71. Churches in my Village

There are two churches in my village which is fairly uncommon. In Moldova 97% of people are Orthodox Christian, so to have an Orthodox and Baptist church in a village or 3,000 people is fairly unique.

The Baptist church has been in the village since 1926 but the building below was constructed in 1990 with the help of Eagle Rock Christian Church in Los Angeles, CA. This is the largest Baptist church in south-eastern Moldova and to my count can sit 200 people. The story is that the church has lost members, but the only reason is that they moved to the USA. I was also told that when the Soviet Union fell, a church donated a few thousand US dollars for them to build a church and at the time the exchange rate was great, so they were able to build a whole church for a few thousand dollars.

The Orthodox Church, called Saint Nicolas, which was built in 1760. Throughout the years it was also involved in the education of the children in the village. Currently about 30 people attend on a regular basis, from my observations, and there are benches around the edge of the sanctuary, but generally people are expected to stand. The sanctuary is in the shape of a cross.