North Greenville University is in the business of training young men and women to go into the world and share the good news of the gospel. In the last few months, the university has had the opportunity to help another school with a similar mission.
With the help of an interpreter, Gerald Roe, right, professor of Christian studies at North Greenville University, preaches at a village in Romania. Roe is working to establish a partnership between NGU and a Christian institute in Cluj, Romania.North Greenville is exploring a partnership with a new Bible institute in Cluj, Romania, called the Cluj Christian Academy. Gerald Roe, professor of Christian studies at NGU, has been instrumental in leading a team to start the project in the northwestern region of Romania.
Roe said he felt a burden to find a people group to “make his own.” He set out in prayer, and “God opened doors” for him and his wife to go to Romania.
The International Mission Board was already involved with the Romanian Baptist Union, and there had been some talk of creating a mission-sending agency in the country. The organization would belong to the Romanian Baptist Union but would receive help and assistance from IMB.
A major goal of the new school is to find an efficient way to train people who want to go and share the gospel. Roe said second-generation believers want to be taught and trained so they can help reach their fellow countrymen. He said being a part of the training of Romanian believers is his primary focus.
He said he believes it is no accident that Cluj is centrally located in the country of Romania. Romanians are free to move about their country as well as surrounding countries. Sharing their religion is not prohibited, and the believers in Romania are taking full advantage of the freedom, he said.
After Roe’s first visits to Romania, he returned with a vision to help start the training center. He spoke with NGU president Jimmy Epting and others.
Don Dowless, vice president for academic affairs, went with Roe on a trip to Romania to meet with members of the Cluj Baptist Association to discuss their needs and visions for the Bible institute.
“The university is committed to the church in Romania, committed to missions – and working as a partner with those pastors,” Roe said.
Romanians discuss plans to make the Cluj Christian Academy a reality.Roe said the project, while still in the beginning stages, is growing rapidly. He taught the first class in May. The introduction to missions course was attended by 29 students, including pastors, Romanian missionaries and university students. The class met in a basement of the Fourth Baptist Church of Cluj (also called Bethany Baptist Church).
Roe has plans to return to Cluj in November to teach a cross-cultural evangelism course.
Some future courses will be taught via the Internet; others will be taught by North Greenville faculty members who are willing to make the trip to Romania. A tentative curriculum has been set up for certification purposes. A series of seven courses has been planned.
Roe said he was encouraged and humbled by the way the first courses were received. He has been able to maintain contact with many of the students, some of whom have expressed interest in leaving their homes to come to North Greenville to study.
Roe said it is important that the Romanian school keep its roots. “In terms of how it looks and feels and operates, we want it to be very Romanian – not just an American school in Romania, but a Romanian school that is partnered with an American school,” Roe said.
Rachel HamRachel Ham, a print media major from Lexington, is serving as an intern with The Baptist Courier during her fall semester at North Greenville University. She has been a staff writer for the school newspaper, The Skyliner, for the past three semesters. One of her articles was also published in the Courier. She attends Taylors First Baptist Church.