This week marks the twenty-year anniversary of the revolution that overthrew the Communist regime in Romania. My wife still remembers the fear and uncertainty of living through those days.

Chuck Colson’s book, Being the Body, tells the story with an eye to the role of the Church. It all began with a Hungarian Reformed congregation that would rather bring down the government than part with their pastor…

The following is an abbreviated excerpt from Colson’s Being the Body. I hope you will pick up the book and read the whole story.

Communism and the Rise of Nicolae Ceausescu

In the 1940′s and 50′s, under young leaders like Nicolae Ceausescu, Romania’s nightmare began. Multiplying like cockroaches, the Communists eliminated the light of opposition any way they could. Students and peasants, pastors and priests – over the years, millions were thrown into prison. Many died there.

Meanwhile, Ceausescu climbed through the party ranks, dreaming of the day Romania would be his. By the early 1970′s his dream had come true. He was president of the country, with the party and the army firmly behind him.

Ruling from a kitschy Versailles-style palace in Bucharest, Ceausescu brutally plundered Romania and reshaped it in his own sick image. Romania’s soil has been called the most fertile in Eastern Europe, yet the Ceausescu government starved its people. While citizens shivered in long lines to buy bread laced with sawdust, the government shipped most of Romania’s food abroad. Meat, butter, sugar, oil and flour were strictly rationed. Vegetables were scarce, citrus fruits nonexistent.

While their people competed for bony chickens and occasional pork knuckles, the Ceausescu and top party officials had difficulty keeping their cholesterol levels in check. A menu from a birthday dinner for Elena Ceausescu make Marie Antoinette seem frugal.

“Systematization” and the “Securitate”

When he wasn’t choosing which type of caviar to consume, Ceausescu was promoting his pet program of “systematization,” which razed thousands of rural villages and transferred their citizens to apartment blocks in designated urban-industrial centers.

Raw concrete and exposed joints pockmarked these mid-rise flats that were a warren of dark, tiny rooms and flimsy walls, smelling of sewage and old garbage. Heated by a central system controlled by some sadistic state functionary, the blocks were maintained at about fifty degrees during the winter.

Many families had hot water only once a week, and electricity was rationed as well. Forty-watt bulbs were the highest wattage allowed in homes that had current only certain hours a day, and bulbs were removed from streetlights. At night the roads were utterly black, flanked by worthless steel stalks.

Meanwhile the Securitate, a spidery network of secret police that webbed the country, enforced the wretched status quo. An estimated one in four citizens informed for the secret police, who harassed and imprisoned anyone who didn’t salute the regime.

A Reformed Church On Fire for Christ

Laszlo Tokes, a large, handsome man with deep, compelling voice, had become pastor of the Hungarian Reformed Church in the center of Timisoara in 1987. Tokes quickly gained immense popularity, not only with the elderly in his congregation, but also with students from the university.

While the Communists weren’t particularly concerned about the old people, they did care about the students. Religion should have been irrelevant to this generation coming of age in the last decade of the century of Lenin.

Tokes mourned for his town and his country. The secularism of the atheistic regime had bitten deep into the hearts of the people. Still, he knew the church could help set those hearts on fire. His Reformed faith had given Tokes eyes to see what could happen when the church understood its identity, when the people stopped thinking of their faith as just a Sunday morning ritual and understood that the church was the community of the people of God that could infiltrate the world.

Tokes found dusty baptismal records of families who had once been part of the church but had dropped away because of the collaborator’s empty rites. Tokes invited them back. New converts were baptized. New tithes came in. The celebration of Communion took on new meaning as parishioners remembered the body and blood of Christ and realized that, indeed, the risen Christ was among them.

Within two years, the membership rolls of the Timisoara Hungarian Reformed Church had swelled to five thousand. But the growth was more than numbers; people were being discipled.

Both the Securiate and the ecclesiastical superiors knew they could not allow the church to continue like this. Tokes’ booming voice proclaiming the Word of God from the pulpit echoed in their minds like a bad dream. There was no place for this passionate Christian faith in Ceausescu’s Romania.

The methods of the Securiate were anything but subtle. They threatened members of Tokes’ church, and parishioners had to run a gauntlet of secret police just to enter the building each Sunday. Once the service began, agents would stand in front of the church cradling machine guns in their arms or dangling handcuffs in front of them. Merely attending church services became a silent act of protest.

Meanwhile, Tokes was denied his ration book; without it he was unable to buy bread, fuel, or meat. Parishioners, who by now had learned the real meaning of fellowship, shared from their own slim resources, smuggling firewood and food to the pastor and his family.

Then Tokes himself was attacked. Four men, their faces concealed behind ski masks, burst into the pastor’s small apartment in the church building. Laszlo and Edith happened to have visitors that evening, who helped then fight off the attackers with chairs. The assailants ran away, leaving Tokes bleeding from a knife wound in the face.

Waiting to Be Exiled

Soon after the secret police must have concluded that killing Tokes would simply make him a martyr. Instead, they would render him ineffective by exiling him to a small, remote village outside of Timisoara. A court ordered his eviction from his home and church, setting the date for December 15, 1989.

On Sunday, December 10, Laszlo Tokes looked out over the upturned faces of his congregation. ”Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,” Tokes announced, “I have been issued a summons of eviction. I will not accept it, so I will be taken from you by force next Friday. They want to do this in secret because they have no right to do it. Please, come next Friday and be witnesses of what will happen. Come, be peaceful, but be witnesses.”

The Candlelight Vigil

Five days later, on December 15, 1989, the secret police came to take Laszlo and Edith. They brought a moving van for the Tokes family’s belongings, but they never got to load the truck. For massed protectively around the entrance to the church building stood a human shield. Heeding their pastor’s call, members of the congregation had come to protest his removal.

The brick-and-concrete home of the Hungarian Reformed Church sat directly across from a tram stop. Each time the crowded cars unloaded, passengers could see the people gathered outside the church building.

“What is going on?” they asked. When they learned what was happening, many joined the group. Some were from other churches; some were just curious or supportive onlookers.

Meanwhile, Lajos Varga, a friend of Tokes, began making telephone calls, rallying believers from all over Timisoara – Baptists, Adventists, and Pentecostals, Orthodox, and Catholics. A burly, hearty Baptist pastor named Peter Dugulescu was also part of the crowd, as was Daniel Gavra, a student from Dugulescu’s congregation. Gavra made his way through the people toward Dugulescu.

“Look, Pastor,” he said, opening his jacket surreptitiously because of the Securitate agents.

The way things were escalating, Dugulescu half expected to see some sort of weapon. But the lump in Gavra’s jacket was a paper packet filled with dozens of candle stubs.

It was past one o’clock in the morning when Tokes opened the window of his apartment a final time before he went to bed. He couldn’t believe his eyes. Light from hundreds of candles pierced the darkness. Hands, cupped close to the people’s hearts, sheltered the flickering flames, and the flames lighted their faces with a warm glow.

Rumblings of Revolution

The extraordinary demonstration continued throughout that night and into the following day. Then, late in the afternoon, the people took the protest a step further than a show of solidarity for Laszlo Tokes. For the first time in their lives, Romanians shouted their secret dreams aloud: “Liberty! Freedom!”

Students began singing a patriotic song that the Communists had banned years before: “Awake, Romania!” And much later, as night fell on December 16, someone began shouting: “Down with Ceausescu! Down with Communism!” Part of the crowd headed downtown to the city square, while the remainder kept guard at Tokes’ church.

Before dawn of December 17, the secret police finally made their move and broke through the people. As they did so, Laszlo and Edith took refuge in the church sanctuary near the Communion table. Tokes wrapped himself in his heavy clerical robe and picked up a Bible, holding it like a weapon.

The bolted church door gave way with a splintering crash, and the police swarmed into the building. They beat Tokes until his face was bloody. Then they took him and Edith away into the night.

With their pastor gone, the crowds moved from the Hungarian Reformed Church to the central square of Timisoara. By now armed troops, shields, dogs, and tanks filled the streets. But even with the army in place, the people did not retreat. For this had become a full-scale protest of Timisoara massed in a city square, shouting and singing. Daniel Gavra and many others distributed candles. And when darkness fell, the people – lighted their flames against the night.

The Communists responded with the brute force they had always employed when threatened by freedom seekers. They ordered their troops to open fire on the protestors.

Daniel Gavra and a number of other believers marched into the square carrying the new flag of the revolution: Romania’s tricolor with its Communist emblem scissored out of the middle. As they marched, Gavra linked arms with a young Pentecostal girl.

The soldiers opened fire, and the girl slipped from his arm. She was dead by the time she hit the pavement. Daniel barely had time to comprehend what had happened when there was another explosion and he fell, his left leg blown away by a barrage of bullets.

In the confusion of the crowd and the darkness, the savage gunfire claimed hundreds of victims, but the people of Timisoara stood strong. Though shocked at the cost of their stand, they know there was no middle ground. They had decided to stand for truth against lies, and stand they would.

By Christmas 1989, the world reeled with the results of that stand: Romania was free and Ceausescu was gone. The people of Timisoara rejoiced. Churches filled with worshipers praising God.

A few days after Christmas, Pastor Peter Dugulescu opened the door of the hospital ward where Daniel Gavra had been taken after he was shot. The boy was still recuperating, his wounds bandaged and a stump where his left leg had been. But Daniel’s spirit had not been shattered.

“Pastor,” he said, “I don’t mind so much the loss of my leg. After all, it was I who lit the first candle.”

This is the final installment in this week’s Romanian forum, in which we are discussing Romanian Baptist practices regarding conversion, discipleship, and baptism. (Read Parts 1 & 2 and info about the participants.)

Trevin Wax: How do you deal with teenagers and adults who repent and believe?

Marius Cruceru: Usually, we spend 10-12 weeks catechizing them. After that, they go through a period in which we supervise their spiritual state. After that, we invite them before the elders for an interview. At the end, we have them testify publicly before the church how they came to Christ. And finally, they are baptized.

Doru Hnatiuc: We take them through a catechesis that focuses on discipleship, spiritual growth, and doctrinal clarification.

Corneliu Simut: I think we could make some improvements here. Generally, Baptist churches hold evangelistic services throughout the year and then fix a date for a baptismal service. The problem is that if the baptism is in the month of August, and yet we begin evangelism in January, there might be a number of people who repent during those months. Those who repented in January will go through more catechesis than those who repented in July; and yet we still baptize them all in August.

What do we do with the teens and adults? We catechize them and then seek to involve them in church ministry. We have some problems here too. We tend to direct them to only a few places of service (choir, orchestra, etc.) when there are other ministries that we sometimes neglect.

Trevin Wax: How long is the period between conversion and baptism?

Corneliu Simut: There is not a fixed time frame, but it is usually about 6 months.

Marius Cruceru: Sometimes it can be up to a year.

Doru Hnatiuc: It varies depending on the person and depending on the church. Usually, it’s a few months.

Trevin Wax: What does catechism in Romanian Baptist churches look like?

Corneliu Simut: Very simple. It is a presentation of the most important teachings of Scripture (God, revelation, man, salvation, Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Church, and Last Things).

The Romanian confession of faith was put together in a single night in 1948 at the request of the Communist authorities. That’s why the first half is very detailed, and the second half only has a few verses and without explanation. Thankfully, the teaching on salvation is well-represented, but sometimes other important doctrines are ignored.

Marius Cruceru: The catechism is an overview of the Confession of faith. It involves free and open discussion, and much talk about the changes one makes when called to follow Christ.

Doru Hnatiuc: The catechism varies from church to church. When I participated in catechesis, I followed a course of biblical doctrines. They were very well explained to me and applied to my personal life. There were also lessons on discipleship and spiritual growth.

So in my case, I try to combine an education in doctrine and discipleship. I use only my Bible. The people take notes. It is helpful to have something for them to fill out.

Trevin Wax: How would you advise Southern Baptists in America regarding this problem of rebaptism?

Corneliu Simut: Don’t look for quick results. Conversion is something the Holy Spirit does, not us. All we can do is preach the gospel, the Word of God revealed for our salvation. We can do no more than that.

Sometimes, I think in our desire for efficiency, we prefer to lift up the banner of great spiritual awakenings (one great sermon and 1000 new converts) and we downplay the example of the prophets (one great sermon and very few, if any, converts), forgetting that God does the work of rebirth, not us.

Marius Cruceru: The problem of “rebaptism” is not the real problem. It’s an ecclesiological crisis. It goes back to an understanding of the church. We don’t need a hyper-sacramental understanding of baptism, but neither do we need a relaxed and casual view of baptism.

Doru Hnatiuc: There is no simple answer. The question has major theological and doctrinal implications. The practice of the church in this matter leads to a reorientation around other key doctrines (like church discipline, methods of evangelism, the gospel, salvation, evangelistic invitations, decision/faith, etc.).

In the U.S., I once helped at a church where the pastor offered a Bible to all those who had been baptized the week before. One of the baptized people was his wife, who had declared that her baptism at 10 years old had been invalid. The pastor and his wife were in that church for many years. She had been a teacher in Sunday School. She had led many children to Christ, who had later been baptized. She had taught these children the way of faith, lived in obedience to the Lord, and had raised her own children in godliness.

Was all of this fruit invalid? Or just her baptism? No one at the church was thinking through these sorts of implications. She might have said that her fruit is not invalid just as it is possible for a lost pastor to lead others to Christ and to baptize them, and his state before God not affect the act of baptism.

My question is this: If there is evidence of a new life in Christ, of a life of obedience to him, why then does that evidence not confirm the validity of the early decision and baptism? We need to think about these implications and make some decisions. Otherwise, we are going to wind up in ridiculous situations, teaching deformed doctrines and leading others in aberrant practices.

This week, I am posting a forum with several Romanian Baptist pastors and theologians on the problem of “rebaptism” in the SBC. (Click here for information about the participants, and here for yesterday’s forum.)

Trevin Wax: How do you deal with children who repent and believe?

Corneliu Simut: Usually, we explain that it is better to wait until they are a little older to be baptized so that the church can see the evidence of their faith. Baptism does not save, and yet its place on the path of repentance is important. Children, generally, have no problem accepting this explanation and are fine with putting off baptism until they are a bit older. The problem is that many times, the parents are the ones pushing for their children to be baptized at fragile ages.

Marius Cruceru: We hold off baptism until we see greater maturity in a child. Usually, we wait until they are about 14 years old. In some cases (they are rare), we will baptize children under 14.

A child must be able to show a great level of maturity and a clear understanding of biblical teaching. They must also prove that they are very conscious of what they are doing. If the teenager is under 18, and if the parents are believers, we speak also with them to see if the change in their life is real.

Doru Hnatiuc preaching

Doru Hnatiuc: Children are encouraged to believe in Jesus. We teach them that they are saved through genuine faith in the Lord Jesus, and they must follow him in a life of obedience. Obedience involves prayer, Bible reading, participation in the life of the Church, witnessing to others, etc.

In this process of growth, some will “re-declare” their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as personal Savior and Lord a few years later, after they have come to understand the moral implications of repentance and walking with the Lord through faith. Usually, they will say that they received the Lord at ages ranging from 15-20. They do not refer to their earlier years of prayer and Bible study in Sunday School.

Rarely, but occasionally, a teenager will place their conversion experience earlier in life. My personal testimony goes back to a conversion experience around the age of 8 or 9. I do not remember exactly what touched my heart and caused me to invite the Lord into my life, but I remember diving into the Scriptures with great zeal.

No one encouraged me then to be baptized, but I knew, just like other children my age who had grown up in the Baptist church, that I belonged to the Lord, that I was in Christ, and that he wanted me to put away sin and put on holiness, even if I did not understand the full moral implications of a life of holiness.

When I was 16, I expressed a desire to be baptized, and after a full year of catechesis, I was baptized. I considered myself “saved” beforehand and knew that if I were to die, I would be with the Lord, but I understood that baptism is an act for those who can understand the gravity of such testimony and its implications.

Up until around 1972-74, the Communist authorities did not give pastors the freedom to baptize people under 18. Because we affirmed that repentance is a personal decision on the part of a mature individual, the Communists forced the 18-year mark as the definition of “maturity.” Only then, at the age of 18 – by signing a personal request and by showing the authorities your identification (and thus assuming all the consequences that baptism would bring) – only then could a person be baptized.

In the mid 1970′s, the age of baptism was lowered because a group of 52 pastors signed a petition to Ceausescu in which they asked that state authorities no longer be involved in approving baptism.

Likewise, in that period of time, the Navigators and Campus Crusade began to encourage large-scale evangelism. They brought along the idea that conversion takes place in the very moment someone indicates any decision at all. They also strongly encouraged the evangelism of children. At that time, evangelistic invitations appeared in which people eventually got the idea that what matters is if you raise your hand, etc.

Trevin Wax: The Bible doesn’t specify a minimum age for baptism. On what grounds do you choose to refrain from baptizing young children?

Marius Cruceru: We base this decision on three factors: maturity, responsibility, and evidence of faith. Romans 14:12, 2 Peter 1:5, etc. show us that we must have knowledge for faith, correct understanding, maturity in our grasping of Christian truth (Romans 10).

Doru Hnatiuc: I think that we base this idea on the same basis for which we conclude that a child is not yet mature enough to vote, to marry, to be involved in sexual activity, to work, etc.

At our church business meetings, all members participate. Some of the discussions there deal with certain subjects that would be inappropriate for young children.

Are baptized children to be considered members with full rights? It’s hard to respond to that question with a simple “yes” or “no.” Can a child be a candidate as an elder? We would say “no.” Why? Simply because the child does not show the necessary maturity to make difficult decisions, debate certain problems, and is not yet responsible for certain actions.

It is true that the internet, the educational system, the decadence of society have all brought new problems: girls pregnant at 11, boys having sex at 13, early understanding of sexual activity, etc. Do these problems make children more mature, more responsible, or healthier psychologically, physically, and spiritually? Of course not. They remain children who are easily manipulated, easily directed toward error, children who prefer toys instead of work tools and have a still-unformed view of life.

Corneliu Simut: Baptism is the testimony of the believer who has chosen to testify before the church and the world his/her faith in Jesus Christ. Adults and children can do this; and yet we must not ignore the reality of sin.

People develop as persons throughout their teenage years. The distinction between a teenager and a child is not merely in the capacity to comprehend one’s faith, but also the capacity to understand the sinfulness of one’s life (in specific manifestations). A 7-year-old perceives his/her sin differently than a 16-year-old. This perception has repercussions in how we understand our faith and walk with God.

Yesterday, I announced that I would be posting a forum of Romanian Baptists on the problem of “rebaptism” in the United States. Today, the forum begins with these pastors/theologians diagnosing the deeper problems of which “rebaptism” is merely the symptom.

Trevin Wax: It has been estimated that 40% of the baptisms reported in Southern Baptist churches are “rebaptisms.” Why do we see this problem in the United States? What is your diagnosis?

Paul Negrut: I do not know all the details regarding the situation of evangelical churches in the USA, so my perspective may need to be corrected at times. But I think that there are two theological currents that have swept evangelical churches into dangerous waters.

The first is Charles Finney’s belief that man can take an active role in converting other people through well-tuned evangelistic services.

The second is the Church Growth Movement, which has put a major emphasis on sociological and cultural factors of church growth.

Both of these currents have diminished the conviction of believers that we must be totally dependent on the sovereign work of God in spiritual conversion and growth. Prayer and fasting, preaching the whole counsel of God, systematic study of the Scriptures for those newly converted – these activities have been replaced by services of religious entertainment designed to please the average man on the street. Superficial conversions and rushed baptisms, without true repentance and faith that is based on knowledge of the Scriptures, have been reported as a way of demonstrating church growth.

Numbers have become the fundamental criterion for evaluating success in ministry. The truth is that fruit that does not remain is not true fruit and brings no glory to God.

Corneliu Simut: Re-baptism is a problem in the U.S. because the goal is rapid results. A large number of people baptized is what justifies the work of the pastor and confirms his efficiency (so-called) in ministry. Because the average stay of a pastor in a Southern Baptist Church is just a few years, there is an acute sense on the part of the pastor to prove his worth by seeing quick results.

Marius Cruceru

Marius Cruceru: I was shocked the first time I heard someone in America testifying in the baptismal waters for a third time. It seems to me the differences are theological.

1. In Romania, because of the Eastern Orthodox background, baptism is seen as sacramental, as a very unique event, and in covenantal terms.
2. The folk language of the Romanian people has given rise to the idea of baptism as a covenant. I don’t think this language is biblical, but I also don’t think you can diminish the significance of baptism by saying it’s just a personal “dedication.”
3. Baptism represents the symbol of the death and resurrection of Christ. These are unique, once-for-all events.
4. The difference between the two symbols (Lord’s Supper and Baptism) is that baptism represents a repetitious action. Baptism takes place once.
5. Both Communion and Baptism are viewed by Romanian believers in a semi-sacramental sense. Romanian believers say that something is happening during the Lord’s Supper, and tend to reject the purely Zwinglian understanding of Communion.
6. It is true that the Eastern Orthodox influence may be what pushes us into these ideas, but I’m not sure that is a bad thing. Devaluing these actions is most assuredly wrong. (I remember a Campus Crusade group of Americans who came and had the Lord’s Supper on the beach in their bathing suits, with cookies and Coca Cola, in an attempt to be relevant, which actually proved to be extremely offensive to Romanians.)
7. I have observed that some American preachers and missionaries in Romania tend to minimize the significance of the ordinances.

Doru Hnatiuc: I am not sure why this problem is so widespread in the U.S. I tend to think it is because of the church’s view of baptism.

Likewise, I believe that Americans eventually question the legitimacy of earlier spiritual decisions. Perhaps they question their decision because they made it at a young age or made it for primarily emotional reasons. Whatever the reason, some people come to realize their earlier decision was either too hasty or too shallow.

Sometimes, all it takes is to meet someone else who has been re-baptized (and it is easier to find this phenomenon in the U.S. than in Romania).

Another reason is that, in the U.S., baptism does not cost a person as much as in Romania (the price of being rejected by family, by society, openly mocked, etc.). Therefore, Americans find it much easier to hop from church to church or even denomination to denomination. Salvation is a personal decision that others respect.

Trevin Wax: Why does the problem of “rebaptism” not take place in Romania?

Paul Negrut: The beginnings of the Baptist movement in Romania were marked by persecution on the part of the state authorities and the Orthodox Church. Then, the Communist persecution followed.

In a time of persecution, the gospel is clearly defined over against the culture. In a context of persecution, faith is not simply a theoretic acceptance of a religion, but a profound action that involves the total consecration of a person to the lordship of Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit over the mind, feelings, and will.

Repentance and faith are two wings with which a saved person follows in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus. Obedience to the Lord involves the supreme price of life and freedom. The difference between believers and non-believers is clearly visible.

Religious freedom within the context of a culture in which faith does not require such a high cost can quickly turn into a context which favors superficial and false conversions.

Doru Hnatiuc

Doru Hnatiuc: The first reason why rebaptism does not take place in Romania is because the proclamation of the doctrine of baptism emphasizes the action as an unrepeatable identification with the death and burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Just as we are not born again on multiple occasions, neither should we be baptized on multiple occasions.

Scripture does not recount one case of rebaptism. (In Acts, we read of the baptism of the disciples of John, but that is not a case of reapplying the same Christian baptism.) In the case of those who fall into sin, the teaching of Scripture directs us toward church discipline. We are to correct and support those who repent of sin, but never to rebaptize them. The adulterer in Corinth was received again into fellowship, not rebaptized.

If someone says that the act of baptism meant absolutely nothing, that the whole experience declared at baptism was a lie and that the declaration of faith in Jesus was completely false, we would probably consider rebaptism after a very long and profound time of thought and observation. The risk would be that a great number of believers, under emotional pressure, might think that whenever they are facing spiritual depression, attacks from the evil one, besetting sins or doubts about salvation, they would ask for rebaptism.

It’s interesting that we Baptists (and other evangelicals in general) are accused of re-baptizing those who come from Orthodox or Catholic backgrounds and consider themselves already baptized. Our response to this accusation is that an act that takes place before the act of personal, testifying faith is invalid.

Corneliu Simut: One of the reasons we do not see “rebaptism” is because we refrain from baptizing children.

Marius Cruceru: The significance of baptism is raised to the level of “covenant.” It is seen at the level of a wedding. The action is viewed as extremely important, something that splits your life into two sections (before baptism and after baptism), and it has a sacramental weight to it.

Trevin Wax: Tomorrow, we’ll look into how Romanians view the baptism of small children.

I have a number of friends who have grown up in Baptist churches. Many were baptized as children, again as teenagers, and then again as adults. (I remember one church baptizing the entire youth group after a special weekend retreat. Nevermind that most of these teens had grown up in church and been baptized once or twice before!)

Most of those who have been baptized more than once will claim that their earlier baptisms were invalid because they were not truly saved, or they did not know enough about what was going on to see their baptism as personally meaningful. Dr. Danny Akin recently estimated that perhaps 50% of our baptisms are “re-baptisms.”

During my five years of ministry in Romania, I discovered that this problem (which seems to plague Southern Baptist churches in the States) was virtually non-existent in Eastern Europe. In five years time, I never once witnessed a “re-baptism.” Never once did someone in a Baptist church there even ask for such a thing.

Why do Baptists in America have this problem? And how do Baptists in Romania avoid this problem?

In answer to this question, I will be posting a forum featuring several Romanian Baptist theologians and pastors. I have asked some specific questions about Baptist practice in Romania, and have translated their answers for the benefit of Southern Baptists in the U.S.

Americans send missionaries elsewhere to train others. But I believe that we in America can benefit from hearing from our brothers and sisters overseas as well. Here are brief biographies of the participants in this week’s forum.

Dr. Paul Negruț

President of Emanuel University of Oradea

Pastor of Emanuel Baptist Church, Oradea, Romania

Former president of the Romanian Baptist Union

Married to Delia since 1975; 2 daughters: Anna-Salomea (b. 1979), married to John, gave us first grandson, Paul Gabriel (4 yr. old) and Lois Paula (b. 1985), married to Sebastian.

Author of Revelație, Scriptură, Comuniune, Cristos, Biserica și Lucrurile de pe Urmă, Suveranitatea lui Dumnezeu și Sensul Vieții sub Soare, Nu este Bine ca Omul să fie Singur, and Biserica, Statul și Autoritatea.

Doru Hnatiuc

Pastor of Emanuel Baptist Church, Oradea

Professor of Homiletics at Emanuel University

Contributor of articles to Creștinul Azi and Mesaj

Editor of numerous books

Dr. Corneliu Simuț

Reader in Dogmatic & Historical Theology at Emanuel University

Editor of Perichoresis

Author of The Doctrine of Salvation in the Sermons of Richard Hooker, A Critical Study of Hans Kung’s Ecclesiology: From Traditionalism to Modernism, The Ontology of the Church in Hans Kung and Richard Hooker And His Early Doctrine Of Justification

Dr. Marius Cruceru

Pastor of Aleșd Baptist Church

Dean of the School of Theology at Emanuel University

Author of Intoarcerea în Oglinda and Augustin: Un Amator…

Many thanks to those of you who prayed for us during our recent visit to Romania.
Here are some pictures (with captions) from our trip.

Preaching in the village of Lugasu de Jos

Preaching at Emanuel Baptist Church, the second largest Baptist church in Europe

Teaching pastoral theology students at Emanuel University

A group picture with 3rd year theology students at Emanuel

Celebrating Labor Day in Europe in the outdoors

Recording an interview for a Christian radio station

Sightseeing in downtown Oradea

Corina and I - recording a radio interview this morning in Oradea, Romania

We are finishing up our two-week stay in Romania. The kids have finally adjusted to the time difference (just in time for us to head back home!). Our stay has been delightful. It has been a joy to spend time with friends and family. I have thoroughly enjoyed ministering again in Romania.

Yesterday, I was honored to administer Communion in the village church that I served in before I was ordained as a pastor. We had lunch with the family whose home I stayed in during my weekends in the village back in 2000-02. As we sat around the table and told stories, it seemed to me and Corina that we had never left. Great friends don’t have to catch up. They pick right back up where they left off.

Today, Corina and I recorded a radio interview for a national Christian radio station. We answered many questions about life and ministry in the United States, how our marriage works (since we are from two different cultures/nationalities, etc.), and how Christians are responding to the financial crisis in the United States. I recorded a different radio interview last week. Hopefully, the audio for these two programs will soon be available on this website for any Romanian listeners who might be interested in the contents.

Please pray for us as we pack things up and prepare to say goodbye. We have had a wonderful visit, but we do look forward to going home and continuing the ministry God has given us there.

Be on the look-out for more pictures from our trip. I have posted some to Facebook, but will post some more on the blog next week. Thanks again for your prayers!

Today, we served in two churches that are dear to our hearts. First, we went to the village church where my father-in-law pastors. It was great to see old friends again and I enjoyed the opportunity to bring a message of encouragement and challenge from God’s Word.

This afternoon, we came back to the city and I preached at Emanuel Baptist Church (pictured left). During the time we spent in Oradea, Emanuel was our “default” church whenever I happened to have a Sunday morning or evening free and was not preaching somewhere. Corina grew up in this church, so we enjoyed seeing friends that we have missed the past few years. It was also a great honor for me to be invited to speak at this church!

Thank you for praying for us on this trip. Please continue to pray for the kids. They are having a hard time with the jet lag, and by extension, we aren’t getting too much sleep either! I will be teaching at Emanuel University this week, and I look forward to spending some time with the pastoral theology students. Pray that our time is fruitful.

Corina and I and the kids arrived yesterday in Romania for a two-week stay. The plane trip was not as difficult as we expected, but our first night here was long. The jet lag is hard on the kids (not to mention us adults!).

A few months ago, several blog readers helped us come up with the funds to translate my book, Holy Subversion, into Romanian so that I could teach the material to pastoral students here in their native tongue. I will begin teaching the contents of my book on Monday. I will also be preaching in several churches in the area this week. Tomorrow, I preach at the church where Corina’s dad pastors, as well as Emanuel Baptist in the afternoon.

We are excited to be back in Romania after a 4-year absence. It has already been wonderful to see family that we have not seen in a very long time. I ask my readers to continue praying for us as we are here – that we will have a terrific time with family and friends and that I will be able to effectively minister to the Romanian congregations and students.

UPDATE: As of Feb. 6, our goal of $500 has been reached.

Thanks to all who are joining us in this mission!

Picture this:

You are in the formerly-Communist country of Romania, in what was once an underground Bible college.

You have been invited to teach bright, young theology students preparing for pastoral ministry.

You have one week of intensive courses, in which you can open up the Scriptures and share what God has laid upon your heart.

Lord willing, I will have this opportunity in April of this year. I have been invited to teach at Emanuel University, my alma mater, and to preach in the Romanian churches I ministered in during my five-year stay in Romania.

While in Romania, I hope to present the contents of my forthcoming book, Holy Subversion: Allegiance to Christ in an Age of Rivals. In order to present this material effectively (and to be able to teach fluently in Romanian), I will need to rely on a professional Christian translator who can translate the book for me before I get there. The cost of translation is $500.

I have never used this blog to ask for any sort of financial assistance before, but I believe the Lord is leading me to give my readers an opportunity to take part in this mission. If only 50 of my readers give $10 each, the cost would be covered.

If you would like to give to this project and help cover the cost of translating this book, you can give with PayPal (Click here). Or if you would like to send a check, please send me an email so I can email you my home address. Any additional funds raised will go to cover my travel expenses and airplane ticket.

It will be a blessing to return to Romania this Spring and know that many of the readers of this blog are taking part in the mission.