John and Estera Vatran, are native Romanians. A few years after the collapse of communism, after they were appointed by (CBFMS) WorldVenture, they were called to return to their homeland of Romania to serve the Lord.
For the last few years, Romania has experienced more freedom than many other European nations. This has given the Vatrans the opportunity to focus their ministry towards training and equipping national church leaders and workers.
In light of the upcoming integration of Romania into the European Union, the Vatrans had to seriously and carefully invest their time and resources toward strengthening the church. They also focused on the spiritual maturity of believers and helped them develop a wise vision and strategy, so that the upcoming major political, social, financial, and religious changes will not have a negative impact as it did in some other Eastern European nations.
By God’s grace, John has been teaching for nearly 30 years at the 100-year-old Baptist Theological Seminary in the capital city of Bucharest. He has also taught at the University of Bucharest for a few years. Besides pastoral ministry, teaching, and evangelism, students and youth have been the Vatrans’ ministry priority. Youth meetings, seminars, and youth camps have given them the opportunity to invest in a younger generation of believers and church leaders.
The Vatrans have also partnered with groups and teams from the United States on short-term mission trips for various ministry projects.
