We just returned from a fruitful trip to Durrës, Albania, and on our last day there, we had some free time to visit the ancient amphitheater. As I stood looking at a 1st century Christian mosaic in the catacomb-like corridors under the amphitheater, I tried to imagine the believers who met there. According to a historian, Bernhard Tönnes, “There are thought to have been about seventy Christian families in the port town of Durrës as early as the time of the Apostles.” They were there because someone in Jerusalem decided to obey the great commission and go. The first church collided with nations around them, and it was said of some that ‘they turned the world upside-down’ with the gospel.
Islam was introduced to Albania by the Ottomans in the 1400’s, and the communist dictator, Enver Hoxha, vowed to eradicate all religion during his rule. This is a simplification of a long and difficult history, but suffice it to say that the gospel keeps coming back no matter the opposition, and we were honored to join with Durrës Christian Center to help them develop outreach, discipleship and leadership strategies for the many open doors around them.
There are great opportunities in Durrës for reaching youth and eventually the university campuses, and this will be our focus with them in the near future. Our next ministry trips in July will be to Timisoara, Romania and Prague, the Czech Republic where there are outreaches in various stages of development, and we will take a trip to the US for six weeks starting in August to visit family and continue our seminary study. Speaking of seminary, we are both getting our Masters in Missiology, and our studies strongly overlap our missions projects. This is a win-win for us on every level. We also have considerable faith goals for finances to cover our summer seminary courses, the purchase of a car for Poland and travel, so we ask you to consider a special gift that will allow us to continue our mission at full speed. Feel free to contact us for more information on these needs. Thanks so much for faithfully standing with us in this important work, and God bless! Mike and Myra
Pray
– New financial partners for our expanded ministry
– Upcoming missions to Romania & Czech Republic
-Resources for trip to the US
-Peace for Ukraine
Contact
mike.watkins@everynation.org
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