December 6 2019

LMCO: Sowing seeds [VIDEO]

International Mission Board Bulgaria, missions

Worshipers gather at an Eastern Orthodox church in Bulgaria. Though Eastern Orthodoxy is the
country’s official religion, many people are atheist and disinterested in spiritual things. IMB
missionaries say they often face apathy on one side and distrust on the other — the Baptist church and others outside Orthodoxy are viewed as sects. But even in the face of those obstacles, missionaries are seeing glimpses of the Gospel moving through local Baptist churches. IMB

By Grace Thornton

George Gardev remembers the secret police raiding his house twice when he was young. He went to secret Christian meetings, and his family tucked their Bibles away so they wouldn’t be found. “We were a persecuted Christian family,” he said.

But despite his family’s gritty faith, Gardev’s heart hadn’t experienced real change. Christianity was a cause to him, not a relationship. It wasn’t until after the fall of communism when IMB missionary Bill Wardlaw came and preached at Gardev’s church that he heard the Gospel differently.

“Before I thought it was just the right thing to do, and now it seemed like it was a more personal thing to do,” Gardev said.

As he listened to Wardlaw’s sermons, he would go back and talk about them with his grandmother. Over time, God began to change his heart. Today at 39 years old, he’s pastor of the oldest Baptist church in Bulgaria, and he’s seeing God work in the lives of people all around him.

George Gardev (right), pastor of a Baptist church in Bulgaria, hugs a shut-in member of his church during a visit to her home. George says he sees obstacles in sharing the gospel broadly,
but his church is trying to find ways to share the love of Christ in the context of relationships and community projects. IMB

But it’s a slow go. Evangelism there is difficult — on the heels of communism, much of the country is atheist.

IMB missionary Brian Davis says Bulgarians are openly disinterested in religion. The spiritual climate is dark, and the people are desperate for hope, but they’re not looking to find it in the church.

“It’s sad to see,” he said. “We’re praying for the Spirit to work and that God would lead us to the people who are interested.”

One of those is a man who calls himself an intellectual and has welcomed Davis into his home to study the Book of Romans with him. Another is Donka, an 85-year-old widow who comes into the Davises’ home every week for Bible study. She’s a self-proclaimed atheist, but Davis’ wife, Mandy, says she hopes that her heart is slowly changing.

“She has not yet professed faith, but she tells everyone she meets about us and how the world would be better ‘if everyone believed and lived like Brian and Mandy.’ We keep turning her focus from our good works to the ‘why’ behind our good works,” Mandy said.

George Gardev preaches at the Baptist church in Bulgaria where he serves as pastor. Gardev came to faith in the early 1990s and was baptized by Bill Wardlaw, who was serving as an IMB missionary there along with his wife, June. Bill says it brings him ‘indescribable joy’ to hear that Gardev has planted several churches and led dozens of people to faith in Christ over the years. IMB

Gardev’s church is trying the same approach, sharing the Gospel in the context of relationships. Church members are running medical clinics and soup kitchens and helping at orphanages with the goal of showing the community a love that looks different from anything it has ever known.

“Everything we do has only one purpose — to make His name known to others,” Gardev said. “That’s what our main thing is — to give the hope of God.”