For a team, Unsung Hero month is an opportunity to see more of the country than if they had stayed with one contact. UH month in Europe brings the prospect of not only traveling the country of our focus, but traveling to others as well. My team seized this chance, packed our bags, and hopped on a bus to Kosovo.
Kosovo is a rather new nation having just celebrated their 6th anniversary of independence. The memories of war and oppression are still vivid in these people’s minds. The population is small – only 1.8 million, and 95% considers themselves to be Muslim even if just nominally. Obviously these statistics show that the number of Christians is very small in this nation. But though they are small in number, they are united and ready to see change in their country.
While there, my team split up and headed out to visit different contacts. I had the pleasure of visiting and talking with the people from an international church in Pristina – “Fellowship of the Lord’s People.” This church is seeking to reach the lost through as many outlets as they can. They recognize the needs of those around them and create opportunities that will meet these needs as well as open doors to sharing the Gospel.
This Kosovar church has set up several community centers throughout the country. Children and youth are one group these centers focus on. In the summers, they hold camps for these kids as well as other programs during the year. They also are a distribution contact for Operation Christmas Child for many children in Kosovo. Building relationships with the youth of the nation is something they are passionate about and want to see more workers pursuing. They also focus on the children of the Roma people (Gypsies) meeting the many needs of these underprivileged people.
These community centers also offer programs for adults. They serve meals to the families of the children that come through the centers. Classes are taught to learn a variety of skills. English, math, and sewing are only some of the courses that can be taken. The church has also started some second hand shops to meet more needs in the community.
While visiting this church, we got to speak with the president of the Kosovo Evangelical Alliance. This alliance exists to unite the small church of Kosovo and to see the Kingdom of the Lord spread through the entire nation. He told us how badly this nation is need of Christian workers. He told us any teams we could send would be useful. This country has so many needs and longs to see more people working for change. Kosovo is a perfect example of when Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” (Matthew 9:37) Pray that the more Christians leaders come to Kosovo to help bring this nation to Christ.
