In September 1991, during a working trip to an orphanage (Casa Noastra) in the city of Arad in western Romania, Harry and Wilma Somerville from Scotland met with Viorica Jorza, a Romanian national. A spiritual bond took place between them and, as a result, a new work amongst children blossomed…
How it all began
Who we are
A ministry continues
The work blossoms
This work included itinerant child evangelism training and the distribution of packs of Sunday school materials.
Within six weeks the Lord provided approximately 300 packs of literature which included visualised Bible lessons, songs, flannelgraph boards, pocket boards, etc. This work continued throughout 1991 and 1992. Both in 1991 and 1992, Wilma returned to Romania and held teacher training workshops with Vio both in Romania and in Moldova.
A new possibility
Praying for land
In the winter of 1992, Vio started investigating the possibility of obtaining land for a permanent camp site in Romania.
On one of Wilma’s visits to Romania she was present when the children in Vio’s Sunday school prayed for a camp of their own. The Lord answered their prayer that very night, when Harry phoned Wilma in Romania to say that he had been offered a portable hall from a church in Aberdeen.
A permanent location
A moving hall
The cost of transporting this portable hall was E6,000. During an interview on a Christian radio programme, Harry and Wilma mentioned the need of funds for this project and the Lord supplied the money through a lady from Aberdeen who wanted to pay the cost of transporting the hall.
Vio was also contacted with the offer of land in four different areas around Varfurile; Vio, Harry and Wilma visited each site and individually decided which one they felt would be the best — each decided independently on the same site, which is where the camp is now situated.
A new ministry
The first camp is launched
In the spring of 1993 work started on the original camp site, and then the portable hall was delivered in sections, repaired and erected on the site. A team from Linlithgow helped with the construction, along with some young Romanian folks.
In July 1993 the first camp was held for 24 children, and that first summer a total of six summer camps took place.
The work expands
The first Bible club
In the winter of 1993 the first home Bible club was started; since then there have been up to 40 weekly home Bible clubs held in and around Arad. The unchurched children who attend these clubs have then the possibility to attend camp for six days.
The work commenced in 1993 with Copii pentru Cristos (CPC) registering in Romania. The following year Children for Christ registered as a charity in Scotland and during 2000 Children for Christ also registered as a charity in England and Wales. Further growth took place with the establishment of a team in Northern Ireland in 2010.