PARTNER PROFILE:
Anatoli Yankov
John, Desi, Anatoli and Ezekiel Yankovi
After leading churches in two other Bulgarian cities, Anatoli and his wife, Desi moved to Svishtov (where Anatoli became a believer in his youth) in 2000 to become pastors there. About 40 people currently attend the church. The believers range in age from children to retired grandmothers, but a special emphasis of their ministry is to children, teens and adult orphans. Before Anatoli was a believer, he was a professional Judo competitor and trainer. Using this experience, he leads a sports-related project to train young people. Anatoli says, "We are trying not only to train them but also to give them an example of how we can live in these difficult conditions and have hope for the future." The current group of local school children are mainly of Turkish or Roma
ethnicity. Every week in the church, Anatoli leads the ministry with children and teenagers to develop their faith in God. He clearly has a heart of love for this work. About seven years ago, Anatoli and Desi started visiting an orphanage and have kept contact with some of the orphans, who are now independent adults, to provide practical aid and disciple them. A major challenge and prayer need in Bulgaria is the economic crisis, lack of work or low pay. Many people leave the country to look for work; those who are left struggle with apathy, discouragement and lack of motivation to engage in church ministries. Their vision for 2020 is: The Church is God’s family (based on Ephesians 2:19).
FACT: The number of Bulgarians migrating to other countries increased by 10.4 per cent over the 2008–2018 period.
If you would like to support Anatoli’s ministry in prayer or finances please contact Melanie Griffiths at the TEN office on melanie.griffiths@ten-uk.org or 0117 961 5161.
Source: European Data Journalism Network 11
