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Supporting Christian Ministries in Developing Countries |
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Supporting Christian Ministries in Developing Countries |
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Pilu and Hadasa - Manna Church in Romania |
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Pilu
and Hadasa are partners of AMEN who work in Romania. They live in
Sighisoara, a town in the heart of Transylvania in central Romania.
Pilu is pastor of Manna Church, a very outward looking and community friendly church in the centre of the town. Hadasa helps him, but is also very involved in working with orphan and unwanted children.
Manna church has a unique ministry of social care, outreach, and church planting in local gypsy (Roma) villages. The Roma people come from India and they migrated west at some point between the 9th to 14th century. The first mention of these people is in Romanian documents of Medieval history where gypsies are mentioned as slaves working the lands of the nobility and around Monasteries.
Click the picture on the left to read more details of Manna Church. |
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The gypsies are very much a minority and remain at the bottom of the social ladder of Romanian society, often persecuted and marginalized by other Romanians. Things are much worse for these communities since the overthrow of Communism. Whereas before the state system protected them and forced a certain amount of equality, under the new system these controls do not exist.
Pilu and Hadasa and their church is unusual in Romania since it has members from many different ethnic backgrounds worshipping and working and serving together. Together they aim to show the love of God to the poor. |
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Newsletters (click on title to download in pdf format) If you do not have an Adobe Acrobat (PDF format) Reader you can get a free download by clicking here |
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| September 2011 News | "Latest news and prayer requests" (NEW) | |
| February 2011 News | "Challenging times but God is encouraging us" | |
| Christmas 2010 News | "Thank you for all your support and prayers" | |
| July 2010 News | "Medieval Festival Opportunities" | |
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Education
A common
thread through the work of all AMEN partners is education. Without
education, disadvantaged groups across the world are unable to escape
from their poverty. So it is with the gypsy communities. Manna
church encourage the children to persevere with school – state
schooling is free in Romania, but gypsy children are very often
bullied and insulted – putting them off from continuing education. AMEN has recently sent the equipment for Manna church to put together a network of 10 computers which will be used to train people of all ages in computer technology. This is just one very practical way in which people can become equipped to work |
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Casa Vietii counselling centre |
Medical Programmes
Medical
facilities in gypsy communities is either very poor or non-existent. One big problem in Romania is the high number of abortions. Romania has the second highest abortion rate in the world; in 2000 it is estimated that there were 800,000 abortions – and this number continues to rise. Members of Manna church run the Casa Vietii prolife centre and help women in trouble – they go out into the villages and give advice and medical care and counselling to those in desperate need.
AMEN
is currently channelling some funding to help with medical programmes. |
Church
Planting
Manna church have planted churches in three gypsy villages, and are praying for that number to increase. A key part of this is to develop gypsy Christians to act as leaders of these churches – they best understand the culture and problems of their own communities. |
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| Banner outside church | Inside gypsy church | Pilu and church members |
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AMEN
representatives recently visited one of these churches where the leader
has set up a shop for the locals and also a hot shower, powered by solar
power, to enable local children to wash regularly.
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As part of
supporting the work of these churches, AMEN organised a pilot Family Shoebox
scheme in 2009. Some 10 churches assisted and nearly 400 shoeboxes were taken out by AMEN folk for distribution early December. These were enthusiastically welcomed by the gypsy families and likely to be the only Christmas present that these families have.
We aim to extend this scheme in 2010 and are looking to involve many other churches – unlike many nation wide schemes you know exactly where the shoeboxes are going – to families, through a church, and to a church where AMEN have a close relationship. Click on the picture for a video and more details. |
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AMEN trustees are delighted to welcome Pilu and Hadasa and their team at Manna church into partnership with us. This is a ministry which reflects the love of Christ for those who are poor and broken hearted. |
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How you can help ...
We would very much appreciate all help you can give to the work of AMEN and our partners - your prayers, a visit, and donations..
Thank you for your generosity.
In both cases, if you are a UK tax payer we would ask you to make a Gift Aid declaration. This will help us to increase the gift which you give to us - courtesy of the UK government - at no cost to yourself. You only need to do this once and it covers all future donations. A declaration is included in each of the forms above - if you are making your donation on line then please select the correct option below.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Even if you are a UK tax payer you can only claim gift aid if you pay an amount of income tax and/or capital gains tax at least equal to the tax that we reclaim on your donations in the tax year (28% of your gift).
If you have any questions about making a gift to AMEN or want to enquire about ways in which you can help please E Mail us via janet@amentrust.co.uk .
Please note that AMEN can be contacted by E mail: janet@amentrust.co.uk Tel: +44 (0) 1322 226148 Post: 79 North Road, Dartford, Kent DA1 3ND, United Kingdom AMEN is a registered Charity No. 1057626.
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