Superintendent Reflects on First Year of Ministry
Pastor Jivko Jacobs, born in Bulgaria, but living and ministering for 20 years in Freudenstadt, Germany, reflects on the time since he was appointed Regional Superintendent for the Church of God Central Europe West at the General Assembly 2018.
During the last year Pastor Jacobs was able to visit the countries in the region of Central Europe West, including Romania, Austria, Albania, Switzerland, and Greece.
Jivko reports. “The first visit I had to Romania in October 2018 went very well, as I joined with Bishop Tony Lane and a team of pastors from the USA, led by Bishop Bryan Cutshall, who did a great intensive seminar of training for pastors and leaders in the Constanta Region of Romania. While there, we were also able to visit with the leadership and the students of the ITP Seminary in Bucharest and also meet with the regional leaders and pastor from the Bucharest region. The Apostolic Pentecostal Church in Romania remains numerically and spiritually strong and is thankful for the good partnership between the Romanian Church and the international Church of God.”
“I am glad to also report also that I had a very fruitful trip to Austria in December 2018 and all the meetings went well. The leaders in Graz, Vienna and Linz were glad to reconnect with the COG and are committed to partner with us. The main ‘Gemeinde Gottes Österreich’ movement has 36 churches and more than 16,000 adherents, with strong Pentecostal heritage and identity.”
“Bishop Darnell and I also ministered in May 11-12 at the National Convention of Church of God in Austria, where some 4-5,000 were gathered to worship. There was a great response to the word preached and a good growing fellowship to the national leadership.”
While in Albania in May 2019, Pastor Jacobs was hosted by Pastor Ermir and Vita Taja, who pastor together four churches and missions in the area of Vora. It was also important to discuss present challenges for the 20 year old national movement with national overseer Pastor Hervin Fushekati in a predominantly Muslim and largely secular materialistic culture. Albania is a country with a great potential of many young and motivated people in our young church movement, but it is a challenging situation as well, where there are many attacks and challenges to be faced and some UPGs yet to be reached. We trust God for a bright future of unity and growth in church planting in Albania.
In July, Field Director Darnell and Superintendent Jacobs joined together in Burgas, Bulgaria at the Black Sea coast to conduct licensed ministers exams and send forth the leadership of the Bulgarian Church of God for ordination. We praise God and rejoice with the leadership of the BCOG for their successful studies and passing of their ordination exam, which will strengthen even more the partnership between COG and BCOG.
In August 2019, during the Global Ministry Forum with our General Overseer Dr. Tim Hill, the region of Church of God Central Europe West was well represented with delegates from Austria, Greece, Switzerland and Bulgaria. We had a wonderful time of fellowship, leadership training, worship and prayer. The Global Forum was very productive and encouraging for the future of our great Church of God movement.
Finally, last month Jacobs was able to visit Athens, Greece and to join Bishop Nick Park from Ireland and many other European leaders of the Pentecostal-charismatic movement for Empower 21 Connect congress. It was very encouraging to see such a unity and to encourage each other to reach the harvest in Europe. The national representative for the COG Greece Pastor Tassos Aronis has been very faithful in his ministry, but has struggled to see much growth in our churches. We thank God for his faithfulness and for two Filippino congregations, who have young people and the potential to grow and reach out even more in this vast city of Athens with over 3 million people and a ripe harvest of souls. The financial, migrant and refugee crisis is still affecting very strong Greece and our churches there need a strong support in prayer, giving and church planting. Please help us pray and believe for a breakthrough in Greece.
To contact Pastor Jacobs and partner with him for reaching this challenging region of Central Europe West, please email [email protected] or to follow the ministry at https://www.facebook.com/churchofgodeurope or at https://www.instagram.com/cog.centraleurope.west
