Moldova

The Moldovan Baptist Union has invited North Carolina Baptist churches to partner with a Moldovan “mother church” for the purpose of supporting a church planter and impacting lostness.

About the Partnership

The primary focus of the Partnership will be that of supporting a church planting missionary through growing, visionary Moldovan “mother churches”. These “mother churches” are led by strong, visionary pastors. They are gospel-focused and mission-hearted. Currently there are over 750 villages in Moldova with no evangelical presence. The great desire of these churches is to see that every village in their region has an evangelical church. Partners will also have opportunity to developed mutually agreed-upon projects, such as children’s ministry, evangelistic outreach, sports camps, etc. that mission teams can participate in. Teams traveling to Moldova will register with the Baptists on Mission office, who will coordinate travel, insurance, background checks, etc. for each team. Because our teams work in different communities in Moldova you may encounter a broad range of Baptist churches.

PARTNERSHIP ROLES:

1. The Moldovan “Mother Church”, with the guidance and encouragement of the Moldovan Baptist Union, will identify areas of need, develop the church planting strategy, identify a qualified church planter or planting couple (“missionaries”), send that planter out as part of their church ministry, and provide regular supervision and mentoring, as well as support through church member participation in the planting effort when needed. They will coordinate quarterly reports to be shared on progress of the church plant efforts and send those to the Moldova Baptist Union.

2. The Baptist Union of Moldova will serve as a supporting organization for the Mother Churches. Because of legal requirements, the church planters are considered employees of the Baptist Union and go through their screening and background check process. The Union also provides periodic training sessions for all church planters. The Union will receive and distribute (through the Mother church) the support funds for each missionary/missionary couple. They will also collect, translate, and send the quarterly reports to the Baptists on Mission Office.

3. The North Carolina Partner Church will commit to provide ongoing prayer support, encouragement through regular and creative communication, as well as monthly funding for the church planter as described below. In addition, partners may develop mutually agreed-upon projects – such as Vacation Bible School, outreach ministry, sports camps, etc., that mission teams can participate in. Teams and individuals traveling to Moldova will register with the Baptists on Mission office who will coordinate logistics including travel, insurance, and background checks.

4. Baptists on Mission (BOM) of the Baptist State Convention of NC will serve as the supporting organization for North Carolina Churches partnering in Moldova. They will maintain partnership strategy with the Baptist Union. BOM will receive church planting support funds from the NC Partner Churches and then forward them quarterly to the Baptist Union for distribution. BOM will also receive the translated ministry reports from the Baptist Union and distribute them to the NC Partner Churches. BOM will arrange airline, insurance and other support for partnership teams and individuals traveling to Moldova.

Funding Details

Each NC Partner Church (or group of churches) will commit to provide $430 per month for five years (60 months). Moldovan Baptists will contribute an additional $100 per month for the same period, for a total of $530 per month in support for a church planter. Some notes:

It could be that a single congregation, two or more congregations who join together, a Baptist association, or even individuals, support one Moldovan church planter.
The monthly amount given will remain consistent throughout the course of the agreement. Because of legal requirements, the church planter (called “missionary”) will be an employee of the Baptist Union of Moldova. Because of this, it is required by labor laws that their support remain consistent, and not decrease, for the five year period.

Both Moldovan and North Carolina churches will agree that the set monetary amounts for planter support will not be increased or supplemented in any way independent of mutual agreement between the Moldovan Baptist Union and the Baptist on Mission organization. This is to keep everything fair and balanced in each ministry situation.
Funds for support will come to the Baptists on Mission office in North Carolina and then be wired to the Moldovan Baptist Union for distribution to the “mother” churches on a quarterly basis. The NC Partner Church may choose to send $430 to the Baptists on Mission office monthly, $1290 at the beginning of each quarter, or even $5160 in one lump yearly sum.
Quarterly reports of each planter’s work, celebrations of what God is doing, and challenges/points of prayer will be sent by the planter/mother church to the Moldovan Baptist Union for translation, and then forwarded to the Baptists on Mission office, for distribution to the NC partnering churches.