We are Mihai and Tanya Duca. We grew up as atheists in Soviet Moldova, met Jesus as students, and have served with Cru for over 20 years.
We were both born when Moldova was part of the USSR. At school we were taught that there is no God and that religion is just a way to control the masses, so we were raised as atheists.
After Moldova became independent in 1991, we both came to faith in Jesus as students, through Christian students from Campus Crusade for Christ (now Cru). Tanya joined Cru staff in 1999, Mihai in 2002, and that same year we got married.
We served 15 years in student ministry, including 5 years in a Muslim area of Russia. Since returning home in 2014, we serve in Digital Strategies and Leadership Development.
Almost everyone now carries a phone, and with it access to the Gospel all day, in their own language. Digital strategies let the Gospel reach places where it is hard or impossible to send missionaries. We lead and equip others to use these tools well.
We meet people who are curious about God where they already are, online, and offer them a personal next step toward Jesus.
We give churches and believers trusted digital tools and strategies to use media for ministry.
Through Leadership Development we invest in the next generation of Christian leaders in Moldova.
A free online journey through 29 big questions about God, truth, people and meaning, in Romanian, Russian and English. It helps young people discover what they really believe and opens the door to a real conversation about Jesus.
[link Worldview] →“[O poveste scurtă și reală: cineva care a făcut un pas spre Isus prin lucrarea voastră.]”
On February 24, 2022, we woke up to the sound of explosions across the border. Within hours, the first refugees were sleeping in the Cru Moldova office on pillows and blankets we brought from home. Since then, serving Ukrainians has become part of our everyday ministry.
Most refugees who came to Moldova were women and children whose husbands stayed behind to defend their country. In May 2022, Cru opened The Ark, a day center led by Tanya, where they find care, food packages and Bible study.
Some have come to faith in Jesus, and in 2025 two Ukrainian teenagers were baptized in our church.
Every week, Tanya leads an art therapy group for Ukrainian women, a ministry Mihai started in 2023 with weekly painting classes. As they paint together, the women step away from the weight of war and loss and find encouragement and strength to keep going.
The group has become so important to them that it continues through the summer, and when Tanya is away, the women lead it themselves. Tanya’s master’s thesis in Transformational Leadership is about this ministry: art as a path to healing and change.
Since June 2025, Mihai has joined a team of chaplains from a church in Kyiv for week-long trips to a military hospital in eastern Ukraine. Many soldiers arrive straight from the front line with nothing.
The team brings coffee, snacks, clothes and hygiene items, plays board games and guitar, listens for hours, and gathers every evening for Scripture and prayer, often alongside Orthodox and Greek Catholic priests.
“Not all heroes carry rifles. There are those who protect with their hearts.”
Since 2024, Mihai has taught philosophy at the State University of Moldova. His students study biology, physics and IT. Most grew up without faith and call themselves atheists, yet many are open to hearing about the Christian worldview.
“I try to help them see that beyond technology and career, there are deep and timeless values that deserve their attention. Every meeting with them is an opportunity to plant something good.”
In June 2026, after nine years of research alongside ministry, Mihai defended his Ph.D. dissertation in philosophy. He prays it will open new doors to serve students and fellow professors.
Moldova lies between Romania and Ukraine. It has been independent since 1991, after decades of Soviet rule in which faith was pushed out of public life.
Cru (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ) was founded in 1951 by Bill and Vonette Bright. Its purpose is to win people to faith in Jesus, build them in their faith and send them to win and build others.
Learn more at cru.org →Like every Cru staff member, we raise our own support. Because believers in Moldova are few and many struggle financially, Cru allows Eastern European staff to build a team of partners abroad. We will be your missionaries and keep you updated regularly.
Prayer is the foundation of this ministry. Join our prayer team and receive short updates on what God is doing in Moldova.
Monthly partners make this ministry possible. Gifts go through Cru’s secure giving site and are tax-deductible in the US.
Cru account #2737081 · Mihail and Tatiana Duca
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