A Window of Opportunity in Moldova

If a window of opportunity appears, don’t pull down the shade.

– Tom Peters

As a new pastor at Olive Chapel Church in Apex, I prayed that my church would become an Acts 1:8 church: serving as witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. A new partnership with a Baptist church in a formerly communist country is providing an opportunity for our small congregation to take the gospel to an unchurched village in Moldova.

In July 2024, through Baptists on Mission, Olive Chapel established a five-year partnership with Jesus the Alpha and Omega Baptist Church in Tintareni, Moldova, (the mother church) as they attempt to plant a church in the nearby village of Mereni (population 5,757). We began praying for the people of Mereni and providing a monthly stipend to support the church planter there. Bivocational church planter, Valeriu Sagin, leads a core group of a dozen village disciples in Bible study and worship on the second floor of a rented building in Mereni. He and his wife are also discipling over twenty village children in a weekly Kid’s Club ministry. This past summer they hosted their first Kid’s Camp VBS for 29 children (ages 9-14). In July 2026 our church plans to send a team to assist Pastor Sagin with his Kid’s Camp VBS in hopes of reaching at least 50 children with the gospel. We will also assist in distributing food packages for the hungry.

It’s hard to believe, but before 1991 when Moldova was part of the Soviet Union, sharing the gospel was illegal. No evangelical churches were allowed to meet. Once Moldova declared its independence and adopted their own constitution in 1994, they established a democratic government. Now there is an unquenchable thirst for God, a growing hunger for scripture, and an aching need for the gospel. The Moldova Baptist Union wants to plant a church in each of the 750 villages where there is no evangelical presence. That’s where NC Baptists can help. Olive Chapel is one of nine NC churches who are partnering with Moldovan mother churches to plant churches while the window of opportunity is still open for sharing the gospel. The relentless war in neighboring Ukraine and fear of Russia’s encroachment into Moldova provides an urgency in sharing the gospel there. Time is of the essence.

Would your church consider a partnership with a Moldovan mother church?

– Pastor Randy Clipp, Olive Chapel Church, Apex, NC

The primary focus of the North Carolina/Moldova partnership is that of supporting church planting through strong Moldovan “mother churches”. These churches are led by visionary pastors, who are gospel-focused and mission-hearted. Please contact Baptists on Mission if your church would like to make an eternal difference in Moldova!