Ball Family Mission Statement:
We desire to glorify God through our service to His children in Romania. We believe that as a family we are called to fulfill the Great Commission as presented by Jesus Christ in Matthew 28:16-20. This calling is given to all believers and yet uniquely revealed to each. God is directing us to Romania to serve the Gypsies, orphans, and widows. Through living out our faith and showing Jesus' love to the lost, hurt, and rejected, we believe that God can and will meet the needs of this unique, and in some regions unreached, people group.
To accomplish the ministry that God has put in front of us, we believe that we will serve Romanians in several ways, detailed in two segments: initial ministry and future ministry.
Initial ministry:
With an emphasis on cultural adaptation and language acquisition, our initial ministries will be focused on relationship building while serving in current ministries. These ministries are as follows:
- Baby hospital – While serving in Romania in 2009-2010, Lynsey was able to gain access to an Arad hospital that houses both abandoned and sick children from birth to three years of age. The continuation of this ministry will allow Lynsey to help meet the physical needs of these children by working alongside and assisting the nursing staff. These visits also provide opportunities to silently pray over each child. These babies are considered "nobody's children" and their very existence is undesirable. By serving these children, we demonstrate that they are somebody, they are wanted, and they are lovable. Nurses and parents caring for their own sick children become curious, prompting conversation and opportunities to respectfully and gently share the reason for our hope. As Lynsey's Romania vocabulary increases, the depth, frequency, and duration of these conversations hopefully will as well.
- Mental Health Facility at Mocrea – The city of Mocrea is home to a state-run mental health facility that houses adults with a variety of mental handicaps. This is a ministry that our entire family can be active in. The primary focus of this ministry will be to interact with the residents through arts and crafts while demonstrating God's great love for them. The current missionary that serves these people has requested our help and desires to begin holding a camp each summer for all of the residents, in addition to the weekly craft time.
- Widow’s Mite – The Widow's Mite ministry encompasses caring for elderly women (and a few men) who would be referred to as shut-ins. This ministry primarily provides food, but also supplies medicine when needed and assists with housing construction and fuel for heating during the winter months. Yearly, this ministry sees women accept Christ as Jesus receives all of the credit for their care.
- Mentorship –In my experience working with young men in Romania, I see the need to offer Godly counsel and discipleship. My goal while ministering to these young men would be to show them God’s plan for them as the spiritual leader of their household and to help establish a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
- Community Clubs – These clubs focus on music and ESL. Serving in these capacities would allow us the opportunity to immerse ourselves in our community.
Future ministry:
God has revealed to me the need for reaching the Gypsy community for His namesake. The Joshua Project reports that Romania is comprised of an unreached people group of 17%. This number, most likely, does not account for the rural Gypsy communities that live unregistered. It would be my prayer that I would be able to establish relationships in these rural villages over time and begin to walk them through a chronological approach to biblical revelation. This method is often used within tribal groups and is taught from Genesis to the Gospels, allowing for the people groups to understand who God is as they discover what He did for them.
Additionally, we feel the need to establish multiple sponsorship programs. These programs would allow for us to meet the needs for those under the Widow’s Mite program as well as the children we will be serving on a regular basis.
