A BOLTON church minister is to help spread God's word among former Communist country folk.

On Saturday Ian Watson, senior pastor at Bolton Pentecostal Church, jetted out to Bulgaria as part of a special missionary group that will train up ex-eastern block clerics.

And the 47-year-old minister will also take along £1,600 raised by Bolton churchgoers which will allow Bulgarian delegates to attend the special training conference.

He said : "It's a very exciting time for the church as our message is 'Bolton and beyond' and that's exactly where I'm going. It proves that while Bolton is our main concern we also have other less parochial concerns.

"The whole concept of missionary work is not to simply send people out to an area where they don't know the language or culture. Now it's all about us going out to train up their own nationals."

Ian, who took up his Bolton posting in 1990 and oversaw his church's move to a purpose-built centre on Bury New Road in 1993, will spend a week in the Bulgarian capital Sofia, staying with a local family.

The dad-of three will join a team of ministers from other UK churches who are committed to providing financial and ministerial support to the Bulgarians.

The training conference, organised by Youth Ministries International, will run from September 20 to 26, after which Ian will head home.

Bolton Pentecostal Church's associate pastor Derek Smith, who heads their Missions Department, helped arrange for Ian to travel to Bulgaria.

And during his trip Ian will take to the pulpit to preach to a Bulgarian congregation, via an interpreter.

He added: "It will be a very exciting trip. I've certainly never had to speak through an interpreter before."

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