During March 15-17, we organized in Iasi, in the ‘Good News’ Baptist Church, located on Sărăriei Street, an evangelism training seminar for young people. Mainly there were young people from Iasi, most of them actually students in Iași, but also two other groups, of about 10 people each, from Suceava and Chisinau. In total, together with the organizers there were present about 100 young people. Most of these are part of OSCER, which is a student ministry, from Iasi and Suceava.
The training began Friday night with a first theoretical session. We continued Saturday morning from 9: 00 to 1: 00, and after lunch we went out in the city for the practical part of the training. We have organized 21 teams, consisting of an experienced leader and 2 or 3 trainees. A total of 64 people went out in the streets for two and a half hours.
The sharing experiences were amazing. The report session after we came back from the city was very encouraging for all those who participated. Out of 162 people who were approached, 136 heard the whole Gospel presentation, out of which 11 decided to accept Christ as Lord and Savior. Mainly, people were approached with the help of a questionnaire, most of them showing a great interest in the Gospel.
Saturday, the training continued until the evening, and on Sunday morning we went to Ruginoasa, a village near Târgu Frumos, where we served in the morning church service, and after that, organized in more evangelistic teams we went out to share the Gospel in 3 localities (Ruginoasa, Vașcani and Târgu Frumos). This evangelistic outreach was a good experience too. We went out about 35 people, together with those from Ruginoasa and we approached about 100 people, 10 of them taking the decision to accept the Lord Jesus. In the evening we attended the evening service of the ‘Good News’ Baptist Church, where we brought testimonies and encouragement to motivate church members to share the Gospel with others.
Thank God for all that has been done! We pray that all who have been part of this action to have been blessed and helped in their life of faith!
“I came to Iasi with a team of Moldovans, a total of 10. The expectations were different but one thing was clear, everyone was ready for new experiences. After the first day of the seminar everyone was surprised by the freedom and accessibility that everyone could receive in this field! Now there was already Day 2 and the most interesting part was coming, namely the exit to practice in the city . It was a very emotional day, each of these teams being able to approach at least one new person and share the Gospel with him . Immediately after this , after a short discussion with the pastor from Moldova, we took the decision to implement this ministry in our church and most importantly, in our daily lives!” Samuel, student (Chisinau).
“Initially I did not want to participate in this training course for evangelism. It didn’t seem to me to have much to learn, especially since I thought I’d have to lose two days. But after I went to this course, I realized how important it was to me. This course helped me build Christian principles in my life much better and it taught me how to talk to people about my faith much easier, especially through the illustrations presented. The mission outreach through Iaşi and the adjacent villages, again, was a wonderful experience, being amazed to see that people are increasingly open to listen to the Word of God. And I saw that the evangelism model presented in the course really has an impact.”- Iulian, student (Botoşani)
“This way of evangelism seems to me to be a very effective method, well-structured, that is not aggressive (the questionnaire helps to address the people). There is a big difference in how people respond when you ask them if they can help you with some answers to a questionnaire and how they answer if you ask them directly if they want to hear about God …” – Naomi, student (Paşcani)