Teodor Ciuciui grew up in communist Romania. He was born into a Christian family, his father spending time in prison for his faith. Ted had a personal conversion experience at an early age and began to preach the gospel as a twelve-year old. As a member of a Pentecostal church he was baptized in water and in the Spirit. He had another life-changing encounter with God at the age of 14, when he made a commitment to ministry. As he said, “I was so touched at that time. My cousin and I were in a forest where we encountered a heavenly atmosphere, including angelic visitations.” That same year the Ciuciui family moved to Oradea.
The Christian community in Oradea was about 60% Orthodox, 12% Reformed, 8% Roman Catholic, 6% Pentecostal, and 4% Baptist. Under the communist regime even the Evangelical and Pentecostal churches became very traditional, struggling simply to survive. After communism, many of the older churches seemed somewhat irrelevant to a new generation. To reach the children and young people a new way of doing church would be necessary.
In 1990 Teodor, his wife Zamfira, and their four children decided to move to Portland, Oregon to prepare for a new chapter of ministry. Ted completed the Church Leadership Program at Portland Bible College and then went on to complete a Masters of Art at Multnomah Biblical Seminary. While in the U.S. they began to network with churches and leaders who would be a source of relationships and resources in the years to come.
When the Ciuciui family returned to Oradea they had a passion in their hearts to see a new generation of believers formed into a company of overcomers in Romania. They had a vision to see a local church that was Spirit-filled, culturally relevant, and effective as salt and light, both in Romanian society, in the city of Oradea, and among the other Christian congregations.
From the beginning, Salem Christian Center (Centrul Crestin Salem) sought to attract the hurt and the rejected, non-Christian seekers, and young people. The name “Salem” means peace, and communicates a vision to provide a place where people can experience the peace of God in the presence of God. Their first meeting place was the Cultural Hall of the city. This unusual location sent an immediate message to the community: S.C.C. was not going to be a traditional congregation. In fact, during their first few months as a church they were fairly controversial:
They chose to be an unaligned, nondenominational church. For that reason, the other congregations didn’t know how to “label” them.
They broke out of traditional worship forms and encouraged “free” worship, including things like clapping their hands, raising their hands, etc.
To be sensitive to the real lifestyles of the people they were trying to reach, they chose non-traditional times for corporate services and other events.
They emphasized church “membership” as a relational process in building community rather than the traditional forms of official membership.
They targeted unchurched people in the community.
They were not content to stay inside of any one building and sought ministry opportunities in community parks and neighborhoods. They used drama, pantomime, and music to communicate the gospel. These practices made them so controversial some of the evangelical churches in town did not even consider them to be Christian.
Salem Christian Center had clear spiritual goals from the outset. First of all, they wanted to see people in the community come to Christ. They also wanted to help facilitate relationships among the various local churches in Oradea, encouraging partnership and unity. In the end, S.C.C. hoped to build a strong local church that would be a model for other churches, including new church plants, in Romania.
Their founding vision also included certain social goals. They wanted to build bridges between the church and the local community. Romanians tended to view the church as isolated and irrelevant. S.C.C. sought to engage the community, including the local government, with social projects, and to take on some of the social problems facing the community. This would include the problem of the many orphans in Romania, seeking to help care for them and see them successfully integrated into Roman society. Their work with children would include children’s clubs and a Christian school. They also sought to reach out to young people with things like an internet café. Ultimately, the S.C.C. congregation planned to facilitate foster care for seniors and to provide medical services to the poor.
The families of Oradea also have significant needs. The Ciuciui’s are committed to serving the families in a variety of ways. They seek to provide relationship training, counseling and mentoring to young people. They work to provide training classes in parenting skills. They do all they can to foster better communication between husbands and wives.
After serving the community for a time Ted approached the local government for permission to buy property and build on it. The officials were surprised at the scope of S.C.C.’s vision—pleasantly surprised. Usually the city only allows a local church enough land to build an auditorium on. However, in this case they made an exception and gave the church five acres on which to build an auditorium, a school, a clinic, and an orphanage. The Lord had given the church great favor in their city.
As a result, the church has a growing impact on the city. People in the community look at S.C.C. as an open place for all, a place where everyone is welcome, a place of refuge from the pressures of life in Romania. They are also beginning to see the church as a place where God is, a place of miracles. Not only are the corporate gatherings filled with visitors, so are the prayer meetings.
The congregation of S.C.C. has gained an entrance into the local public schools, serving them with a variety of children’s programs. They hold public Christmas and Easter plays that are well attended by the community. The congregation is also actively engaged in providing clothing, medical services and counseling to the poor in the community.
Now Salem Christian Center is conducting a Friday night event for young people, attended by teens from non-Christian families. Some of the youth have begun Bible clubs in their high schools. Every Saturday a children’s program is offered for the kids in the community. About 80% of those coming are from non-Christian families. In these ways the congregation is having a profound impact on a new generation of Romanians.
Even though other churches in Oradea questioned the “orthodoxy” of Salem Christian Center in the beginning, they are now responding to the new vision with increasing openness. This can be seen in the worship patterns of the local churches, singing many of the same songs with the same freedom. An atmosphere of unity and fellowship is growing between all the churches in the city.
In the future, S.C.C. would like to influence the business community. They want to build a Business Center that will offer help with start-up businesses and will provide jobs for people in the community. They have plans to build an auditorium that will seat 3,000, and a Christian school that will serve 300 students. They also plan to launch a Bible college to train a new generation of pastors and church planters. Future plans also include a sports center for the young people in the area and a retreat center.
A truly healthy congregation ultimately reproduces itself. S.C.C. has plans to plant ethnic churches in Oradea for the Hungarian community and the Gypsy community. They also have plans to plant five local congregations in the region.
What would it be like to have an overcoming congregation in Romania that serves as salt and
light and leaven in all aspects of society? The Salem Christian Center is impacting Romanian children and youth, education, local government and business. The light of the gospel is shining through them, bringing transformation to a new generation, bringing hope to a land so often devastated. They are redeemed transformers in the midst of the world.
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