Albania Trip Update
I just returned from almost two weeks in Albania and I wanted to share an update with you on my trip. First off, a little about Albania:
- Albania was an island of communism in the middle of the Balkans for 46 years. The rule of communism ended in 1991, not that long ago, and its marks are still found across the city and the hearts and minds of some of its people.
- In 1967 Albania became the world’s first atheist state, but now about 70% of Albanians are Muslim. The capital city of Tirana is dotted with Minarets, and you can hear the Muslim call to worship throughout the city.
- According to joshuaproject.net, Albania is 0.43% evangelical Christian.
Church Network Training
Taking New Ground works in partnership with the New Thing Global Catalyst team. This team works to:
- Identify, come alongside, and train apostolic leaders in hard to reach parts of the world.
- Start new churches with indigenous leaders who disciple and train other local leaders.
- Link pastors into regional networks for ongoing encouragement, accountability, and reproduction.
The New Thing Global Catalyst team has a network of 80 churches in Albania. This network is divided into 7 regional subnetworks. Thirty of these churches were planted through the cooperation of other churches in the network.
While in Albania I had the opportunity to help train these
pastors on how to start or grow their small group ministries. You can see me pictured below with Altin Kita translating. Altin co-leads the Albanian network.
I had lunch after the training that day with two passionate church planters, Denis and Elsa Kopliku from Shkoder, Albania, near the border with Montenegro. Denis shared with me how missionaries came into Albania after the fall of communism, but left during the unrest in 1997 caused by a financial pyramid scheme and civil war in the nation. He was so proud that it was now Albanians planting churches to reach Albanians. The Kopliku’s lead one of the new church plants that has come out of the Albania network.
Teaching English
The second part of my trip involved teaching English. This was a mission trip involving a team from several US churches. Each year the team partners with Altin Kita and his church, ICF Tirana, to help them pull off their largest outreach event of the year, an English school for Albanians! This year the school reached 670 students. Most were university students or young adults. It was an incredible opportunity to build relationships that led to an openness to hearing and recieving the gospel.
The students had a real desire to learn English from native English speakers. They often commented about how much joy they saw in our eyes. It was Christ in us that was so attractive to them. At the end of the week 444 of them filled out a survey. 233 (52%) of them indicated that they prayed to receive Christ, and 286 (64%) said they were interested in learning more about the Christian faith. We stayed through Sunday to help get them connected to the local church. ICF Tirana will continue to follow up with them!
Moving Forward
I’m ramping up my fundraising efforts with the ambitious goal of being funded enough to get started early in 2018. This trip has validated my decision, encouraged me, and given me an increased sense of urgency to move forward in partnership with the New Thing Global Catalyst Team.
The best way to spread the gospel in hard to reach parts of the world is by planting churches, and the New Thing Global Catalyst Team exists to catalyze a movement of reproducing churches! Albania is a great example of that, and Denis Kopliku is the fruit of that labor.
Kara and I are incredibly grateful to those of you who have joined our support team. Your partnership humbles and encourages us. Please continue to pray with us for additional partners to help fund my transition into this ministry and to provide for our ongoing support.
For information on how you can join our team, please visit www.takingnewground.org/give/.
