New Hope United Methodist Church

New Hope established a mission partnership with a Bulgarian church starting in 2008. Our partner congregation, Russe Evangelical Methodist Church is located in the industrial city of Russe, in northeastern Bulgaria. Our two congregations formed an "In Mission Together" covenant through the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries. New Hope will give at least $3,600 annually for our partner congregation, most of which will be used for paying their pastor.

We will also send Volunteer-in-Mission teams to Bulgaria nearly annually, to help the Russe congregation with their outreach to hurting people. Our first team traveled to Bulgaria in June of 2008, click here to read about some of their experiences.

History of the United Methodist Church
in Bulgaria and the City of Russe

Methodist missionaries launched their work in Bulgaria in the city of Russe in the mid-1800's.
The church building in Russe (pictured) dates to the 1800's, and was added onto in the 1990's.
The first Annual Conference in Bulgaria was held in 1876 in Russe. From there, Methodist congregations were launched in communities all across Bulgaria.
At the end of World War II, communists seized control of Bulgaria. They oppressed the churches, confiscating most of the church buildings and sending the pastors to prison and work camps.
When communist rule ended four decades later, only four pastors returned alive from prison and work camps.
Only three congregations survived the decades of oppression – one of them was at Russe.
The first Annual Conference after the communist break-up was held at Russe in 1993.
In the last 15 years, United Methodists in Bulgaria have grown from three congregations to 37 congregations!

Bulgaria is located just north of Greece. Many of the Apostle Paul's letters are addressed to this general region. The city of Russe is in northeastern Bulgaria on the Danube River, and has about the same population as the Green Bay area.