In 1970 four men, while vacationing in Hungary, witnessed firsthand the deplorable effects of communism. Ministers were imprisoned, Bibles were confiscated, men and women who confessed to be Christians were denied employment, and church buildings were neglected. Burdened with the circumstances of their persecuted brethren, these men began to raise money.
1970
By 1973, they were able to raise $50,000 with which they purchased Bibles and a little book translated into the Hungarian language. These made their way behind the Iron Curtain.
1973
1974
This activity prompted the formation of the non-profit organization of ‘Kom Over en Help’ in The Netherlands in 1974. The support for this cause grew rapidly and soon Bible smuggling into the Eastern Bloc and the USSR began in earnest. Secret compartments were constructed in cars, trucks and recreational vehicles to import this contraband merchandise. “Vacationing” families were forced to wait for hours at the border-crossings as their vehicles were searched by the communist authorities. Many stories can be told of how God, in His special providence, prevented the inspectors from finding and confiscating the precious cargo. They were able to respond to requests emanating from groups and churches in Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Moldova, Romania, Russia and Ukraine.
The collapse of communism in the former USSR and demolition of the “Berlin Wall“ in 1990 brought tremendous new possibilities and opportunities for the work to intensify.
1990
In the spring of 1997, Come Over & Help North America began. Today we operate as separate organizations. We continue to strive for the building up and equipping of the church so severely assaulted during the forty to seventy years of communism. We covet your prayers as well as your financial support that allows us to partner with the church in Eastern Europe and beyond.
1997
Future
The Iron Curtain has fallen and churches are open. Times have changed drastically since the 1970s. The one constant that hasn’t changed over the past decades and will, the Lord willing, continue in the future is our desire that the Word of God would be known throughout the former Soviet Union. “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.” Isaiah 40:8
