None of the churches that participate in the Somes Missionary Circle has a full-time
pastor at present. The few pastors that serve only one congregation have to supplement
their income by farming or some other means. Thus, it is imperative that we train laymen
to be the primary leaders for many village churches.
Seminars for Church Leaders: On each trip to Romania, one of the most important
events is a seminar for local church leaders. These seminars are a special time for
fellowship and learning for both pastors and laymen alike. For the laymen, especially, we
teach methods of personal Bible study that help them learn lessons that they will be able
to pass on to others.
Transportation and materials for one seminar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $100.00
Study Bibles: Because supplementary study materials are hard to find and expensive,
we want to see that each local church leader has a good Study Bible. Most pastors receive
only about $50.00 take-home pay each month, so you can see that the cost of one of these
study Bibles is prohibitive for the average Romanian church leader.
Cost of a good Study Bible in Romanian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
$30.00
Concordance Project: As far as we know, an exhaustive concordance of the Bible
(like Strong’s) does not exist in the Romanian language. If we could publish a
complete concordance of the Bible, we would provide a badly needed study tool for village
pastors, and, at the same time, create jobs and job training for Romanian Christians.
Start up Costs include the following:
Computers (hardware and software) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1,500.00
Salaries for Data Entry (per month) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $200.00
Scholarships: Many Christian young people in Romania, especially in the villages,
do not have a chance for a complete education. For example, we have begun to help a young
man, approximately 17. His mother is dead and his father deserted him. He is now trying to
complete his last two years of High School at a Christian school in Cluj. When he started
an AWANA club at his home church, sixty (60) children were at their first meeting.
Cost per month, including room and board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $60.00
Mission Stipends: In 1999, Somes began with three "missioners", young
men, Bible college and seminary graduates, who work for a small stipend. Those first three
have all been ordained and continue in ministry. Two are now on the staff churches, but
one continues to work full-time with Somes. We have now added two more.
Monthly Stipend for each Missioner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $100.00
