from a big-picture perspective, but the same principles apply. His goal is to find emerging communities of a particular ethnic group where there might be a few people interested in starting a church.
He then works with other churches to find sponsors and meeting places so the new church can be started.
His work often begins with research to see where significant numbers of a particular ethnic group are locating.
“Sometimes we make the local association or state convention aware of the new people that are in their area,” he said last year. “We have research and relationships with networks of other people groups. And we work together to come up with a specific strategy for reaching that particular people group.”
Hobafcovich learned there was a sizable community of people from the former Soviet republic of Moldova in the Greenfield, Mass., area, for instance, and God had already prepared the way for a church planter to come there. Soon Providence Romanian Baptist Church was formed. Then it multiplied itself with congregations in Springfield, Worcester and other areas.
“Because of that church and the influence that church had in working with our partners, there are seven Moldovan churches as part of the SBC,” he said.
Hobafcovich also has worked toward seeing a Romanian congregation established in San Diego, home to about 3,000 Romanian immigrants.
A Romanian church in the Los Angeles area was found to serve as sponsor, and another local congregation to provide meeting space. A few evangelical families were also located that could help get the church going.
“We have a layperson that was just raised up from the mother church that is responsible for the mission work in San Diego,” he said. “So what I say is, maybe God is leading him to take on the leadership of this church and possibly become the pastor.”
Other churches were started in Pittsburgh, Penn.; Astoria, N.Y., and other areas.
Nationally, Hobafcovich also helped lead the Romanian Baptist Fellowship to adopt an ambitious goal for church planting last year — to have 100 Romanian churches and 10,000 baptized members by the year 2013.
“That is exciting, because I see that this God-given vision was caught by the people,” he said, noting that part of his job now is to work with Romanian Baptist Fellowship leaders in developing strategies for implementing their goal.
His role is as an encourager and facilitator, giving pastors and churches the resources they need to accomplish the church-planting vision God has given them.
“That’s how the Lord did it in His lifetime; therefore, it is a good model for us to follow too, to be mentors to others so they will catch the vision and run with it,” Hobafcovich said. (BP)
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