Publishing Crucial Texts

SGA has a long history of supporting literature translation and publication in Romania.
In 1996 Dinu Moga founded Faclia Publishing House, an independent evangelical publisher based in Oradea. We asked him about the need for Christian literature then, and the ongoing need today.

I was born into a Christian family in a harsh communist country. During its short history the evangelical community had attempted to produce literature to assist pastors and students but, due to the many difficulties that existed under communism, it struggled to implement a vigorous and consistent programme.

At the time there were more than 1,400 Baptist churches but only about 100 pastors to minister to them, and preaching contained little theological content. With the help of SGA, the Second Baptist Church in Oradea commenced a theological course to train a new generation of preachers.

In the years that followed, the impact of ‘The School of the Prophets’ has been immense. Many students became pastors, church planters, Sunday school teachers, missionaries and evangelists. Similar schools were opened in other parts of Romania. However, without textbooks, students relied heavily on the notes taken during their courses.

In 1987 our church received parcels of books from The Banner of Truth in the UK. I was one of the few who could read English and I was delighted with these treasures. They were an immense spiritual blessing and I pledged that one day I would translate these books into Romanian. In 1992, while studying theology in England, I began to translate some of the books.

In 1996 I founded Faclia and, in partnership with SGA, commenced a very ambitious programme of translation and publishing of key texts. These included Systematic Theology (Grudem); Know the Truth (Milne); An Introduction to the New Testament (Carson and Moo); Contours of Pauline theology (Holland) and Christ, The Church and The Last Things: A Homiletical Approach of the Book of Revelation by Paul Negrut. These books have been greatly used to support students and pastors.

Since 1996, Faclia has translated more than 300 titles but we have only scratched the surface. The need for more focused theological books has grown. Vital doctrines, such as the atonement, the doctrine of Scripture, salvation, and sanctification are under attack and need to be defended against erroneous teaching.

Secularism and new ideologies are challenging our faith. Christians need to know how to respond and defend their beliefs. To this end we have recently produced Gender Ideology: What Do Christians Need to Know? and God’s Design for Women in an Age of Gender Confusion, both by Sharon James.

SGA and Faclia are currently working on the revision of Grudem’s Systematic Theology and in the last two years have completed together a few other important titles, aiming to help with preaching from the Old Testament and with counselling ministry. These are How Can I Be Sure? by John Stevens and The Word Became Fresh by Dale Ralph Davis.