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Mission and Outreach - Building Up the Local Church
International Partnerships > Moldova > Intro

MOLDOVAN OUTREACH:
University Divitia Gratiae
and Other Ministries

Beginning in the early 1990s, NPC developed a close relationship with the Bethany (Vifania) Baptist Church in Belts, Moldova. NPC also developed a close relationship with the University Divitia Gratiae (UDG --University of the Riches of God's Grace,formerly the College of Theology and Education) in Chisinau beginning with the school's founding in 1994. Bethany Baptist has approximately the same size congregation as National Presbyterian. The church ministers to its members in many ways and has a very active evangelism program that reaches out to the city of Belts (180,000 population) and to many of the neighboring communities in the countryside.

The church grew so much in the 1990s that by 2002, five congregations developed from the original single congregation. One congregation used the original building, and another moved into a new, larger sanctuary completed in 2001. Both these congregations have services in Russian and Romanian on Sunday and also during the week. The other three new congregations are in towns farther away from Belts.

NPC has also had a variety of contacts with UDG, which was begun by one of Bethany's former pastors, Valeriu Ghiletchi. UDG is the first Protestant seminary in Moldova for pastors and lay leaders. The seminary offers three undergraduate programs--Pastoral Theology, Missions, and Social Work--and has about 135 full-time students at its Chisinau campus, plus several hundred part-time students in its extension programs in three Central Asian countries. The students nearly all of whom are on scholarship usually come from about ten former Communist countries. For more about the school, see http://www.uni-dg.md/en.

For many years, NPC focused its involvement with Moldova to deal with leadership training of young people, strengthening of young marriages, and outreach to teenagers. NPC's pursued that work in Moldova in conjunction with New Hope International, a ministry with a strong outreach among families and young people. New Hope is not currently active in Moldova, but NPC and New Hope's leaders have been considering how to re-invigorate that work with the possible assistance of the Moldova Baptist Union ( https://baptist.org.md/ro/).

Apart from its work with UDG, NPC has been very active in Moldova since 2008 with the Moldova Marriage Ministry, an effort with the Moldova Baptist Union (with other denominations where possible) and Alpha Ministries International in London to provide marriage enrichment to couples in Moldova. NPC funding for the ministry officially ceased in 2017, but members of the church individually have continued to support it. As of 2020, over 800 couples in both Romanian- and Russian-speaking communities have participated in the training. Marriage Ministry leaders continue to develop further the volunteer infrastructure of the course in both Romanian- and Russian-speaking churches and to develop follow-on ministries of Bible study and marriage enrichment small groups.

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Reverend Valeriu Ghiletchi is the Founder and former Dean of the College of Theology and Education in Chisenau. Ghiletchi was a member of the Moldovan Parliament in 1999-2000, then was Bishop of the Baptist Church, the highest authority of the Baptist Church in Moldova. Ghiletchi held that post until 2010, when he was elected to the Parliament again.  Ghiletchi is still involved with the College and is one of NPC's principal points of contact in Moldova. Ghiletchi has visited NPC numerous times. Valeriu is married to Marina. They have three children—Stas, Eugen, and Christina---and a collection of grandchildren.



       UDG's administration building


Map of Moldova (click to enlarge)

 


NPC short-term workers gather with their Moldovan hosts outside the Bethany Baptist Church.

 


Interior view of the Bethany Church. Nearly all services in the present building are full beyond capacity.

 

Contacts:
Valeriu Ghiletchi
str. Hijdeu 94
Chisenau, MD 2001
Republic of Moldova

Office: (373-2) 541-034
Home: (373-2) 465-461

 

Students at UDG at class with one of their professors.


Pray for:
  • Wisdom and strength for people in leadership at the church and in the seminary
  • Bible studies for all ages at Bethany Church and for the seminary in Chisenau
  • For a spirit of cooperation among the Christian groups and churches in Moldova
  • The political and economic difficulties of Moldova.
  • Spiritual and material needs of the University
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