By Elisei Rusu
Theological schools are specialized higher education institutions with one purpose: bringing glory to God through sound theological training that prepares godly servant-leaders for local churches and ministries. This has always been the purpose of Timotheus Bible Institute of Bucharest (TBI), the only university-level theological school with Brethren roots not only in Romania but also in Europe.
TBI was established in 1992 as a dream come true following our young years of underground training when the Securitate, the infamous Romanian secret police, was chasing us. After the fall of Communism in December 1989, the resulting freedom enabled my wife, Adriana, and me to start TBI with the help of two other Romanian Christians. Today, we continue serving as professors there: Adriana teaches English as a ministry tool, and I teach courses on ecclesiology, pastoral theology, Christianity in postmodernism, church administration, and biblical counseling. Adriana also mentors women at TBI, and I also oversee the school’s international relations.
Growth amid opposition
TBI’s history is as tumultuous as Romania’s over the last 35 years. First, the Romanian society was not ready for a theological school in this post-Communist era. Many Romanians did not like the idea of TBI because they grew up in an atheistic culture. So, during the school’s first 15 years, 1992–2007, some local authorities would not cooperate with the TBI administration and created much red tape. This opposition became obvious when a “land shark” wanted to take for business purposes the property that houses TBI and Antioch Church, the oldest Brethren assembly in Romania (1899). We fought in the courts for more than seven years to protect God’s property.
Gradually, things changed, and people became more open to evangelical Christianity. TBI’s influence began to grow inside Romania. By the mid-2010s, TBI was recognized as a higher education theological school, and TBI graduates were accepted to teach Christianity in the Romanian public school system. More believers enrolled at TBI—not only Christians from Romania but also from other European countries where Romanian expats had started churches. Realizing the need for training, these churches started sending their servant-leaders to TBI. Students from Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Moldova, and Spain joined the Romanian students in studying God’s Word and sound theology. In the last 33 years, more than 750 students have trained at TBI, and now, they serve the Lord in Europe as elders and deacons, missionaries, public school teachers, or leaders in ministries such as radio, TV, and publishing.
Pandemic lockdowns, war, and refugees
At the end of February 2020, Romania experienced a burst of COVID-19 cases, and the country entered lockdown. The safety measures allowed only 10 people to meet in the same place at once. We sent our TBI students home and started online classes for all courses.
Due to different waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, we taught our classes remotely from March 2020 to April 2021. The new setting was challenging for the whole TBI family, students and professors alike. It took some time to adapt to the new methods of teaching, produce new materials suitable for online learning, and create new ways of evaluating students and their work. However, these challenges did not stop the education process, and all of us continued to honor the Lord by teaching and studying His Word.
For a time, the students and faculty returned to campus, but by February 2022, TBI decided to move the second semester to online classes only due to an increase in COVID-19 cases within the school.
During each of these lockdowns, the dorms were empty, and the campus looked deserted. Around the time of the first one, we had been excited because we had just added an exterior elevator to the school building, which would help people with disabilities. So the TBI administration prayed for guidance on how to use the facility.
Then, on February 24, 2022, Russia attacked Ukraine, and thousands of refugees flooded into Romania and neighboring countries. Many Ukrainians, mainly older people and young mothers with small children, ran from the war with only the things on them. Many of them wanted to go to European countries where they had relatives and friends. First, however, they had to travel to Bucharest and visit the Ukrainian embassy, the only place where they could receive their passports. Because these Ukrainians needed a place to stay for a few days, the Christians who had helped them at the border asked us to house them.
This was a new open door to share Christ and His love with destitute people. With a team of more than 40 students and graduates, TBI offered housing, transportation, and medical help. We also provided spiritual and emotional support. Many Ukrainians arrived scared and without direction. So we gave them Bibles and New Testaments in Ukrainian and Russian, and we saw them start to relax and gain courage and direction. Some became interested in learning more about a personal relationship with Christ, and when they left TBI, they asked for Bibles and New Testaments they could give to their friends and relatives.
In less than five months, TBI faculty, students, and graduates helped hundreds of refugees recover and go to their place of choice. Some returned to Ukraine when international organizations helped build refugee camps inside western Ukraine; our teams continued to provide humanitarian aid and Christian literature.
Post-pandemic developments
Now, with the pandemic and a couple of years of recovery behind us, TBI is creating a master’s program for church management. This is another strategic move because many servants, although university graduates, do not have the training needed for effective ministry in their local churches. With this two-year program, TBI will meet that need. Lord willing, the master’s program will start this fall. The professors are preparing the courses now, and a waiting list of Christians is in place. As part of this program, we will equip students for their ministry in a postmodern society and to work with younger generations, especially Generation Y (millennials) and Generation Z.
Another important ministry of TBI is theological research that materializes into publications. To progress academically, instructors must author books and articles in theological publications, both in Romanian and in an international language. TBI’s biannual publication, Timotheus—for which I serve as writer and editor—publishes theological research findings for professors, graduates, and students.
The professors are also interested in writing books and chapters of books relevant to Romanian society. For example, in 2017, Protestant Christianity celebrated 500 years since the Reformation. TBI published two volumes on the Reformation, one in Romanian and one in English. Last year, TBI held a conference on “Biblical Solutions for Contemporary Issues” and addressed postmodern influences in the world and church, gender identity, social unrest, and artificial intelligence’s impact on theology and church life. The presentations were published in the book Biblical Solutions for Contemporary Issues.
Reaching Romania through media
TBI organizes annual conferences, and its professors are invited to take part in national and international conferences. Over the last seven years, our professors have participated in more than 120 such conferences. Adriana and I organized and partook in more than 25. The topics included spiritual formation, spiritual leadership, family life and parenting, church government, and biblical counseling.
National TV stations also invite us to contribute to interconfessional panels on topics important to modern Romanian society. Four TBI faculty members join from time to time, and two others—myself and Ieremia Rusu, TBI’s president—regularly participate. This TV program is a wonderful opportunity to share Christ with hundreds of thousands of viewers.
We also regularly speak on Christian Radio Network’s The Voice of the Gospel. We address contemporary issues from a biblical perspective and answer people’s questions. TBI professors regularly receive invitations to present on radio programs in Bucharest, Sibiu, Suceava, and Iaşi. For example, Adriana has spoken on parenting and given her testimony, and I am a regular contributor on contemporary and social events.
Practical and academic guidance
Another important ministry of TBI is biblical counseling. It grew during the pandemic, when many young families were experiencing tensions in their relationships and seeking help. The main family issues were (and still are) communication, acceptance, patience, and job insecurity. I teach biblical counseling at TBI, and during the pandemic, I trained some of my colleagues to do biblical counseling. After, all of them led efficient, helpful sessions with younger instructors, students, and other Christians.
During one memorable session in April 2020, a group of more than 40 young Christian professionals asked me to teach on work ethics during the pandemic, when all of them were working from home. Some were single, but most were married, raising young children, and living in apartment buildings. In Romania, as in many European countries, apartments are small, which amplifies the challenge of working from home.
I spoke about ethical principles at work (no matter the location) and the spiritual aspects of work. Then, I presented some guidelines and methods for working from home, especially for people with young children. The presentation lasted 45 minutes, but the Q&A session went much longer—more than 75 minutes. These professionals asked practical questions: how to use time wisely, how to interact with their spouse when both have work to do and small children to care for, and how to relate to their children while balancing family and work. Another important question regarded how to safeguard their time with the Lord when they are bombarded with so much news.
The participants asked for my PowerPoint presentation so they could use it as a reference. We were encouraged to see so many young Christians who want to lead transparent and honest lives to honor the Lord.
Last year, I preached a series of 12 sermons on what the Bible says about emotional and spiritual problems. The series was titled Healing the Soul, and many people asked me to turn it into a video series. TBI professors, graduates, and students joined the project, and this spring, we began broadcasting the biblical counseling videos based on my sermons. We are also preparing materials on Christian ethics, apologetics, and devotions and prayer. This is another new ministry that has become a tool pastors and elders use to help people address their emotional and spiritual needs.
Mentoring is another TBI ministry. Older professors mentor the junior instructors and the TBI students. Sometimes, this ministry goes beyond the four-year program when graduates stay connected with their professors and ask to continue their mentoring relationship in their new phase of life. Right now, I mentor three junior professors and two graduates involved in leading large Christian organizations.
Influencing students and society
TBI is God’s instrument in building His church in Europe on many levels, and His work is beyond everything we have dreamed of. Taking its perspective from the biblical view of God, humankind, and the world, TBI is committed to stressing Christian doctrine and ethics, Christian service, and academic excellence. TBI’s calling in Christian higher education is to create an environment that nurtures the academic community in and by the truth of God’s redemptive love in Christ and to equip its members for lives of dedicated service—whether in the full-time ministries of the church or another worthy calling.
TBI’s ministry is complex and covers immediate and long-term needs in the Romanian and European societies. It also uses its influence to provide solutions to those challenges. We pray that the Lord will continue to bless the ministry of Timotheus Bible Institute of Bucharest and that more dedicated Christians will join as professors and students of God’s Word. n
Dr. Elisei and Adriana Rusu are commended from Northwest Bible Chapel in Chicago, Illinois.
Originally published in Missions magazine, August 2024. For more content, sign up for a free subscription (US) to Missions at CMML.us/magazine/subscrib
