Pastor Peter Rong definitely knows how to tell a story. He starts the Sunday celebration with an interesting moral from a tale rooted in his country of origin, Sudan.

Today’s story is tragic and touching. A man loved his car so much that he broke son’s arm when the little one scratched some letters on it. The child woke up in the hospital after surgery and seeing he had lost all his fingers, asked his father innocently: “When will my fingers grow back?”

The grieved father went back to the car and discovered his son had written on it “I love you dad”.

“Do not love things, love people!” cries Pastor Peter Rong convincingly for a ‘Spiritual Revival’ Church gathering comprising multicultural, multinational and even multi-religious participants, if you count a few Buddhists and Muslims present there on the Sunday celebration.

Exterior of the ‘Spiritual Revival’ Church in Bucharest, Romania. – Photo by Luciana Grosu

Pastor Peter Rong in speaks to Sunday gathering in the church. – Photo by Luciana Grosu

Multi-religious, multi-ethnic participants sing in a Sunday celebration. – Photo by Luciana Grosu

Multi-religious, multi-ethnic participants sing in a Sunday celebration. – Photo by Luciana Grosu

Multi-religious, multi-ethnic participants sing in a Sunday celebration. – Photo by Luciana Grosu

Multi-religious, multi-ethnic participants sing in a Sunday celebration. – Photo by Luciana Grosu

Multi-religious, multi-ethnic participants sing in a Sunday celebration. – Photo by Luciana Grosu

Multi-religious, multi-ethnic participants sing in a Sunday celebration. – Photo by Luciana Grosu

Multi-cultural singing is a regular feature in the ‘Spiritual Revival’ Church. – Photo by Luciana Grosu

Multi-cultural singing is a regular feature in the ‘Spiritual Revival’ Church. – Photo by Luciana Grosu

Exterior of the ‘Spiritual Revival’ Church in Bucharest, Romania. – Photo by Luciana Grosu

Pastor Peter Rong in speaks to Sunday gathering in the church. – Photo by Luciana Grosu

Multi-religious, multi-ethnic participants sing in a Sunday celebration. – Photo by Luciana Grosu

Multi-religious, multi-ethnic participants sing in a Sunday celebration. – Photo by Luciana Grosu

Multi-religious, multi-ethnic participants sing in a Sunday celebration. – Photo by Luciana Grosu

Multi-religious, multi-ethnic participants sing in a Sunday celebration. – Photo by Luciana Grosu

Multi-religious, multi-ethnic participants sing in a Sunday celebration. – Photo by Luciana Grosu

Multi-religious, multi-ethnic participants sing in a Sunday celebration. – Photo by Luciana Grosu

Multi-cultural singing is a regular feature in the ‘Spiritual Revival’ Church. – Photo by Luciana Grosu

Multi-cultural singing is a regular feature in the ‘Spiritual Revival’ Church. – Photo by Luciana Grosu

During the celebration, the Sudanese pastor talks in English and his words are translated into Romanian by another member of the church. Nevertheless, Peter Rong has a perfect knowledge of Romanian after living in the country for the last two decades.

Today’s popular pastor came to Romania in 1992 to study Economics.

“Back then, children had never seen black people so they were calling us, the African students or ‘ciocolata’ (chocolate),” he recalls with a pleasant smile on his cheeks.

One day, he bought a chocolate, broke it into pieces and shared it with the children. “This is how I taught them ‘black’ is ‘sweet!” he remembers.

The ‘Spiritual Revival’ church was born 10 years ago in Bucharest. At the beginning, the community used to hold the celebration in a small apartment block. Today, Peter Rong’s community has 45 permanent members but many more people attend the event on a weekly basis.

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