Romania Update: Brasov

On Tuesday evening, we arrived in Brasov, arguably the most beautiful city in Romania, though some argue Cluj is superior. Brasov has 227,000 people, compared to 147,000 in Arad and 127,000 in Targu Mureș. Arad is flat, Targu Mureș has a few hills, but Romania sprawls around several mountains. Romanian pastors say Brasov is one of the toughest cities to reach with the Gospel due to spiritual apathy and dead orthodoxy. The priests are barely involved in the lives of the people, and the people are barely involved in the life of the church. The Orthodox church primarily functions as a political organization, offering social services like marriage, baptism and funerals for a fee. The priests teach that evangelicals are worse than pagans because we believe heresy. They teach that "repenters" (evangelicals) are not Romanians. For this reason, most people will not even attend an evangelical service.

On Wednesday, we met with a handful of leaders from Brasov in the morning. Then we gathered for a prayer meeting in the evening. We discussed politics, culture, discipleship, church planting and, of course, food. We have been building relationships with these men for the past 3 years, so it was great to catch up with our friends.