Valeriu Ghiletchi

The freedom to worship God and share his faith is very dear to Pastor Ghiletchi, whose family suffered religious persecution in his home country of Moldova when it was a Soviet Bloc nation. Despite the persecution, his grandfather became the first Christian in their village and established a strong Christian foundation upon which the family built their faith. While his nation was under Communist rule, Pastor Ghiletchi studied engineering in Odessa, Ukraine. When the Soviet Union fell, he earned his Bachelor of Divinity degree at Emmanuel University in Romania. He has served as the dean of the college of Theology and Education in Chisinau, as president of the Baptist Union of the Republic of Moldova, and as president of the European Baptist Federation. As a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Pastor Ghiletchi was the chairperson of the Committee on the Election of Judges to the European Court of Human Rights. He served as a member of the Moldova Parliament from 1998-2001 and again from 2009-2019.

As ministry leader to the EU, Pastor Ghiletchi will be tasked with building discipleship Bible-study ministries to members of the European Parliament (EP) which is the legislative branch of the EU, a political and economic union that governs common economic, social, and security policies of its 27 member states. Pastor Ghiletchi will also be working closely with Slavik Rimski, CapMin’s Global Director for Eastern and Western Europe to plant and build ministries for political leaders in European nations.

Pastor Ghiletchi is passionate about evangelism and is experienced in making disciples in the political arena. “I believe as Christians, we must be present in every sphere in society, and it is important for the Christian message to be heard in the public square,” he said. “There must be a Christian witness there. I pray and ask the Lord to open a door for this ministry in the European Parliament and other national parliaments.”