History

The Mission Church is a natural outgrowth of the ministry of Mission Salvation. Over the years, Pastor Ivodor Kovachev and his helpers in Mission Salvation, pioneered an evangelistic and pastoral outreach into Bulgarian prisons. They gained the trust and respect of the prison administrators as prisoners began to change for the better. The inmates heard the Good News of Jesus and some began to put their trust in him. Another dimension of the ministry of Mission Salvation is that they have organized evangelistic crusades and Christian concerts in various Bulgarian cities.

Gradually, Pastor Ivodor and his wife, Jany, realized that once these prisoners were released from prison, they were like fish out of water. They were new Christians but they were ex-prisoners. They needed just as much, if not more pastoral care than when they were in prison. They needed the help and encouragement of group meetings.

The first meetings started January 7, 2007. They met in a small meeting hall and invited ex-prisoners struggling with various problems, such as drug addiction, unemployment and the general lack of life skills. At the beginning there were about fifteen to twenty people.

The most important aim of the meetings was to cultivate an atmosphere of trust in one another and a reverence for God. In this “safe” yet holy atmosphere, people could feel free to share their problems and build Biblical values into their lives.

Originally, these meeting were by invitation only. The goal was to minister to the specific needs of these ex-prisoners. But they were so excited by what the Lord was doing among them, they insisted that they be permitted to invite their friends and families.

The Mission Church evolved out of this gradual process. It is a place called “Home,” a group of people where there are no misfits, where everyone fits in. It is a church where each person takes part in the Mission, where each person discovers the mission God has for him or her.

The official opening was April 4, 2008.

The way lies ahead.

Pastor Ivodor and Jany tell their story of how the Mission Church began:

“One day we were shopping. We were happy in the service of the Lord; we had the sense that we were fulfilling what God was calling us to do. We thought we were involved, where we could feel the “pulse” of the ministry. Suddenly the phone rang and something in us froze. The wife of one of ‘our boys’ called. Her husband had been a participant in our prison meetings. It had been a few months since he had been released from prison. He was living in his home village.

That morning he had committed suicide. He was gone from this world… He must have been desperate. We knew him very well. He was planning how to help his family move to Sofia in order to have a full-time job. We knew it was hard for him to adapt to the outside world. We had done our best to help him but obviously it was not enough…

Devastated, we entered a caf? nearby and it was all we could do to keep from crying out loud. We sat together silently weeping. We both thought the same thing: If we did not make an effort to tangibly help those who were released from prison, we would never see the full value of what the Lord had begun in their lives. Suddenly we realized that ministry in prison and ministry out of prison are two different things.

We had just lost our friend, but there were so many others that we could help. We did not hesitate a moment. At the same time we looked at the calendar and declared:

‘January 7, 2007!’

That date we started the first meeting with people who had just been released from prison. We rented a small club in a neighborhood in Sofia. Many ‘interesting’ personalities started coming. Some of them were on drugs (from their government issued methadone), but they were staying and listening. They even asked some questions. For others it was a great question as to whether they would survive. We saw that they needed support—someone to help them find a place to live, buy food, teach them how to be disciplined on the job, how to manage their money… We realized that when they are released from prison, they do not have proper documents, a home, or a job—and the way back to their former lawless way of life was very easy.

A year before 2007 we were in close fellowship with some families who had the vision for our ministry and helped us with everything. As we laid the foundation for the church we realized that our ties to them were not primarily because of what they could do for us, but because God had given us a loving relationship together. We knew we had a long way to go, but we were united by God’s love and our desire to be devoted to God’s mission in the world. So this group of more mature believers with their families got involved in those initial meetings, paying their dues so to speak, helping us with their time, efforts and finances.

Over the years, we have founded several churches in our ministry, but with the founding of the MISSION CHURCH in Sofia we wanted something special. We waited for the ‘go ahead’ from the Lord. A moment came when we had to say, ‘YES’ and to be bold to pronounce the word ‘church.

Everything gradually came into place.

Everyone has a mission. We are talking about the mission of being Christ’s hands and feet in this world. This is the root of everything else.”