Volume 43      Number 1                                                                                 September 2000

For three consecutive summers I have visited Bulgaria. On this occasion I visited Paris for three days on the way there and London for three days on the return. My brother-in-law accompanied me for the entire trip, and in Bulgaria I was joined by three Bulgarian Christians who attend Truman State University in Kirksville.

While in Paris, I met with Robert Limb who attends the church of Christ. The congregation is small, and three or four men rotate the preaching. Bro. Limb favors mutual ministry and actually grew up with such a practice in England. It may surprise you to learn that David Lloyd-George, former Prime Minister, grew up in such a congregation, and his early public speaking models were members of the church. Many of these congregations in England continue to use only one cup in the communion service, although the church in Paris uses multiple cups. We shared some teaching materials and benevolent funds with Bro. Limb. The complex that houses their meeting place is undergoing renovation, and the church will be called upon to bear part of the expense.

In Bulgaria we were able to meet Venelin Arnaoudov, a Christian with whom Eli Levi has an association. We gave him some teaching materials and some benevolent funds. We were unable to speak in Sophia since I already had preaching appointments for two Sundays, first in Blagoevgrad and the second in Bansko. In the first city we had several Bible studies with one resulting in baptism. We gave them a communion set donated from the brethren in Lawrence, Kansas. We also placed an ad for a Bible Correspondence Course in a regional paper that appeared every Saturday for the summer. The ad was written in English and offered a free Bible course from a friend in America. The response has not been tremendous, and we are considering internet courses in the future. One interesting item was finding internet cafes where one can pay a fee to check email, etc., while enjoying a beverage or meal. Traveling onto Bansko, a village in the Pirin Mountains not far from Greece, we had additional Bible studies and a worship service in the home of George Gintchin. The church in Bansko is small and meets infrequently, but we were pleased that several family members of our students attended the service. The funds collected were used to purchase Bulgarian Bibles. Political corruption in the struggling Bulgarian economy led us to an interesting discussion with one Christian about paying taxes. I pointed out that Jesus told the Jews of his day to pay tribute to Caesar, and until somebody in Bulgaria started doing the right thing, the country would never improve.

After spending two Sundays and a total of eight days in Bulgaria, we finally traveled to London. I spoke at one church near Gatwick Airport on the concept of “Restoring the New Testament Church.” This group, formed about three years ago, meets in a community building on Sundays and in small groups in the mid-week. We spent the night with the Stan Frank family, a white couple who adopted three black children. Stan’s wife grew up in Zimbabwe, and her sister and children were visiting because of the political upheaval in that part of Africa.

The trip has challenged me to examine new ways to promote Bible study and has convinced me of the need for establishing long-term interpersonal ties with individuals, both Christians and non-Christians, if our overseas missions efforts are to be successful.