RWN Conference 2018 Highlights

Shining The Light Together

God is certainly calling many Rroma to himself, and it’s wonderful to see Rroma workers networking together to encourage, equip and empower each other as we are “Shining The Light Together”.

2018’s Conference was a time of blessing for the 52 workers who joined us at the Harghita Christian Camp in Vlahita. From those who minister full time across Romania, to those who are affiliated with various ministries across Romania, it was great to see workers collaborating about their ministry focuses, whilst engaging with all as we worshiped our Lord together.

We were blessed to have 6 speakers join us from Ukraine, Bulgaria and Romania, covering workshop topics on Building Mutual Trust, Passion For Prayer, Youth Ministry, Rejection & Healing, Vision For The Future, as well as a Question Panel & Discussion.

“For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.” – 2 Corinthians 4:6

Workshop Topics

Building Mutual Trust - Radko Kratsov

Trust is one of the biggest barriers in effectively ministering to and doing life with Rroma people and communities. Radko will explore how we can build mutual trust with the communities to whom we minister, as well as establishing trust between workers.

Rejection & Healing - Ionel 'Nelu' Cocoș

Together with Nelu, this workshop will be an opportunity to explore some of the perils that Rroma-workers face when reaching out to Rroma individuals and communities. Nelu will focus on the two aspects of ‘rejection’ and ‘healing’ and how we can use these to build bridges of hope for the future.

Vision For The Future - Paul Crișan

As Paul shared his remarkable life story through some amazingly difficult and seemly impossible circumstances, he also shared how God gave him a heart for the Rroma people, and what he has done with that Vision to shine light into many Rroma communities over several decades. God has used Paul’s testimony to move many hearts to consider how they can similarly be used for Christ’s glory, and how together we can reach the Rroma for the sake of the Gospel.

"Jesus-Focused Youth Ministry" & "Passion For Prayer"

We want to help workers discover five essential elements to building a ministry to students that produces life-change and life-changers. Through exploring Bible passages together, such as Matthew 9:35-38, we find that Jesus gives us a strategy in how we conduct our ministry with the young people of today. There is a spiritual battle being fought, and without guidance they may well become tragedies of this life. Jesus offers hope to the hopeless and solutions. Jesus offers a ministry to the young people he meets rather than a program as the solution. It’s a ministry of prayer, training and discipleship.

Workshop Speakers

Radko Kratsov
Youth With A Mission (YWAM), Sliven, Bulgaria

Radko comes from a Rroma background, as does his wife Nevin, whose heritage is Turkish-Rroma. They have been married for 16 years and have two daughters- Siana (12) and Debora (4). Radko and Nevin have been working with YWAM for the past 19 years. Since 2005, they are the full time base leaders for YWAM in Sliven. Their teams focus is towards Rroma development in Bulgaria, Central and Eastern Europe. Over the last seven years, Radko has been actively developing ministry programs in the areas of Rroma leadership development, discipleship, preparation for mentors and coaching, both in Bulgaria and the Balkan region. Radko loves travelling with his family and having barbeques with their friends.

Doug Landro
One Collective (Formerly International Teams USA)

Doug is the founder of Ruka Dopomogy (helping Hands). His 30 years of youth ministry experience is being poured into the lives of pastors and youth leaders throughout Ukraine, Russia and Belarus. Their vision is to see the lives of teenagers changed by the impact of the Gospel and become life changers themselves. They do this by equipping the local churches to be effective co-labourers with Christ in a ministry to teenagers by producing resources, coaching churches, and mentoring leaders.

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Ionel Cocoș
Pastor of ‘Pâinea Vieții Bahnea’ church, Mureș

Ionel ‘Nelu’ and his wife Ana have been married for 17 years and have three children: Alex (15), Alexandra (12) and Filip (10). Nelu has been pastoring since the year 2000, when they planted a church in the village of Bahnea. They have since planted another church in Laslău and are currently starting a third church in Livezeni. Alongside church planting, they have an association called ‘Casa Pâinii’, from which they have built 3 homes for poor families. When he manages to find the time, Nelu enjoys playing football and going fishing.