Twelve young people from Pori Free Church in western Finland spent ten days in Bulgaria in June 2026, serving alongside long-term Finnish Free Church missionaries Hanna and Markus Rokosa in a programme that included street evangelism, children's outreach, and practical service at a mother-and-child shelter. The team was led by congregation youth worker Jonathan Kyffin and pastor Mika Tapio.
The trip was designed to give Finnish teenagers first-hand experience of cross-cultural mission in a European context. Bulgaria, an EU member state with a small evangelical minority, has been a focus of Finnish Free Church mission work for years, with the Rokosas serving there as SVK Mission personnel. Preparation for the trip included months of prayer, team-building days, and rehearsing a drama sketch that the youth used to share the gospel across language barriers. Each participant prepared a personal testimony to share, and the group was publicly commissioned at the Free Church summer festival's mission service before departing.
In Bulgaria, the team's activities ranged from face-painting and games at a village festival organised by a Christian group, to a street evangelism event and service at a shelter for mothers and children. "I had imagined street evangelism would mean I had to just go up to people and talk — I learned there are so many ways to share faith," one participant reflected after the trip. The experience gave the young people what leaders described as a new confidence in serving across cultural and linguistic boundaries.
(Originally published in Finnish. Summary translated by CC / Connexion.)
Source: Suomen Vapaakirkko / Suomen Viikkolehti — svl.fi
