Impact Montenegro, the summer outreach in this nation conducted under the auspices of the Pentecostal European Fellowship (PEF) took place on July 2-9. Teams were sent out to seven different cities of this small but beautiful country. The evangelism effort in the cities of Podgorica (the capital), Tuzi, Niksic, Bar, Budva, Kotor, and Ulcini was described by local leaders as being historical.
Before dispatching the teams to the various cities, training and prayer sessions were held at the University Hall in Podgorica, featuring inspirational messages by PEF Chairman Pelle Hornmark (Sweden), Daniel Costanza (Belgium), and Tom Benigas (USA), as well as practical workshops with Veera Hug (Finland), Markku Ovaska (Finland), and Stefan Ross (Germany).
Alongside the natural beauty of this country (with a total population of only 600,000 people), our IM17 teams were struck by its extreme spiritual poverty (the Evangelical presence is estimated at ca. 150 people), making Montenegro the least evangelized country of Europe. Clearly, this outreach was an opportunity to "clear the land" of this spiritually dry ground. The people were usually quite cold, indifferent, and difficult to approach. In spite of a rather hostile climate, the Lord touched many hearts, including Muslims in the Albanian-speaking areas.
Here are a few praise reports:
1) Unity and cooperation among the 6 pastors/missionaries in Montenegro working under the umbrella of PEF.
2) Dynamic teams (about 150 volunteers) from 11 countries of Europe, including Belgium, Finland, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, and also the USA.
3) Fraternal cooperation between teams from the Balkans, those being from Albania, Croatia, Kosovo and Serbia.
4) Favor with the cities' authorities in the seven towns included in this outreach.
5) A prevailing spirit of intercession for this nation which will result in more teams returning there in the future.
6) Hundreds of significant conversations and contacts which will now be followed up by the local pastors/missionaries.
7) Great encouragement for the local believers and leaders as well as new connections that will be beneficial for future projects in Montenegro.
The climax of this outreach week was the open air evangelistic concert held on Saturday night in one of the main squares of Podgorica, where hundreds of people had an opportunity to hear the Gospel through music, drama, testimonies and personal contacts.
While everyone felt Montenegro will need our continued prayers and help in the future, participants rejoiced in hearing the announcement about next year’s summer outreach, IMPACT KOSOVO 2018 on July 9-15 in cooperation with Jesus Revolution.
Submitted by Daniel Costanza, Executive Director, PEF / IM17 Coordinator