…daily. This is the story of how the church doubled in size in a city called Ulcinj in one day…
Ulcinj is a coastal city on the Adriatic Sea tucked away in the small country of Montenegro. It is an absolutely beautiful place where the mountains crash into the sea. Inhabiting the city are some 10,000 people with the large majority being Muslim. I will say however that quite a bit I would not consider practicing Muslims. In stark contrast to that number, three Christians dwell in Ulcinj one of them being a pastor from Kosovo named Bucharia.
Bucharia is an incredible woman of God who left two different churches she had been pastoring in Kosovo to live in Ulcinj, Montenegro. She had felt the call to her spirit that God wanted her there but it has been difficult considering she hasn’t had the same kind of community that she once had. Enter Team Seven Camels.
Seven Camels and Unwritten had been traveling together from Romania to Montenegro. Upon arriving they split up into two different cities to be with separate contacts. Oh, and by the way, these contacts were not previously set-up, God had provided them as they came into the country. Yeah, that’s how big my God is. Anyway, Bucharia opened her home to Seven Camels and they quickly began to connect with her and her heart for the city of Ulcinj. She explained that there were only three Christians in the city and that right now it is more of an intercession and relationship-building phase. Caroline and I arrived a few days later to spend some time with the team and join them in ministry. Once we had gotten there, they had already been forming friendships within the city with various shop owners. So at this point we were starting to see the seeds being planted. We also realized that “plowing the fields” may be all that we were going to see happen. So Seven Camels organized a nightwatch. Nightwatches are, simply put, all-nighters of intercession and worship. I believe that great movements of the Spirit start with intercession and praying on behalf of the city. So that’s what we did.
So each of us partnered with another person and we chose a time slot to pray. We designated a room for worship and intercession and we just went for it. Patch and I prayed from 5am to 7am. We declared the psalms over the land, we prophesied over the city and we interceded for Bucharia and the people we had already met. We spoke the Word and we did not sleep. Then the next day happened.
Our prayers of petition had transitioned to prayers of declaration. Three people came to know the Lord that day. Another got to hear the gospel. As we went down to the beach to have some team worship time, an elderly lady was laying on the beach quietly watching. She listened but did not have full comprehension of what was going on. After worship, we had some bureks for lunch (number 2 on my list of foods). Caroline felt led to share her meal with this woman and she was incredibly grateful. She hopped up and came over to join our group as we were sitting there. Caroline just loved on her and hugged her. Then something amazing happened. Bucharia showed up. She explained how she was standing in her kitchen and she heard the voice of the Lord saying “go to the beach, they need you to translate.” So she got up and left immediately. Fortunately for us, it was perfect timing. Caroline then proceeded to share the gospel with her. The woman opened up. She spoke of her Muslim background. She wanted to hear more and more about Jesus. It was so wonderful to watch this. It was confirmation that our nightwatch was a time of preparation and that we would actually see some fruit. God is so good and we are seeing his Kingdom spread daily out here. Please pray for Bucharia and these new believers as the church is getting established in Ulcinj. Pray for the 120 known believers out of the 720,000 people in Montenegro. It starts with intercession.
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