OAC ROMANIA - ORGANISATIA CRESTINA IN ACTIUNE

Paul & Julie Wakefield

Paul & Julie have been visiting Romania since 1991. Initially they were invited to be part of a team travelling to Alba Iulia to train Sunday school teachers in different methods of presenting the gospel. While they were there they fell in love with the country.

After that experience they made several trips every year with their children Andrew & Rebecca. They used their holiday leave and also took time off work. Their passion for the country and its people steadily grew. They also realised that Romanians were searching for something to fill the void left following the demise of Ceaucescu and communism. They knew that there was only one way to fill that void - with the love of Jesus.

They could see that the people were struggling to survive and so decided to do something about that as well. First they started to tell friends about Romania and organised them into groups collecting items for delivery to the very needy people. Along side all of this was a sense that came ever stronger that the Lord was calling them into this work full time. This brought them to join Open Air Campaigners and along with Constantin Rodila, they pioneered a work with the National Association of Sunday school teachers. This was to train their members to present the gospel using Sketchboard and Puppets, both in Church and elsewhere.

Over the years the ministry has grown. OAC is now registered in Romania and is called ‘Organisatia Crestina in Actiune’. The main office is in Alba Iulia, along with a camping facility called Bethany Camp near Cluj. In addition there is a field in Vatra Dornei. It is hoped this will be the site for a Christian centre with the grounds used for many different sorts of evangelistic open-air meetings. Good relationships have been developed with the local Mayors and they have also developed relationships with a good number of churches.

Their vision is to ‘Train Romanians to reach Romania for Christ’ & ‘Presenting Christ by all means everywhere’.

Email addresses:
paulwakefieldoac@hotmail.com
and
juliewakefieldoac@hotmail.com

BBC News: Chronology of key events in Romania

BBC News: Romanian graveyard with poetry and bright paintings