Comparatively, Pentecostal Macedonia is in its infancy. After the fall of Yugoslavia and socialism in the early 1990’s, people were, for the first time, free to discover Christ. It didn’t take long to launch the Evangelical Church of Macedonia (EC:MK), a baby church movement bombarded from all sides by secularism, paganism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Islam.
To date, two dozen plus churches have been established across the country with several preaching points dotting the country side. Earlier this year, President Mirche Andreev of EC:MK reestablished the movements vision to plant 100 new churches. We are honored to be a part of this pivotal moment and have agreed to help plant as many pentecostal, evangelical churches as possible.
Through AGWM’s partnership with the national church, work has begun on 3 church plants in the communities of Aerodrom, Bogdanci, and Kriva Palanka.
Aerodrom is a municipality of Skopje, the capital city. With over 150,000 people, and more moving in from the villages, it is the fastest growing community in the country. Pastor Zhivko Barbutov’s passion led him to first develop a community center called Kairos, in which courses, such as English, Spanish, guitar, knitting, and art were taught and coffee served to over 20 students in the first 3 months. Kairos has opened the door into the community with many interested not only in the church, but in Christ and the people that serve Him. Renovations for the Aerodrom church (EC:AE) building are nearly complete and services are scheduled to begin October, 2018.
Bogdanci, meaning God Given, is a village located on the southern border of Macedonia. After years of a depressed economy, no one has hope for their community. Teenage suicide rates are the highest here in all of Macedonia. In 2016, we partnered with Convoy of Hope Europe and the Mississippi District of the Assemblies of God to give hope to the people of Bogdanci. A water drainage ditch would overflow every hard rain, flooding houses, businesses, and farmland.
The mayor couldn’t believe it when a team of 10 people not only flew from the United States and physically worked, picking up debris, mowing, and weed-eating, but also purchased a backhoe to fully clean out all the years of mud, rock, and trash build-up. After the week of physical labor, the team treated the mayor to a Night of Celebration, honoring her and her commitment to Bogdanci. Because of this service, the mayor agreed to have Bibles placed in the House of Culture and that a Spirit-filled church should be established. After many years of prayer and relationship building, Pastor Zoran Kolev excitedly announced that he has begun renting a building for the church. This culturally establishes legitimacy and is, for now, a base point for continuing evangelism and outreach to the people of Bogdanci.
Kriva Palanka is a village in the foothills of northern Macedonia. Currently in the first stages of development, Pastor Saso Georgievski has asked us to partner with him in prayer and evangelism to reach this community.
This next week, a Prayer Initiative team, lead by Europe missionary Marla Campbell, will be pinpointing these church plants and communities in intercessory prayer.