Introduction

First of all, we have to define what a church is and what is mission and church planting.

The Church is the body of Christ, the fellowship of the saints, formed by the disciples of Christ living in different historical, geographical situations, and having different national, social, economical, political and cultural background.

Mission is the proclaiming, preaching of the Gospel, leading people to Jesus, for receiving eternal life, and to be integrated into a local church. For this reason, every time people are converted, and there is immediately the need for a congregation, where they become members. This leads us to the need of Church planting. Gaining new members for the Kingdom of God means planting new churches, who are able to continue this mission themselves.

But – as we all know –, there are Christian churches all over Europe! In every locality the main building is a Church building! – Europe has a Christian heritage, but this is not recognized in a secularized environment: this is the reason why Christianity is not mentioned in the European not-recognized-Constitution.

I. The Biblical basis

In the Baptist mission not the theory presents a problem, but the practice, that is, we all believe and proclaim the teachings of the Bible on mission, but at the point of putting them into practice we are stuck. So, we are going to spend some time talking about the practical issues as well, at the same it will be useful to start with the basis, overviewing  the biblical teaching about the church and mission.

1. The example of Jesus Christ

a) Jesus Christ was ready all the time to do mission. He did it even when he was tired, hungry or thirsty.  Think about his conversation with the woman at the well, in which case food meant for him „…to do the will of him who sent him”. (John 4,34). Following this episode He told to his disciples: „Open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” (John 4,35-36) He proclaimed the gospel even if he had a single person listening, who was a woman too, a Samaritan, a sinner, who was in a hurry, having no intention to talk about that subject. He did mission on the cross, too, overcoming the pains of the crucifixion in order to help a person find eternal life. We can learn the priority of mission from Jesus Christ Himself.

b) The Lord was willing to serve everybody in mission. He made common cause with the outcast, too, the rich, too, in order to gain them over for the gospel. He has come to look for the lost and give them eternal life: for the tax collector Zacchaeus, for Mary Magdalene possessed by seven demons, for the beggar who was born blind, for the teacher Nicodemus. He was willing to have a meal with them, to talk with them overnight, to make friends with them. These people dared to approach him, because Jesus was called the friend of tax collectors and sinners. (Luke 15:1)

c) The Lord was willing to use all methods available for doing mission. He preached in public, in front of thousands of people, without amplifier, walking all over from Tyrus till the Judean desert, preaching on the hills, from a boat, in synagogues and in the church. „Jesus went through all the town and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.” (Mat 9:35). While doing this, He told the disciples that „The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Mat 9:37b-38)

Looking at the example of the Lord Jesus, we can say that we need vision, obedience and sacrifice for this work. The Lord Jesus already saw ripe wheat on the fields four months before the harvest (around February-March)! A mission worker having a vision can see in advance the ripe ear of wheat, and he does his work already preparing for the harvest. But he doesn’t make his work dependant of success but of the Master’s order. He is obedient even if apparently there is no result, because „it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.” (1Cor 4,2) He is willing to make sacrifice for this. He is aware that “mission is not a hobby”, but a sacrificial work.

2. The commandment of the Lord Jesus

But mission must be done not only because the Lord set an example for us, or because our forefathers practiced it. This is a commandment. Thus, mission is not an option, as if one could chose not to do it. Mission is the vital issue for the church: the church which doesn’t want to do mission is doomed to death sooner or later. We do mission or we are done! We have to count to the characteristics of the New Testament church not only the clear preaching, the proper handing out of the New Testament symbols and church discipline, but mission, too.

The great commission doesn’t give possibility for excuses or exceptions: „Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Mat 28,19-20). This commandment comes from the Person who has been given all heavenly and earthly power, and it is valid until His second coming. This can be only fulfilled or rejected. Our response being believers cannot be anything else than the following: „Here am I. Send me!” (Isaiah 6,8), „Here I am, I have come…, to do your will!” (Psalms 40,9)

The person who obeys this commandment, is „Christ’s ambassador” (2Cor 5,20), making His appeal through himself. He doesn’t serve men, but God.

It is very true that we have to take into consideration the death rate, and the number of „export believers” gone abroad, which is not small, and the large-scale moving into cities, but all these things cannot mean the falling off or the collapse of the church.

If the church members as the disciples of Jesus Christ take their Master’s commandment seriously: „…go and make disciples …” that is, they not only invite, call the people, but they go where people live, confronting them with the Word of life both by their attitude and their words, then they will experience their Lord’s inexhaustible and inconceivable blessings. If our body is really the temple of the Holy Spirit, and we constantly speak our testimony about the Lord, which is confirmed by our deeds, if we are wise managers of our belongings, our time and our financials, then we will experience God’s wonderful grace and work in our lives and around us, seeing people coming to God, committing their lives to Christ, enlarging the Church and strengthening the local congregation. The proclaiming of the gospel, the holy life is thus a question of life and death and its basic elements are the studying of the Bible, prayer and obedience to Christ.

3. The apostles’ mission work

Mission has belonged to the life of the church since the birth of the church. The church members represented the gospel case in their own places, and beside this, they selected more and more people for mission work. These were people whose calling and spiritual gift for mission have already become apparent in the local church. „Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” (Acts 13,2) Obviously first the church had to possess a missionary vision being in accordance with God’s will, so that after prayer and fasting to the prompt of the Holy Spirit they can entrust it to “the apostles of the church”.

Although a recorded event in Acts doesn’t mean yet that it has to be followed, (since one single historical precedent is not sufficient for establishing a task or a principle), all the same, these methods set an example to the way mission should be done. First the church in Jerusalem, then the church in Antioch took over the task of fulfilling mission. They not only prayed for workers, they also sent out workers who were suitable for the work. These mission workers carried out the work of the apostles (ambassadors), (even if we cannot call them apostles in the same way as the twelve apostles were - Acts 1,21-22). These ambassadors are often called by the Word „the apostles of the churches” (see: Acts 14,14. 2Cor 8,23. Fil 2,25. 1Cor 9). Based on this can we call Kornya Mihály peasant apostle.

The mission workers are not independent from the church who entrusted them with the work, even if they are far from it for a long time. Paul and Barnabas returned to the church in Antioch and made a report about the work they were entrusted with: „On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. …” (Acts 14,26-27)

Thus, the church itself has to go to do mission, or it has to send out those who can replace and represent the church on the mission field. There is no third solution: you go, or you send somebody in your place!

4. The practice of the first churches

Mission has been the life-giving constituent part of the church. Without this there is no church. Mission has to be done because the Lord Jesus, the apostles and the first churches set an example for it and because it was commanded. But how did the first churches carry out mission?

In such a way that they established home services in every possible place.  The household occupied a central place as there were no separate buildings for common services as yet. This happened only after Christianity became a state religion in the Roman Empire (AD 313), and churches were built for which the pagan church building served as a model. Where could more 5000 people have gathered in Jerusalem? They attended the Temple, but they gathered in houses, too. (Acts 2,46. 5,42)

The church in Corinth for example was founded by the conversion of Justus’ and Crispus’ household, most probably there were separate home meetings in Corinth after they could not meet in the synagogue (Acts 18,7-8). But we also know about Chloe’s household (1Cor 1,11) and the household of Stephanas (1Cor 1,16), too. The complex entirety of these home churches is called the church in Corinth by Paul (1Cor 1,2).

At the end of the epistle of Romans the apostle greets the church at the house of Aquila and Priscilla (Rom 16,3-5), the household of Aristobulus (Rom 16,10), and those from the household of Narcissus who are in the Lord (Rom 16,11). But there might have been a separate church with those from the emperor’s court (Fil 4,22).

There was a church established in Philippi when Lydia (Acts 16,15) and the jailer converted and got baptized (Acts 16,33-34).

The apostle must have used the lecture hall of Tyrannus for public church services in Ephesus, but it is mentioned here, too, that the apostle didn’t stop teaching in public and in houses! (Acts 20,20)

The efficiency of home churches is evident from the current studies, too. A German study declared in 1996 that the efficiency of small churches in mission is more than one hundred times bigger that that of the big churches. ¹ 

5. Summary of the Biblical basis 

About the message of mission

The first mission workers proclaimed the gospel, which they witnessed, and which they were entrusted with. They did this even if their message was scandalous or an absurdity for some of the audience. They demanded a decision, that is, they waited for the listeners’ position taken up concerning the proclaimed truth. They called upon the people to believe in Jesus Christ (Acts 16,31) and come to God (Acts 26,20). These two things belonged to each other even if only one of them was mentioned. (See: conversion – Acts 2,38. 3,19. 8,22. 17,30. belief – Acts 4,4. 10,43. 13,39. 16,31.) They promised forgiveness of sins through the redeeming death of Jesus for those who repented and believed (Acts 2,38. 5,31. 13,38. 26,18). The converted could be the owners of this forgiveness on the spot (Acts 13,38-39). Meanwhile, they warned the unrepentant of the coming judgment. They proclaimed forgiveness and judgment together for both repented and unrepentant. (Rom 2,5. Acts 3,23. 13,41. 17,31. 24,25) They preached baptism, too, with repentance, and they practiced it (Peter: Acts 2,41. Philip: Acts 8,38. Ananias: Acts 9,18. Paul: Acts 16,15. 33. 19,5). They baptized the converted Jewish believers, Samaritans, pagans and the disciples of John, and confessed that baptism is the outer sign of an inner change. Finally, accomplishing all these things, they established churches, where they practiced worship, teaching, fellowship and service. They began mission with proclaiming the gospel, and they ended it with the establishing of the church. They didn’t make a poor job of it.

About mission results

They waited for the result of the apostles’ work, which was immediate, that is, they didn’t have to wait for month, years until the first conversion, because some repented immediately after the preaching, and they were immediately baptized: the Samaritans (Acts 8,6-8), the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8,38), the household of Cornelius (Acts 10,48), Lydia (Acts 15), the household of the Philippian jailer (Acts 16,33) and John’s Ephesian disciples (Acts 19,5).

The outcome was great at the same time. The number of the converted was first 3000 in Jerusalem (Acts 2,41), then 5000 (Acts 4,4). Many times the Bible signifies the converted with the expressions „many”, a „great number”, or „a great multitude” (Acts 5,14. 11,24). The disciples were accused of „filling Jerusalem with their teaching” (Acts 5,28), and being „troublemakers” (Acts 17,6), because they flooded the big cities with the gospel.

Beside these factors it was true that the result was permanent: they didn’t have to sacrifice quality for quantity, because those who repented were really repented! They were the followers of the Lord, and many of them sacrificed their lives for Him.

About the extent of mission

Greatly extended mission was run mainly by the leadership of the apostle Paul, who always stayed in a close relationship with the church he was sent out from. He took up not only the burden of cities, but mainly the country, (Galatia, Asia, Macedonia and Achaia), which he planned beforehand (Rom 15,19-24). These were later called the churches of the given territory (the churches of Judea, Galatia, Samaria (Acts 9,31. the churches of Syria and Cilicia (15,23), the churches of Achaia and Macedonia (2Cor 9,2). To use a contemporary expression, “church unions” were formed by territories. ²

The apostle Paul focused on the big cities, as for example on Antioch (which was the third biggest city of the Roman Empire after Rome and Alexandria), on Ephesus, Corinth, Rome, from where he could reach both the Jewish and the Greek-Roman world. He didn’t preach in every city, but he chose the strategically important ones, where then he spent a longer period of time (Acts 19,25. 27. 31). Village mission is not enough, thus, we need to gain over the cities for the Lord, because these have a big influence on the whole of society, on villages, too.

II. Overview of the Baptist Mission in Transylvania

1. Historical Backgroun 

At the beginning of the newer Baptist mission, when Thomas Helwys returned to England in 1611, in less than 40 years the Baptists planted more than 250 churches, even if Thomas Helwys was put in prison.

In this time 115 General Baptist churches and 131 Particular Baptist churches were planted. The practice of the Baptist Churches was, that they sent “messengers” to the villages, towns and cities, to plant new churches. Through their activity the churches became so numerous, that they published the first Confession of Faith in 1644, in London.

In the next century, beginning with 1735, the Wesley brothers and George Whitfield continued this church planting activity, in such a way, that until the end of the century every thirtieth Englishman became a Methodist. In the same time in Germany churches were planted through Philip Spener and Nicholas Zinzendorf. The revival affected even working habits, changing the social and economical life of the country.

The XIX-th century was marked by the ministry of Spurgeon. He didn't travel much, but he was a good orator and a good organizer. In his time in the British Kingdom there were 682 Baptist churches, and 187 were planted by him, in his 50 years of ministry. He also built churches, orphanages and a Seminary.

The fire of revival came to Transylvania from Germany, in the second part of 1800. 150 years ago. Johann Rothmayer came to Cluj in 1866, but the Baptist churches were planted by Mihaly Kornya. At the end of the century until his death in 1917, in 30 years, most of the Hungarian Baptist Churches were planted.

Thou our churches never accepted evolution, nor the liberal-critical view of the Bible, our churches didn’t grow, and new churches were not planted. Yeah, we had two world wars, and a communist regime... but the reason is the lack of zeal for mission and for church planting.

Most of our churches are at the Northern part of Transylvania. South of Cluj was left barren.  In Salaj county, where we had a revival in the 60’s, 6% of the population is Baptist. But in Szeklerland is only about 1‰. (0,1%)

2. Where are we now?

The membership of the Oradea and Zalau associations/districts are stuck at about 3800 members. In the last years 32-45 members are needed for one baptism. If we add the mortality and the emigration, we may conclude, that there is no growth. Why?

Most of the growing of a church is recorded in its first years. After several years, there is a kind of saturation in the population, and only internal growth is recorded. In Salaj and Bihor counties there are no more villages or towns where we don’t have a church. In this way the church is loosing the vision for church planting, and there is no more growth.

At the beginning of the Baptist mission the attitude was different. They took the responsibility for other localities, sometimes far away, to plant new churches. They sent workers, and paid them, to plant new churches there.

Half of the Hungarian Baptist membership is concentrated into the 15% of the population, in the North. The other 85% is left barren.

In Szeklerland the growth is doubled, compared with the other parts of the country: 18-20 members are needed for one baptism.

We have to understand, that mission is not finished! We need a church for every locality! “Cursed be the one who does the Lord's work negligently!” (Jer 48:10). We have the opportunity, the freedom, the possibility for church planting, and is a sin not to do it!

4. Why are we here now?

1. Internal problems

Many churches have internal problems. Disagreements, and empty forms and rules are oppressing the mission. They are busy with defining how to have weddings, engagements and funerals...

2. Real problems

There are also real problems, like administrative, moral ors doctrinal questions. Even a car cannot move forward, until is repaired, so, the church also have to fix its internal disfunctionalities. But if your car has to be repaired all the time, each year, than the problem is serious! Who has a car, which don’t need to be repaired? But we repair it to be useful! The church exists for the mission!

 3. In other places there is a perfect silence. Children’s work, youth work, mission work, visitation – all are stuck. The church real program is the funeral service: they will bury the last members soon, and will close the church. Or, there are 15-20 members, for the last 30 years: no change...

We have to change this! Every Baptist should be a missionary!

III. Practical guide

1. Threefold task

Ask for vision! Lift your eyes! If you will receive a vision, that this will be more important, that your comfort. The place where you will serve will not be decided by a big church, the city, but the will of God.

Stay, where is needed! We have to recognize the situation of crisis and be ready for help. (Where churches are dying out, or where there never was a Baptist church.)

Mutual support is also needed: to help those, who already started something. We need each other. The Lord sent his disciples two by two. Paul had his fellow workers: Timothy, (Róm16:21), Silas, Tikhikus, Titus, Epafras and Mark, and the church in Antiochia.

2. How to start?

According to the recessement in 2002, there are 12.238 Hungarian Baptists in Transylvania, which is 0,85% of the population. Half of the population, in Brasov, Covasna, Harghita and Mures Counties, includes only 10% of the Hungarian Baptists. Hundreds of villages and cities are without a Baptist Church.

We may follow different methods:

Corridor mission

Cluj-Bistrita (120 km), Blaj-Tarnaveni-Balauseri-Sovata (120 km), Miercurea Ciuc-Toplita-Borsec or Reghin (120 km).

Miercurea Ciuc-Tusnad-Targu Secuiesc or Sfantu Gheorghe (60-70 km)

Targu Secuiesc-Brasov (70 km)

Sovata-Odorheiu Secuiesc (45 km)

Blaj-Sighisoara (80 km)

Sighisoara-Odorhei (50 km)  

Zone-mission: city-mission or village-mission.

In basins (Ciuc basin, Gheorgheni basin), or compact geographical regions, like the Campia, or around great cities: Sibiu, Hunedoara, etc.

We may use a strawberry-method (using a mother church), grafting-method (using a mother building), or a flying-seed-method (moving out to a new area).

Localities without a Hungarian Baptist Church:

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