About the Ministry
Varna Baptist Church in first and foremost one that serves Christ and His Kingdom. Secondly, they serve the community – they provide winter meals for the poorest people in Varna, even bringing meals to those who are immobile. They have a foster-care ministry that is supporting foster parents and encourages them to care for children with disabilities. They also provide these families with extra support and professional teaching and therapy. This is a significant ministry as it slowly draws disabled children out of the institutions.
As a church they also support church members who are Bulgarian families working full-time in the student ministry in Varna. The building often is used by Christians and non-Christians for events like lecturing, concerts, and celebrations. They want the people in the city to experience the church as a place where they can come and feel safe.
The vision is to be used by God in such a way that they help change the culture and lifestyle of the Varna. They seek to be the salt and light to all the people living in the city. They want to actively plant church and have the dream of starting hundreds of Churches in every location and in all directions of the city.
Ministry Focuses
Meet the Pastor: George
My name is George – I was born in a small village near where my parents were ministering to a small Baptist Church. After ministering in this small village for many years we moved to live in Varna where my father was appointed to be a pastor of Varna Baptist Church. I accepted the Lord and this church when I was 17 years old.
When I was 25, I felt the Lord calling me into the ministry. The year was 1985 – Christians of Varna Baptist church gathered and had a night of prayer before the Government sent the final warning that the church building was to be closed for demolition. My father was still ministering at the church and I remember his pain to see the Church building demolished during his ministry. People were crying to the Lord to have mercy and stop the communists from doing this to the Church. During the prayers, one brother stood up and said:
“Brothers and sisters, do not cry so much for this place. God one day may bring us back here. You never know!”
These words pierced my heart and although I had no plans to become a minister myself, they sounded like being spoken to me. This hope and belief stayed with me for the following years as I begin to study theology and prepare for ministry.
In 1989 I was invited to go to the UK and do some theological studies at London Bible College (affiliated with Brunel University). It was during my studies that I was first introduced to church planting. I saw how church planting is a natural for churches that are healthy and growing. This idea renewed my hope and vision of a church to be planted in the center of Varna that would plant churches all across the city.
And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled.’ (Luke 14:23)