February 25, 2002
Romanian Baptists seek reconciliation
___WASHINGTON (BP)--Seeking to heal divisive political history within its ranks, the Baptist Union of Romania has decided reconciliation with its communist past is better than seeking political or legal judgments against its own people.
___The initiative is specifically directed at pastors who cooperated with the secret police during the years of communism in which many Baptists were persecuted. One of those persecuted was Paul Negrut, now president of the Baptist Union.
___Negrut, in a visit to Baptist World Alliance offices Feb. 5, reported Romanian Baptists have agreed to deal with their communist past in a biblical and pastoral way. Each pastor who may have cooperated with the secret police has been asked to declare the facts, Negrut said.
___"Once that is done, there will be no judicial decision, but we will deal with this pastorally and forgive the person and move on," he said. "Because of this, there is no tension from the past, and we can focus on evangelism and church growth as our priority."
___Today, more than 100,000 baptized believers worship in 1,800 Romanian Baptist churches.
___Romanian Baptists feel a greater sense of unity than ever before, and not only because of their decision to deal with what happened under communism, but also in their commitment to the principle of separation of church and state, Negrut said.
___During this time of economic hardship in his country, for example, the government issued laws for pastors to register and receive government subsidies, Negrut reported. "This was a great temptation, because a Baptist pastor makes between U.S. $80-100 per month."
___But the pastors met and prayed and decided to decline the government offer, he said.
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