2nd August, 2010

MARK ELLIS

Godreports.com

He grew up in a Christian family in Romania before the 1989 revolution, which meant he could not talk freely in his own home. After the communists fell, some thought heaven might even come to earth, but those thoughts have been tempered by reality.

“People don’t know how to choose their values. The communists took away their value as human beings. When people threw away communist thinking they didn’t have anything to put in it’s place.”

“We experienced a kind of persecution,” says Daniel Bruda, Romania director for Every Generation Ministries (EGM). “My father was an elder in the church and he was watched. It was also illegal to listen to Christian broadcasts.”

With their phones bugged, they had to take precautions when they talked in their own home. Bruda came to Christ when he was 10-years-old, after he heard an evangelistic message. “I heard God’s voice through the preaching,” he says. “It was not very dramatic, but God was working step-by-step in my heart.”

Three years later, the revolution unfolded, with Christian leaders at the forefront of the movement to bring down communism. “They were leading people in the Lord’s Prayer from the balcony of the Opera House,” he recalls. He climbed atop a tank as he watched people burn communist books.

For 36 hours before Christmas, 1989, he and his family sat glued to the television as the drama played out. “We were under a big burden and then we were set free,” he says. “Suddenly I could share with everybody.”

A euphoric atmosphere prevailed at the beginning. “It seemed like heaven could even be on earth, but that feeling changed,” he notes. “For years people were deceived in their expectations. Finally people realised that for things to change, they need to change.”

Bruda observed some improvements in the society and economy, but other problems emerged. “People don’t know how to choose their values,” he notes. “The communists took away their value as human beings. When people threw away communist thinking they didn’t have anything to put in it’s place.”

“Many ran after materialism,” he continues. “They have more money and toys, but children often lack the affection of their parents.” A sizeable portion of the population works in other countries, and leaves their children behind to be raised by grandparents or others.

“Many of the kids have huge psychological and spiritual problems,” he says.

Following the revolution, Bruda and his family relished the new freedom to share Christ. He began to visit orphanages to share the Good News. “The kids were starving for love,” he says. Soon Bruda was invited to teach children about the Bible.

Handed a wordless children’s book, he was asked to share all he knew about Jesus. After about three minutes, he began to perspire when he recognised he had little more to say to the children. This experience provided all the motivation he needed to attend seminary.

He graduated from seminary and became a pastor, but realised his heart was always for children’s ministry. He heard about EGM’s search for a director in Romania, and he began to pray for whoever that person might be. “I prayed for that person, but I ended up praying for me.”

EGM develops Sunday School leaders and training resources for children’s ministry tailored to each country where they work. Started by Daniel Watts in Poland, the ministry spread throughout Eastern Europe and to other countries. Today EGM has over 40 staff members from eight countries working with thousands of churches and teachers.

Bruda estimates that as many as 80,000 children in Romania have been impacted through EGM’s conferences, Christian literature, or teachers trained by EGM.

“It is wonderful to serve God and to serve children and to see how God’s kingdom and God’s treasure can be understood and experienced by children.”

Godreports is a website for people to "proclaim among the nations" what God has done, where people can create reports of what God is doing through them and their ministry.

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