Author: Clive Langston

The Good News Foundation (GNF), founded by Charles and Agnes Ficsor in 1990, has roots in decades of caring for the poor and sharing the Gospel. Their son Donat and his wife Barbara now lead and expand this work, with a strong focus on children and young people. Among their many ministries, several stand out.

“One of the most effective missionary strategies of our time.” That is how one national church leader recently described the support and partnership given to local missionaries and church planters as they seek to reach their own people with the Gospel. It is certainly not the only approach to mission, but in SGA’s regions of ministry, we have witnessed God’s blessing on it in remarkable ways.

“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ.” The absolute necessity of knowing God as He has revealed Himself to us in His Word cannot be overstated. Having the Gospel available in our mother tongue is essential if the truth about Jesus is to be fully understood and planted deeply in the hearts of those who read it.

In the 1930s, thousands of Christians and political prisoners were sent to forced labour camps (the Gulag) in the remotest parts of Russia. Among them was a young mother, Yevstaliya Feodorovna whose only ‘crime’ was being married to a preacher of the Gospel. Her husband was killed, her three young children were put in an orphanage, and she was sent to a camp in Ola (Kolyma region).

The training and equipping of national believers have long been central to SGA’s work, which is why four Mission Schools are currently being run in Bulgaria, Moldova, Romania, and Poland. Each school provides rigorous theological training as it seeks to prepare new church leaders to faithfully handle God’s Word, for it is by its Spirit-empowered proclamation that the church of Jesus Christ grows.

For more than three decades, SGA has been privileged to serve alongside faithful believers in Moldova – men and women who know their people, their culture, and their language, and who have a deep burden to reach their own nation for Christ. Throughout this time, a simple truth has been confirmed: when believers are equipped and encouraged to minister within their own communities, the cause of the Gospel can advance in surprising ways.