Rev D A Ross
Last October, Mr Maarten Schouten and Rev D A Ross drove a load of humanitarian aid to some congregations of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Romania. The clothing taken was of good quality, some of it new. It was donated by friends in Scotland and Holland and sorted by our helpers in Inverness. Furniture and other useful items for those in need were also sent out.
However, the more important part of our load consisted of Bibles, religious literature and calendars. Some of the Bibles, in Hungarian and Romanian, were bought from the Trinitarian Bible Society, who kindly donated the others. The Society also gave a grant of 8000 Scripture text calendars in the Hungarian and Romanian languages. It is a privilege to be the means of taking the Word of God and sound literature to these distant parts, especially as Romania is under the Orthodox Church and the people generally are enmeshed in the worship of saints and other erroneous and superstitious practices.
We were favoured with a good journey to and from Romania, although on our way back we were rather anxious about having to pass through heavy snow showers in parts of the Carpathian Mountains. Also the heater in the sleeping quarters of the vehicle failed to work, and then our gas cooker gave out. In temperatures below freezing point we had a more than chilly journey, but in the kindness of the Lord we arrived in Scotland safe and well.
Sfantu Gheorghe, the town to which we delivered our load of aid, is in the centre of east Romania, about 25 miles north of Brasov. We were well received by the pastor of the local congregation, one of a number of congregations in the area endeavouring to follow Reformed teaching. All the pastors wish to express their thankfulness to our Church in Scotland and to the Trinitarian Bible Society for the aid and especially for the Bibles and calendars. The calendars are distributed from house to house and, in cases where interest is shown over a period, a Bible is given later.
In distributing the Scriptures and aid to groups outwith our Church it is certainly not our intention to engage in some kind of ecumenical relationship, but to distribute the Word and good books, and to put them, if possible, into the hands of those who are striving to spread Reformed teaching. While we cannot agree with some of their practices, and at times meet with keen disappointment, it is good to know that they have a genuine wish to spread Calvinism. But our hope is that a door will ultimately open for us to plant a congregation of our own, from which we could, by the grace of God, disseminate the Reformed faith in its entirety.
On our return journey we visited a Hungarian Christian family by the name of Campan, whose home is in the town of Elk, close to the east border of Hungary. We first came in contact with Mr Romulus Campan through the internet, in his search for a sound Presbyterian Church. We spent one weekend in Elk, and had our main meals in his kind home. On Sabbath, when we had public worship in his home, I preached on Psalm 34:5 and he interpreted. We are indebted to Mr Campen, a teacher of English, for helping us to resolve certain difficulties in connection with our translation work there. We hope and pray that the door will remain open for us to continue bringing aid and Bibles to Romania and surrounding countries.
In the Ukraine our small congregation in Odessa continues to worship without interruption, and to distribute copies of the Scriptures and sound literature – Mr Igor Zadoroshney labouring tirelessly in this work. Our main concern at the moment is to erect a building for our work there. The plot of land is not large and this necessitates a building with a basement plus two floors, which is more costly. The basement will be for storage, especially of Bibles and literature, but also of humanitarian aid waiting for distribution.
The ground floor will have an area for public worship, an office for the work of distribution of literature and aid, and a garage for our small congregational bus. There will be a small car park in the compound but one of its uses will be secure parking for our truck when we visit Odessa with a load of aid. The top floor will consist of a modest flat for a pastor and his family, and a very small flat for visitors.
It has been in our plans for some time to purchase another truck for transporting aid, so the relevant Committees decided to purchase a truck to be used both for mission work in Eastern Europe and outreach work in this country. Since then a business family in Holland has kindly donated one of their trucks for our work, and they will release it in about a year, when they purchase their new fleet of vehicles. Although the truck is not a dual purpose one, it is ideal for Eastern Europe work. We are deeply indebted to this family for their gift and exceedingly thankful to the Most High for His gracious provision, and all the more so as we are in much need of funds for the proposed building in Odessa. While a considerable amount of money has come in to the Eastern Europe Fund, we have some considerable way to go before we reach the £108 000 cost of the building, £28 000 of which is tax. At the same time we do not wish this cost to hinder our publishing work; we are therefore proceeding to print the completed translation of Rev Donald Macfarlane’s sermons.
Last year we had a surplus quantity of aid in store in Scotland, but the opportunity arose to send it in a large container to Zimbabwe. A quantity of knitted baby clothes, blankets and other items came from the Roundwood Trust, a group of Strict Baptists who do charitable work, and who for some years have sent baby clothes to Thembisio Children’s Home in Bulawayo, Mbuma Hospital, and Sengera in Kenya. When every article had been loaded into the container there was still some space, but that was soon neatly filled by a further quantity of knitted children’s clothes and medical aid kindly donated by a charity in Glasgow. The container arrived safely, and delivery to its final destination in Ingwenya went surprisingly smoothly. Miss Norma MacLean, and other members of staff in Ingwenya, have shown their great appreciation of the quantity and usefulness of the articles sent, especially those which are difficult to obtain in Zimbabwe.
Our aim in all this activity is what it has ever been: the growth and prosperity of the Church. While the ungodly pour scorn on attempts to spread “the word of the truth of the gospel”, we know that only the gospel will bring true happiness to mankind. It is a great comfort to realise, according to the promises of God, that the gospel will yet be blessed to the salvation of many on their way to meet the Judge of all the earth. May we then have a deep sense of urgency in response to the Saviour’s directive: “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature”, seeking that He would use every little effort of ours to extend His kingdom throughout the world.