What started as short-term mission trips to Moldova in the 1990s has grown into a decades-long partnership between Wake Cross Roads Baptist Church and Bethel Moldovan Baptist Church in Raleigh. This year, that bond deepened when Wake Cross Roads sold its historic building to Bethel Moldovan, bringing the two congregations even closer as gospel partners at home and abroad.

In Raleigh, Wake Cross Roads Baptist Church and Bethel Moldovan Baptist Church are expanding their more than 20-year missions partnership. What began with short-term trips to Moldova in the late 1990s has grown into a shared ministry in the community. 

This year, Wake Cross Roads sold its historic facility to the Moldovan congregation, strengthening their bond as gospel partners both locally and abroad. Wake Cross Roads’ current facility is right across the street.

The partnership traces back to the late 1990s, when then-Wake Cross Roads pastor Bill Bowyer led teams to Moldova for missions work. Bowyer had personally connected with missionaries serving with the International Mission Board. Those early trips developed relationships with Moldovan believers.

Randy Mann, lead pastor of Wake Cross Roads, first joined the church as a member in 1998 when he moved to the area to attend Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He went on the first international mission trip to Moldova with Bowyer.

In 2000, Val Vizitiu, pastor at Bethel Moldovan Baptist Church, immigrated to the United States. He and a group of six Moldovan families planted Bethel Moldovan in 2005. 

“We wanted to start a church to meet, to glorify God in our language,” Vizitiu said. “At the same time, to see if we can find more people in the same area who speak Romanian, and we can share the gospel.”

The church began meeting at Wake Cross Roads’ facility. 

Over the years, the two congregations forged a partnership through Awana, Wednesday evening ministry activities, Vacation Bible School and shared meals.

“When groups of people have come to put their common faith in Christ, by His Spirit, He makes us one,” Mann said. “He makes us family — children of God — and brothers and sisters together in Christ. In a way, with a kind of unity that’s closer than any familial relationship.

“Even though we come from different cultures, speak different languages, to see that kind of unity of purpose and mission and focus that the Spirit has brought about is super special. It has been a real joy to see it in every instance where families come to participate together … or even fellowship opportunities that we’ve done together.”

This summer, the two churches gathered for a joint prayer night, celebrating what God has done over the history of their partnership — and Bethel Moldovan’s 20th anniversary. They prayed for Bethel’s ongoing renovations of the facility, opportunities to continue to serve their community together and for missions efforts in Moldova. 

The building was constructed in 1911 and has served generations of Raleigh families through both churches. During the prayer night, people shared testimonies about getting married there and families being baptized there. One of the Moldovan members shared that he came to know Christ in that building and met his wife there. 

Mann noted that a highlight of the evening was the Moldovan choir.

“The man who leads their choir — his son was one of the translators for us on one of the early Moldovan mission trips that I went on,” he said. “The multiple generations of impact was really special.”

For Vizitiu, moving Bethel back into the facility, after meeting in Knightdale in recent years, carries both gratitude and a sense of God’s providence.

“God has His plans. He brought us back to the same building where we started,” Vizitiu said. “We are so excited to see how God can use us both and we can do more for His kingdom.”

Both churches remain committed to ministering together in Raleigh and abroad.

“Some of the kinds of things that we could do in this community can only increase because of our even closer proximity,” said Mann. 

Mann and Vizitiu hope to organize a joint retreat in Moldova for pastors and their wives to offer encouragement and training.

Another opportunity for Bethel Moldovan involves reaching Ukrainian refugees in the area and helping them worship in their language. There have been about 50 Ukrainians attending their service over the last year with whom they have communicated in Russian, which Ukrainians and Moldovans commonly speak.

“Now we will have enough space,” Vizitiu said. “We can help them begin to meet.”

He’s also hopeful that by being close to Wake Cross Roads, Bethel’s young adults can find more opportunities to serve in and through the local church.

“We realize our young adults — a lot of them start speaking English more than Romanian,” he said. “We’ll be feeling real comfortable to send them here to be part of this and to serve here. It’s an opportunity for our kids to be part of the same relationship.”

Both churches want to embody the generosity modeled by the church in Acts 2. 

“They basically held everything in common, and each one gave as the other one had need,” Mann said. “We’re trying to hold with open hands what God entrusts to us, even as we minister together and minister to those who are around us.”

Multicultural worship reflects God’s heart for the nations. Global missions training helps leaders engage missions more deeply, grow in cultural understanding and lead worship that reflects the diversity of God’s people. Don’t miss this opportunity to be part of what God is doing around the world.

By Liz Tablazon, N.C. Baptist Contributing Writer

EDITOR’S NOTE — Photos courtesy of Charles Register.