Category Archives: Ukraine

Caring for War Victims in Ukraine and War Refugees in Australia, Poland and Moldova

UPDATE FROM ROEDIE RAP: WAR—GOOD AND EVIL SIDE BY SIDE

Left: Many devastated homes among thousands upon thousands.  Middle:   Sometimes the Body of Christ amazes me! In one day, FIVE different Christian organizations turned up to meet in Kaharlyk,  bringing aid, networking and sharing plans how to do war-zone ministry. An ad hoc team from “A Jesus Mission” Romania is about to return for round two.  Right: One of the five refugees safely staying in our home, cooking and serving us a national Ukrainian dish, Borscht.

VIA ROEDIE – A HEARTCRY FROM WITHIN UKRAINE:

Good evening friends!  Please pray for us! You can’t even imagine what’s going on here!  My family and I are in the church on the left bank.  By the grace of God, we are alive, The city is simply wiped off the face of the earth, it is completely destroyed.  There is no electricity, there is no gas as the gas pipeline is blown up.  People go out on the rubble in the streets to cook their own meager food over open fire, but there is no water. The streets are broken, shops are smashed and looted, guns are fired, cannons, aircraft, bombs just fall around us just a few meters from the church, but God controls this distance.  Only our windows are blown out, but we are alive.  Now the generators are turned on, so we can cook quickly and charge our phones as we briefly have a network connection. I keep writing faster until it disappears.

Please pray for us! When there was a corridor we wanted to leave with my family, but the car immediately broke down, the Lord did not allow us to go far, we are trusting He has a plan of rescue for us!  Even if everything ends, people have nowhere to live as everything is broken!

This is not the end, but it is very scary. The corpses of the dead lie in the streets, no one is collecting them, perhaps they have no time to take care of them. Lots of saboteurs around ! By the grace of God, we have a meal twice a day in the church, but we save on everything.  Yesterday, for the first time, I washed our children.  May the Lord give wisdom to the rulers that they will quickly come to an agreement on peace!   We don’t know how to continue living. The Lord is with us He is strong!

COREY BOOHER PRESENTS TEAM TRIP REPORT: FROM POLAND RESCUING WAR VICTIMS FROM UKRAINE AND FEEDING THE NEEDY WITHIN THE COUNTRY

Our truck is packed down with oil, flour, sugar, noodles, canned food, wet wipes, power banks, and other things deemed useful.  Time for a short sleep and to hit the road to Ternopil, Ukraine.  I appreciate your prayers, as do all the guys who are going and all the folks we are going to meet. Pray especially for those who will go as far as eight hours further East than I will on this trip.

My thought tonight before bed: “Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell. I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.” – C.T. Studd

April 8, 2022

Yesterday, we arrived safely in Ternopil. In addition to a longer stop at the border, we beat the route well. We were only questioned longer at the checkpoint before entering the city.

In Ternopil, we supplied one of the local churches with the most basic things the church needs to bring practical help to refugees from eastern Ukraine. The church used to run its gym in the basement, but now, the gym has become a place of refuge for residents in the surrounding area. Vitaly said: “Once upon a time, people didn’t want to hear the gospel and come to church. Now that the war is on, many people from around here come for prayer”.   The light shines in the darkness but the darkness cannot overcome it. Crisis, drama, war are the beginning for the manifestation of the power of the Gospel in the heart of people. It is my prayer too, that the Ukrainians forced to flee will find the ultimate safety in salvation of Jesus.

In the evening, we visited YWAM (Youth with a Mission) in Ternopil. We met Sasha, who is the director of the organization in this city. With tears in his eyes, he told us about what is happening in Ukraine, with the same faith and confidence that after a short or long time this situation will change. There are 32 evangelical churches in Ternopil. They organize 22 shelters, where they take in 3500 refugees a day, along with providing food, clothing and finding a new home for the refugees in Europe.

YWAM has been helping to evacuate Ukrainians from eastern Ukraine since the beginning of the war. Almost every day they send their people to transport refugees to Ternopil from the east of the country and then further into Europe. YWAM at its base accepts 110 people a day per night. A baby was born at their resort yesterday. Due to mother’s stress, the baby was born prematurely.  Sasha said with a smile that he should be named Victor – the Winner.

There are 13 full time workers at the YWAM base in Kiev. They are evacuating and feeding refugees – 600 people a day. They have themselves decided not to leave the capital unless Kiev will be completely besieged by the Russian army. Risking their lives to save others’ lives. There are miracles of daily multiplication. The chef says every day that there is not enough food to feed 600 people, but every day the food is miraculously multiplying, enough for everyone. Ukraine has violence but also God’s grace.

April 9, 2022

We are spending the night at another church in Ternopil. I awake at 3:00 am at the air raid sirens blaring. I can see the lights from people’s flashlights outside the window that they make their way to shelters.  My roommates and brothers are sound asleep. One is snoring louder than the sirens. I don’t think I’ll wake them up just yet.  These people live through this every night. “Lord, bring an end to this violence. Rise up and show yourself strong!”

The church where we are staying has turned its sanctuary and Sunday School rooms into actual sanctuary for 35 refugees a night.. A group of appr. 20 volunteers will spend the night here, tending to the needs of those who will come, having only the clothes on their backs and a bag or two of items they could take.

April 10,  2022

The three vehicles are unloaded. We will probably try to move on before curfew, but I’m not sure. Might stay here for the night.  Our team is separating ways today.   One of our guys is going to the Romanian border to pick up people who are waiting for him to take them to Toruń. Another is bringing people from Ternopil to Przemyśl to return back to Ukraine tomorrow. I’m heading back to Warsaw with four women and a child. They will be in our home for a few days.  Good. They need family. They need a clean and safe place to be. They need the Word of God ministered to their hearts and minds.

The trip would take eight hours by car under normal conditions. The wait at the border could be at least 14 hours or as long as a day.  We need endurance, they need comfort.  These ladies have escaped a city up North which has been surrounded, bombed and under siege. They don’t speak English and I don’t speak Ukranian. Not a problem. He’ll figure it out. I want to be a blessing to them.

UPDATE: I’m safely home. Praise God!  The wait on the border yesterday was only three hours, which to me was a miracle. The road was very challenging with a mixture of potholes and unpaved, winter-worn farm roads. We had to go through ten or so military checkpoint stops. Total travel time was 12 hours, but that includes an hour trying to find a store in Warsaw to buy some foldable mattresses, no luck – all sold out! That illustrates how many refugees are currently staying in homes in Warsaw.

FROM R.K.’S CORNER

War brings out the worst and best in mankind.  Through the mainstream media and the web we are all daily, 24/7 being bombarded with horrific real-time images and video footages of inhuman atrocities and suffering on a massive scale.

Here, I focus on one of the  positive side in this war—the thousands of ordinary people who have risen to the occasion to help their fellow man at their own cost and peril. I briefly present here our three contacts, our partners who bring the Bridge funds in full, directly into Ukraine to relieve the suffering of the war victims, and also help refugees who have fled into neighboring countries. They are true Ambassadors of Christ, heroes who demonstrate sacrificial love care towards the needy.

In last month’s issue, Roedie Rap, our Australian friend shared the historic background of Ukraine, and gave his view on the conflict.  He is  continually in direct communications with brothers and sisters within Ukraine and has brought five refugees across the ocean to live with his family in Melbourne.

Corey Booher, son of a dear longstanding friend and Bridge intercessor, Paul Booher who is now with the Lord, lives in Warsaw, Poland with his wife, Angelika.  He is a full time missionary, and is engaged with a network of ministries and goes with their teams into the war torn parts of Ukraine to rescue people from death and destruction, and bring relief to those who cannot leave.  He has just rented a larger home for his family in Warsaw to give shelter and care for the fleeing refugees  On pages 2-3, Corey gives us a report from one of his April trips.

Andreius,  son of Sargon Daniali, our Assyrian friend and partner serving Iranians in Turkey, is studying Economy and Management based on a Judeo-Christian theology at the University in Chisnau, the capital of  Moldova.  Andrei initiated and has brought together a team of four fellow students. They began raising funds to help the Ukrainian war victims who had fled across their border to find shelter in Moldova. With the funds they have rented an apartment for the mother daughter above, and a room where several families daily come together to be fed and ministered to.



Roedie and Jeanette Rap—with the Ministry of Love from Australia to Russia and Ukraine

My wife, Jeannette and I were born and grew up in the Netherlands. As a young businessman and newly married, Jeannette and I immigrated to Melbourne, Australia where we made our home, raised three children and built a thriving automotive business. Being active believers in the Lordship of Christ, we were ready to serve others with the blessings we had received.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, God gave me a burden to help bring the Gospel in person to the Russian people.  Our church leadership came behind us and supported our call.

I had heard about The Bridge Int’l, so in 1997, I visited their Dutch office in Amsterdam. Connections were made, and I was hired to serve as head of the Bridge Bible School in St. Petersburg, Russia while overseeing some of the young churches planted by the graduates from the school.   In December, 1997, I moved with my family to Russia where we spent two years in St. Petersburg. At the end of 1999, we were called back to Australia. We did not want to leave, but there was absolutely no doubt that God had called us home. We  were sad, but we obeyed.

Back home, we are part of a thriving local church, Care Force Church, Mt. Evelyn, which has a clear vision for world missions. Our leaders were happy at our homecoming and asked us to serve in India, where our church already had a very large church planting mission. We loved it, but the love and burden for the Russian  people were still in our hearts and prayers.

In 2001 God showed me a vision: A large map of the whole former Soviet Union while a finger appeared and drew a big circle on the map. All five …stan countries of Central Asia and a very large chunk of Russia were in this circle. Our church blessed us to return and pioneer something very new: A healing ministry based on the work of our senior pastor at the time.  See:  https://www.careforcelifekeys.org/default.as

We translated the programs and started training Facilitators in seven countries, Russia being the main one. The word spread fast, so in 2004 we were approached by Ukraine. A major Evangelical Seminary in Kyiv soon after made the course a subject for three of their Bachelor classes.

Since 1997 and Ukraine since 2004, till the end of 2019, we have been traveling every year on short term ministry trips to Russia while teaching and training church leaders and believers. Then, Covid-19 hit the world; Australia locked its borders. It shut down our travels abroad for two years which brings us to the present.

We are blessed to know and love so many Russians and Ukrainians across those two vast countries through our network of personal relationships which is a great tool in our current effort to help the victims of war from Ukraine.  Right now, we are busy working on bringing several Ukrainian refugee families to Australia to stay with us to help them with a new start.

RUSSIANS AND UKRAINIANS — HOW HISTORY HAS SHAPED THEM DIFFERENTLY

Before year 1000, neither Russia nor Ukraine existed.  Ukraine’s capitol, Kyiv (Kiev in English), however has a longer, rich, and often stormy history.  There is archeologic evidence that various tribes and peoples have lived in that region since before time immemorial.  The officially recognized year of the establishment of Kyiv as a city was in 487, so the Ukrainians celebrated its 1500 anniversary in 1982. Moscow was founded in 1147, 660 years later!  Kyiv, located on the Dnieper River was an important stop on the trade routes by Slavic tribes and also for the Vikings who traded all the way south to Constantinople, as well as a connection point East-West via the Silk Road.

In 988, Vladimir of the Kingdom of Rus, a prince of Viking origin, having converted to the Christian faith, baptized the whole nation and established the Orthodox Church in Kyiv.  By the 12th century Kyiv’s wealth and religious importance was demonstrated by its more than 400 churches, some of them are still beautifying the city by their craftmanship and splendor.

In the mid-1200, the Mongols invaded Moscow and Kyiv and destroyed them both by fire. Throughout the next centuries there were numerous wars and struggles for power between princes — Lithuanians, Prussians, Poles, Ottomans and Russians.  In 1326, Russia moved the seat and Patriarchy of the Orthodox Church from Kyiv to Moscow, which after the fall of Constantinople to the Turks, was named the Third Rome.

In 1547, Ivan the Terrible was the first proclaimed ”Czar and grand prince of all Russia.” Through marriage, he marked the beginning of the Romanov Dynasty which lasted till the end of World War I, when the last Czar Nicholas II abdicated and subsequently was killed by the revolutionary Bolsheviks.  From 1917 till 1922 civil war broke out in the Russian Empire, commonly known as the Russian Revolution which ended with the formation of the Marxist communist based Soviet Union, consisting of 12 republics, including Ukraine

From 1930-32, Stalin aggressively pursued collectivization of the rich farmland of Ukraine.  When the farmers resisted, the Soviet Union caused the death of 5 million peasants by starvation (Holodomor). It is today recognized as purposeful genocide.

Less than 20 years later, Hitler invaded Ukraine. This was seen as an opportunity by Ukrainians to break away from the yoke of the Soviet Union, so many sided with Hitler.  But, in 1943-44 Stalin returned with his army and subjugated them, again. Many Ukrainians were shot, being suspected of  working for Germany. Stalin never forgave Ukraine for breaking loyalty to the “motherland” which made him inflict much suffering on the people. 

In 1940, the three Baltic States were annexed, totaling 15 Soviet republicsNikita Khrushchev, a native born Ukrainian, followed Stalin. In 1954, he annexed Crimea from the Russian into the Ukrainian Republic of the Soviet Union. All these conflicts and wars caused many changes and shifting of boundaries, especially to the borders of Ukraine and shaped culture, language and the Russian and Ukrainian peoples very differently.

Generally speaking, Russians are very fatalistic in their thinking. Ukrainians are go getters. Most successful ministries we have seen in Russia were started and/or are run by Ukrainians or Belarussians. Why: One of the advertising slogans of LifeKeys is: “Life can be better!” An average Russian will respond to that: “No life has always been bad, it is bad now and it will always be bad.”  Say the same to a Ukrainian and the response will be something like: “O yeah? Show me how!” This will affect the way they read the Bible, the way they respond to tragedy, the way they respond to Grace, the way they see God as Father, also how they respond to propaganda.

We experienced this first hand in 1999. Our family lived with the Bridge Bible school students in a large home in the outskirts of  St. Petersburg. The war was raging in the Balkans. One day the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade Serbia was bombed by NATO forces. Serbia of course was a staunch ally of Russia at the time. All the students watched the Russian TV report after dinner, which was brought in the old Soviet war propaganda style.  In an instant, the spiritual atmosphere at the school changed. The Russian students, including our interpreter, became instantly fatalistic about what this event would mean for life and became very downcast.  The three Belarussian students took it very differently. They did not become downcast but rather tried to encourage the Russians.   It took two weeks to get back to our normal daily routine.

Putin has expressed that the collapse of the Soviet Union is one of the biggest disasters in history! This view is not shared by the other 14 republics, definitely not Ukraine.

We have hundreds of great ministry friends in Russia as well as in Ukraine. We find that, since 2014, it has been nearly impossible to talk with many of our Russian friends about the Ukrainian situation as they are ignorant about the reality on the ground in the country. The reason is that factual news in Russia are carefully controlled and being blocked by the government in favor of their propaganda and disinformation.

Many Russians living in Ukraine are unable to convey to their relatives  back in their homeland that there even is a war Ukraine—they are simply not being believed!  The general consensus by the public in Russia is that Putin’s invasion is a “Geopolitical Problem”, and with that, totally ignoring the loss of life and the suffering of the people, due to a war that was started by Russia (in my opinion) in 2014.  The 2022 war is a continuation and escalation of the same conflict which now is a full scale invasion.My problem is not with the Russian people, as they are victims, as well. This is not their war, it is a war waged by Putin’s evil regime.

We are directly in touch with many of our Ukrainian friends & have received many  eyewitness statements from so many on the ground fleeing the atrocities.  The suffering is real!   Our hearts and prayers are with them. We have decided to help as many as we can.

FROM R.K.’S CORNER 

The Bridge had a large presence in Russia in the 90ties through evangelistic outreaches, Bible schools and church plantings, but we were not directly involved in Ukraine.  Last month, when Putin with his Russian war machine invaded Ukraine, I wanted to give a perspective on the situation beyond the partisan news of the mainstream media by a outsider who knows the inside.  I contacted our friend and former ministry partner in Russia, Roedie Rap from Australia. For 25 years, he and his family have been actively and broadly engaged in Bible based teaching and mentoring both in Russia and Ukraine.

To better understand the issues of the present, it is important to understand the past.  Roedie shares his testimony, gives you a brief historic account of the two nations, and then expresses his views on the present conflict.

Through Roedie’s network of relationships and contacts in Poland and Moldovia, we are able to send relief funds directly to the Ukrainian victims of war.  Please mark you donation Ukraine Relief



The Ukraine – Light and Darkness

To give you a brief background on the Ukrainian crisis from the perspective of the Christian faith, I have reprinted in full a news article published on February 24 in Christianity Today emphasizing the positive Christian influence in the Ukrainian’s struggle for freedom against tyranny.

Oleksandr TurchynovOLexandr Turchynov - Copy, a well-known Baptist pastor and top opposition politician in Ukraine, took office on Sunday, Feb. 23, as acting president after the Parliament voted to oust President Yanukovych.

The collapse of the Yanukovych regime follows three months of growing protests that exploded in last week’s violence, which claimed more than 88 lives. Many of these protests took place in the Maidan, or Independence Square in the capital city of Kiev.

At issue was Yanukovych’s decision to move Ukraine into a much closer economic and political relationship with Russia. This move triggered outrage among younger Ukrainians who wish for their nation to cast its lot with the European Union.  After the vote to oust him, Yanukovych fled Kiev and is reportedly in Crimea, an autonomous republic in southeast.  Ukraine. According to media reports, the new government has charged Yanukovych with murder and has issued a warrant for his arrest.

Monday night, February 24, in Kiev, Turchynov, 49, spoke publicly for the first time since taking office as acting president. According to an unofficial translation, he said, “Unprecedented cruelty and brutality of the dictatorial regime did not stop citizens. They selflessly gave their lives to defend their rights—and won.”

Our first task today is to stop the confrontation, to regain control to ensure peace and tranquility, to prevent new victims, local rivalries and lynching. Another priority is returning to European integration. We must return to the European family. We recognize the importance of relations with the Russian Federation, and are ready for dialogue with the Russian leadership to build relationship with this country on a new, truly equitable and good-neighborly basis, which implies Russia’s acknowledgment of Ukraine’s European choice.”

The Parliament has set new national elections for late May. Te choice of a Baptist pastor as acting president in Ukraine — which has had an Orthodox majority population for centuries — does not come as a huge surprise to Sergey Rakhuba, head of U.S.-based Russian Ministries. For years, he has been in periodic contact with Turchynov.

“He is well-known in political circles as a principled, honest leader, although he was always in the shadow of Yulia Tymoshenko, the jailed prime minister who was released yesterday. “He is well-known as a preacher who, despite his political opposition work, preaches on a regular basis at one of the Baptist churches in Kiev, even though security must travel with him. Overall, the evangelical church is excited about Turchynov’s sudden unanimous appointment as acting president. Within the evangelical community, the post-Soviet mindset presupposes that a true Christian cannot necessarily be a politician. Personally I think it is great that Turchynov is calling for unification and healing of the nation.”

Reported in a substantial cover story from Ukraine about the changing role of the nation’s evangelical minority after the 2004 Orange Revolution, exploring how Eastern Europe’s most mission-oriented evangelical church was rethinking tradition and the Great Commission.i.

This is not the first time that an East European nation has turned to a Protestant to serve as president. In 1999, Macedonia selected as its president Boris Trajkovski, a lay Methodist who served the Roman community. Nationally, citizens referred to him as the “George W. Bush of Macedonia.”

Trajkovski at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington. “To serve God,” he told CT, “is to be with the people and to follow Jesus’ steps.”Tragically, Trajkovski was killed in a 2004 plane crash in Bosnia. On Monday, Christianity Today was given the public statement of Valery Antonyuk, vice president of the All Ukrainian Union of Evangelical Churches.

A MESSAGE OF RECONCILIATION

At Independence Square, Kiev, Ukraine, a woman holds the national flag while reading the Gospel of John. Church members handed out 100,00 copies for free.  

At Independence Square, Kiev, Ukraine, a woman holds the national flag while reading the Gospel of John. Church members handed out 100,00 copies for free.

During this time of fateful change in the life of the Ukrainian nation, the Church and each Christian individually cannot remain spectators on the sidelines of the battles and losses. The Church serves society and mourns together with it. We went through difficult days together with the nation – we served through prayer, evangelism, volunteers, medical help, clothing, and food. Today a time has come for a ministry of active reconciliation, which will help maintain unity in our country and nation.

We supported the nation’s demand to put an end to the tyranny of the authorities and repressions by the police. Now it is important to restore justice and due process of law in the country, to form a government that has the people’s trust, and provide fair presidential elections. We believe that those guilty of crimes against the people will be justly judged, and that peaceful citizens will be protected.

But on behalf of the Church we must say more, speak the whole truth and say that which is still hard to accept and fulfill that, which is a precondition for a better future.

Therefore the Church calls the Ukrainian nation to more than just feelings of human justice – to Christian forgiveness, grace, and reconciliation. We pray to God for repentance on behalf of the guilty. However at the same time we ask victims to forgive those who are already repentant as well as those who are still lost. In order to unite the nation, in order to reconcile its various parts, its various social, cultural, and political groups, laws and justice are not enough. Without repentance, grace, forgiveness and reconciliation, the country will remain divided and in conflict. This is the basis for a deep spiritual transformation of Ukraine.

The Bible says that there is, “a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace” (Ecc. 3:7-8). In accordance with these wise words, we declare today to be a time to mend, not a time to tear the nation apart; a time to seek peace, not a time to fan the flames of war; a time to learn to love yesterday’s enemies, not a time to continue to hate rivals and those who have hurt us.

We call on the Evangelical churches of Ukraine to serve to bring peace between people and healing to the wounds of war. We do not call black white and do not justify crimes or even mistakes. But we, as Christians, forgive, because we have been forgiven by God. He reconciled us to Himself, and gave us a message of reconciliation. This grace-giving Word to our whole nation should be heard from Lvov to Donetsk, from Kiev to Simferopol.

We also call upon the international Christian community asking for prayer and intercession for the Ukrainian nation and for help with peacemaking. We mourn for the victims, and thank God for His grace toward Ukraine, and pray for peace and spiritual revival in our nation. @Christianity Today

 FROM R.K.’s CORNER

ukraine-map1In the last few months, our focus has been on the newest nation in the world, South Sudan, and our engagement with the national people and ministries we serve there. My plan for this issue was to continue this story and show how each of them in the midst of strife and armed conflict, are light-bearers of love, forgiveness, and healing in their local communities.

Then came the braking news about the crisis in the Ukraine, and I decided to prioritize this conflict which is very much in the making. This may guide you as you intercede for the Ukrainian people and the region at large. God’s ultimate purpose is that “all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth” (2. Tim 2:7).

I came across a news article from Christianity Today that brings to light the active involvement of the Evangelical believers in the Ukraine. Although constituting less than 3% of the population, they are having a major positive impact on the dynamics of the freedom movement in the country. This is particularly important in light of the most recent events: Russia’s invasion of the Crimean peninsula, Ukraine’s significant Black Sea military port, and President Putin’s threat to enter Eastern Ukraine with military force. The uncertainty and fear of the future is an open door for the Ukrainian believers to share their faith in Jesus and demonstrate love in action (see article).

OUR BRIDGE PARTNERS HAVE REACHED OUT TO THE UKRAINIAN PEOPLE IN THREE WAYS

•  In the early eighties during my tenure at the East European Mission in Germany, I traveled clandestinely from Germany with Bibles and Bible study books to the border cities of Russia — Kosice in Slovakia, Debrecen in Hungary, and Ias in Romania. We later learned that it was not Russia which was located on the other side of the border, but it was the Ukraine. The believers in those cities risked their lives in smuggling the material into the Ukraine where other dedicated believers distributed them among themselves, and brought this precious cargo further East – to Russia.

•  After the Iron Curtain fell, The Bridge helped sponsor a Bible-based leadership training school near Kiev, from which the graduates were commissioned to do church planting and mercy ministries.

Ukrainian BIb leschool - Mackenzie•  One of our close partners, a retired New York lawyer, John Mackenzie and his wife, Mary traveled for several years to the Ukraine where John invested his life in teaching young emerging leaders at a local Bible training school.

PRAY THAT THE UKRAINIAN PEOPLE WILL FIND TRUE FREEDOM AND PEACE AS THE GOSPEL PROSPERS IN THEIR NATION!

CHURCH STATISTICS IN THE UKRAINE

Protestants make from 1% to nearly 3% of the population in Ukraine, but they constitute over 25% of the church network in the country. The biggest is the Christians of Pentecostals faiths with over 2,500 churches and over 250,000 members that make several unions and also there are 1,560 Charismatic churches. There are over 2,500 Evangelical Christian Baptist uions with over 150,000 members, plus Methodists, Mennonites, Lutherans, Presbyterians, and others. There is also a Sub-Carpathian Reformed Church which is one of the earliest Protestant communities in the country.  @Wikipedia