Baptistic Theologies, 2009

ion anything about baptism, which the text mentions. Therefore when Dunca spoke he emphasised this aspect from the text. 34 In this way he clearly presented his vision of the Bible: the need to literally obey all of its commandments. This component gave people confidence that the message proclaimed was literally following the biblical pattern. It had been the reason they started the Bible study group and they invited the two preachers so they could discover what the Bible says is needed for someone to be saved. Dunca’s attitude convinced them. The same thing happened at another meeting, held on Sunday night. The priest read from John 3:1-13 but, because he already had a different opinion concerning the baptism of believers from that of the Baptist missionary, he misquoted verse 5 from the text. Instead of saying: ‘If anyone is not born from the water and from the Spirit (...)’ he said: ‘if anyone is not born from the Word and from the Spirit’. Those people, who were following the text in their own Bibles, started to say to each other, using picture language: ‘the priest went to the other side of the 33 Dunca, Amintiri din viatci mea, p. 108. 34 Ibid., pp. 110-111. 35 Ibid., p. 113. 48 Baptistic Theologies 36 road’. On the contrary, when Dunca spoke he presented again the exact biblical text. Dunca’s determination to quote and emphasise the exact words of the Bible was the most important fact that helped in his success. He himself acknowledges this element. At a meeting that was held on Sunday morning the people were impressed by another aspect: the spirit of prayer. Even though Dunca preached about conversion and baptism again, what remained in the memory of people was the beginning of the sermon: how it included prayer. They did not pray on the occasion of the first meeting and Teodor Popescu skipped this step at the second meeting. Dunca considered that in order to speak from God’s word, they needed to worship God. So he knelt and prayed. Most of the people had the same humble attitude. These three meetings in Bicaz in January 1925 had a continuing influence among the people. Immediately after the third meeting Popescu split from Dunca and they never preached in tandem again. Even though Teodor Popescu stayed for one more day and preached again in the locality, the only convert he had was Simion Dandu. There was never a Romanian Evangelical Church in Bicaz or in the immediate surrounding areas. Even Simion Dandu participated in and worshipped with the Baptist Church in Bicazu Ardelean, though he was never baptised as an adult but continued to sympathise for the rest of his life with the gatherings of Teodor Popescu OQ from Bucharest. The first presence of Gavril Dunca in the village of Bicaz underlines specific elements of his missionary strategy. He was motivated by a strong missionary zeal but his zeal was always waiting for the confirmation of God’s will. He knew the will of G