A few days ago I started reading through the book of Acts for the first time. It is literally a book about missions and dedicating your life to the spread of the kingdom. I couldn’t believe that this had never sunk in before. I was so amazed at the boldness, passion, and urgency with which Peter, Stephen, Philip, and Paul preached the Gospel. It convicted me foremost as a believer but second as a missionary on the World Race. My life is to mirror that of the apostles in Acts, but sometimes I doubt that it’s possible for me and think that times have changed too much.
This lie was powerfully overturned, however, by my time doing Unsung Heroes in Montenegro.
What is Unsung Heroes?
Unsung Heroes is a month of ministry where my team travels around the countries of Montenegro, Bosnia, and Serbia looking for ministries that are doing God’s work. Our purpose is to encourage them as Christian family working for the kingdom, tell the world about their work, obedience, and faith, and gauge whether they would be a good location for future World Race teams to go to. We were so surprised to learn that there are only about 150 believers in Montenegro! So it has been such a blessing to meet up and connect with many of them.
Who are the people at Brethren Assembly in Podgorica?
Two of my teammates and I set off to connect with a local church by visiting their prayer meeting. We met with Srdjan and Zelimir beforehand and were so encouraged by their spirit. The church was founded in Montenegro almost 20 years ago and they have helped Pastor Vladimir lead a church of about 40 believers for the last few years. Though their attendance fluctuates and it is hard work converting people, they never give up on the mission God has given them. They boldly search out people to disciple and focus on friendship evangelism (building relationships with people in hopes of introducing them to the Gospel). They have Sunday services, Wednesday prayer meetings, Sunday school for children, youth group for teens, a type of Vacation Bible School over the summer, Operation Christmas Child, and outreach events. Their heart is to see people in Montenegro come to know Jesus intimately and have their lives enriched with the truth of God’s love.
Here are pictures from the prayer meeting:
So why is it so important?
The believers that I’ve met doing UH have challenged me so much because I feel like they are living out a modern version of the disciples in Acts, and when my team meets with them, encourages them, and recognizes their efforts, we join along with them in continuing the work of Peter and Paul. Like Paul, we travel from church to church coming along side people and encouraging them to continue in the way that they began. Like the believers in Ephesus, Corinth, or Philippi, everyday these people choose to stand for Christ in countries that label the evangelical church as “occult”. are religiously divided, and have very few believers. They have decided that giving people Jesus is the best thing that they can do with their lives and I am so privileged to come recognize them in this. I love being able to worship with them, pray with and for them, and hear their stories of how they won’t give up and still have a vision for their countries. It encourages me to be bold like Peter and Paul and continue to bring Jesus everywhere I go—never being ashamed or timid about the truth and beauty of the Gospel.
My brothers and sisters in Eastern Europe do it everyday, and so can I.
