Romania

Timișoara Baptist Bible Seminary

CANDIDATE

               Number of Graduates: 75 | Churches Impacted: 27               

MISSION

To offer rigorous training that equips servant leaders to think and serve their local churches biblically.

KEY DETAILS ON TIMISOARA BAPTIST BIBLE SEMINARY

About

  • We exist to equip servant leaders for biblical ministry in Romania and the Romanian-speaking diaspora, so that the truth of God may advance through healthy, biblical churches.

    • Train existing pastors & church leaders in expository preaching

    • Promote sound hermeneutic as a grid to filter false doctrines

    • Promote biblical ecclesiology and church leadership structures

    • Provide biblical counseling training for family & church needs

    • Format: Through weekly weekend classes, modular intensives, hybrid format

    • Platforms: Through Zoom and printed materials

    • Academic Components: Preaching labs, internships, theological research

    • Mentorship & Discipleship: Each faculty member is involved

    • Application: Students are requires to preach at least three times in their local church

Training

    • Bible Studies Certificate (BSC): Focuses on knowledge of the Bible, hermeneutics, theology

    • Diploma of Expository Preaching (DPE): Focuses on skills to analyze, interpret properly & preach expository messages

  • Our school was originally founded in 1993 as an outreach of Central Baptist Seminary in Minneapolis and continued for at least 20 years, offering Master programs in theology for about 20 percent of all Romanian Baptist pastors. Since 2015, the school was transferred to Timișoara and started the process of becoming a TMAI member school. We have currently 50 active students and 7 faculty members, offering our courses in our main campus, as well as in Linz (Austria) and Krefeld (Germany).

  • We aim to continue our existing programs in the three locations we are at present and expand our training in other places, as the opportunities arise and our faculty gets bigger.

Context

  • Population:  18,148,155 (2024 est.)

    Ethnic Groups: Romanian 89.3%, Hungarian 6%, Romani 3.4%, Ukrainian 0.3%, German 0.1%, other 0.9% (2021 est.)  

    Note:  Data represent individuals who declared an ethnic group in the 2021 national census; 13% did not respond; Romani populations are usually underestimated in official statistics and may represent 5–11% of Romania's population.

    Languages: Romanian (official) 91.6%, Hungarian 6.3%, Romani 1.2%, other 0.7% (2021 est.)

    Note:  Data represent individuals who declared a maternal language in the 2021 national census; 13.1% did not respond.

    Religions: Romanian Orthodox 85.3%, Roman Catholic 4.5%, Reformed 3%, Pentecostal 2.5%, other 4.7% (2021 est.)  

    Note:  Data represent individuals who declared a religion in the 2021 national census; 13.9% did not respond.

    Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons

    Refugees (Country of Origin):  77,250 (Ukraine) (as of 14 April 2024)

    Stateless Persons:  297 (2022)

    Note: 16,085 estimated refugee and migrant arrivals (January 2015-March 2024)

    Stats from CIA.gov

  • After centuries of control by the Turkish Ottoman Empire, the regions of Wallachia and Moldovia joined together to form the country of Romania in 1862. The new country fought alongside the Allied Powers in World War I, doubling its size with new territories, but then allied with the Axis Powers in 1930. Romania was occupied by the Soviets in 1944, eventually leading to the development of a communist “people’s republic.”  Dictator Nicole Ceausescu came to power in 1965 and ruled for decades over an increasingly oppressive communist state. After Ceausescu was overthrown and executed, free elections were held the next year in 1990. Significant numbers of Romanians have emigrated since the country’s restructuring. In its efforts to reform, Romania joined NATO in 2004, and the EU in 2007. 87% of Romania’s population are adherents of Eastern Orthodoxy; many villages and cities do not have a single Evangelical church. A Romanian missions movement is growing, however, as locals aim to reach those in their own country, including the Roma people. 

    Compiled from CIA.gov, Operation World, and Encyclopedia Britannica

HOW TO PARTNER

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