When communism collapsed in Romania in 1989, many Romanian Christians thought that life would become much easier. The church grew exponentially in the first few years of freedom, but disciples of Christ soon discovered to their consternation that churches were losing members. Young people who heard what God had done under communism, but had not seen it firsthand, were leaving the church in droves.
Church leaders began searching for reasons for this mass exodus and discovered something that horrified them: their children were being indoctrinated in an entirely godless education system. They set out to find an alternative, but political leaders were openly hostile to any form of education that was not directly controlled by the government. However, they found a loophole by doing distance learning while enrolled in a foreign school, such as Christian Light Academy in Harrisonburg, Virginia. People who switched to learning in English began seeing a difference in their families.
When we visit the Dumitru* family, the two lively little boys and their smiley younger sister are always bright-eyed and well-mannered. It is evident that church and godly values are important to their parents. They love the Christian Light curriculum and are grateful for the positive changes it has brought to their home.
In a visit last winter, the parents told us the curriculum’s Biblical teaching has inspired their faith and has changed their boys and is changing them as well. When their mother became ill, the children were sad and uncertain about the future. Then one of the boys read a story in his Christian Light reading curriculum
about orphanage children who prayed that God would remove a mountain behind the orphanage. Miraculously, God answered the prayers of the orphanage children when a mining company brought in heavy equipment and literally removed the mountain.
The Dumitru family took courage from this example and said, “We will pray every day for God to remove our mountain.” Recently, they told us they keep praying every day in their family devotions, trusting God to work
a miracle for their family.
