Imagine for a moment what it would be like if North Korea, perhaps the country most closed to the gospel, suddenly opened to the outside world and even allowed Christians to come and plant churches. After 500 years of Islamic rule under the Ottoman Empire and 45 years under Communist and atheist rule, Albania’s situation was similar. In 1991 when the Communist regime fell, Albania was the most closed country in the world, with zero churches and few known believers. Four years later missionaries Kurt and Stephanie Plagenhoef arrived in the country and got to work. Today there are 200 evangelical churches and more than 20,000 believers!
It all started eight years ago. A woman named Dile felt called to preach the gospel in Fllakë, Albania, which has been labeled the “forsaken”
The town had no running water to peoples’ homes, but only a solitary well where people gathered daily to draw water. Dile spent time each day standing in line sharing the gospel with the spiritually lost. One by one, people began to come to Christ. They went to draw natural water but found living water! Now there is a thriving AG church of 60 adults and 70 children. Money has been donated to purchase land for the church, but the land must be rezoned.
Fatjon came to Christ by reading a Bible provided by Light for the Lost at the age of fifteen. Within 6 months of his conversion, he led his father, mother, sister, and uncle to Christ. When Fatjon began high school in Fushe Kruje, Alblania four years ago, he was the only believer in his school of 1,000 students. He has faithfully lived and shared Christ, and his efforts are now bearing fruit. A group of students has come to Christ, and among them is one young man who regularly mocked and persecuted Fatjon for his faith. After receiving Christ, he said, “Forgive me, Fatjon. You are now my brother.”