Our dream realised: the inauguration service on 5th December 2010

On Sunday 5th December 2010, the inauguration service in the basement of our Sanctuary took place! Praise God for His goodness to us, that we were able to get most things done in time for this service to take place. A few minor items remain to be completed.

Despite the inclement weather, there were about 550 present at the service, with many extra chairs being added to accomodate the large crowd. A choir joined the praise and worship team to lead us in worship, most of the local pastors and their wives were present, as well as the Blidar family from Chicago, and Pastor Kermit Bell and Deacon Bill Warne from Glad Tidings Church in Austin, Texas.

You can watch an unedited version of the service (including several minutes that were captured before the service started) on our web-site: http://www.emgl.org/resurse/arhiva%20media%20video - you will find that it is not in sequence! Parts are in English because of our guest preacher, Kermit Bell, but you will get a feel of the service by watching the morning as it unfolded, with the praise and worship team and the choir, greetings from various guests, and the other festivities.

Please continue to be with us in prayer, that the Lord's Name will be glorified in this place, and that many will come to know Him personally here.

Please also pray that God will provide the necessary finances to pay our many outstanding bills to the firms that helped us realise this dream!

The dream is getting closer

Anticipation is running high, as we work towards the deadline of 5th December for the inauguration service in the basement of the Sanctuary.

The final arrangements are coming along nicely.





The stage area has been completed.






The painting is almost complete


The old building at the property's entrance has been demolished









and this week we hope to see the handrails installed on the stairwells,

and the driveway completed...

Then next week we will receive the carpet!

With the 101 things that must happen before 5th December, the pace is feverish, but with God's help, we'll get there!

Thank you for your prayers, and we would covet your ongoing prayers for the financial situation.

Our dream

Our dream is to move the public worship services into the basement of the Sanctuary building on 5th December 2010.
We are working on all fronts so that this might be possible, with the plastering completed, the windows and dorrs in place, the tiling has begun, the electrical and plumbing installations are well advanced.

We are praying that God will help us to be able to finalise this project having in mind the people in and around Galati whom we want to serve.

It is true that we have some needs that are as yet not covered from the financial point of view:
1. Heaters: $2,200
2. Central heating system: $10,000
3. Carpet: $8,000
4. Chairs: $5,000

But we are praying and we believe that God is faithful and will help us to finish this work. We appreciate your prayers for this.

some recent photos of the basement

the temporary entrance porch

one of the plumbers

plumbing installations

electrical installations

a general view of the basement

A few photos from the Fundraising dinner

Report on Fundraising banquet

On Saturday 14th August 170 people attended the fundraising banquet held at Philadelphia Romanian Church in Chicago.
Much effort went into the organisation of the event, and the preparation of the venue, food etc. All present were pleasantly surprised by all they saw and heard.
A highlight of the evening was the presentation of a film by Pastor Mihai Dumitrascu of the ministry that takes place through Emanuel Christian Church, Galati and their project to build the Sanctuary.
Apart from a marvellous meal, each guest received a small gift from Emanuel Church, as a small thank you for their participation at the event.
Further photos can be seen above.

Fundraising Banquet

On August 14, Genesis Mission, in collaboration with Emanuel Christian Church Galati, will be hosting a fundraising banquet, for our building project. The banquet will take place at Genesis Mission headquarters, in Chicago. If anyone in the surrounding area would like to attend, contact Delia Blidar at (773) 457-9603.

After the Second World War, until the revolution in December 1989, Romania lived under a communist regime. The communist atheist ideology that God does not exist was taught to all children in schools, saying that they now had scientific proof of this. After the revolution, people were hungry for the Gospel, but this has slowed down in recent years. God has called us to bring the Gospel to the people who were formerly indoctrinated with atheism. Therefore we were put in Galati, south-eastern Romania, to be His representatives.
In Galati County there are approximately 616,000 inhabitants, more than half living in the city. Of the 320,000 inhabitants in the city of Galati, only 0.5% are evangelical Christians! When we looked at these figures and realized the enormity of the spiritual need, we shuddered. God has opened our eyes so that we can see the huge need in our city and He has also put the passion in our hearts for those who are lost. Emanuel Christian Church began as the result of a vision from God.
The first service at Emanuel Church took place on 14th March 1999 in a rented room at the local Culture Hall. On 27th June 1999, we moved to the land we’d bought and began to hold our services in a tent. During that period of almost 4 years we constructed a building for Sunday School and discipleship classes, where we currently hold our services.
Because of the lack of space, our services are held on 2 levels at the same time - transmitting live what happens on the first level to the upper level. Over 300 adults attend the services, as well as about 150 children and teenagers.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we face a spiritual crisis here, with so many dying without a saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ! We know that our church is under construction during the international economic crisis, but we know that God is above all crises, and maybe this is the moment that has been put before us by God so that we can all contribute with our small part for such a great need.
Our church’s vision is to raise a community of mature believers in Christ, who are relevant to, and with impact in, society.
South-eastern Romania is an arid terrain for taking forth the Gospel; therefore we appeal to you to unite with Emanuel Church so that we can extend the borders of God’s Kingdom in this part of the country. Our church’s mission is “the evangelization of the city, using relevant methods; the maturing of Christians in small groups, equipping them for the ministry in the south-eastern zone of the country, and to the utter-most parts of the earth, with a view to planting churches”.
In order to fulfill this mission, to reach the other 99.5% of un-evangelised people in this county and city, we must finish the construction of our church’s sanctuary so that we can use it as a training center for those who minister in this part of the country.
Emanuel Church has already planted ten churches in Galati County, but there are still about 150 localities without an evangelical presence.
In May 2006 we began construction of the sanctuary, which is linked to the building where we are currently holding our services. At this moment the walls of the basement (the foundations) have been poured, and also the ceiling over it. We are preparing to complete this phase so that we can hold our services there. In order to complete the basement we need approximately $ 250,000.
To complete the construction of the sanctuary itself, we will need a further $ 500,000.
We thank you for choosing to respond to God’s calling and coming alongside Emanuel Christian Church Galati with our project.

This graphic will give you a better understanding of the needs in Galati, showing a comparison between the number of Evangelical Christians and the churches in the north-west and south-east of Romania. The south-east of Romania is dominated by the Orthodox Church, which considers itself to be the national church. The yellow dot represents Galati.