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Newfrontiers in the Balkans
Currently there are about 30 churches, church plants and developing relationships with new or existing churches in seven Balkan nations. Martyn Dunsford (King’s Community Church, Southampton) has been visiting Albania for some 18 years. Eight years ago he helped initiate churches in Tirana, Elbasan and Korce with people he had got to know, who became the new leaders of these churches.
 They have gradually grown through the years and three more churches have been added to their growing family of churches. An embryonic apostolic team is taking shape with Edi Morava (Korce) and Shaban Hoxha (Tirana) heading it up. A successful youth camp has taken place for the last two years, with much support from Ken Bothamly and the Kerith Church, Bracknell. Last year about 130 young people came together and about 20 of them were saved!
 Edi has been leading a church planting team into neighbouring Macedonia where up to 20 young people from Muslim backgrounds are meeting in the picturesque lakeside town of Ohrid. Other relationships are being developed in Macedonia and a couple of years ago we held our first Balkan leadership conference there with 110 people attending. Besides Martyn, Andy Johnson (Hailsham) and Maurice Nightingale (Aylesham) speakers included Edi (Albania), George Michailov (Bulgaria) and Vlada Stojanovic (Serbia.) It was a great three days of gathering people from across the Balkan nations in peace, not conflict.
 In Bulgaria Martyn has been relating to George, the leader of a church in Lovech, who has brought 15 of his churches from across the north of Bulgaria into Newfrontiers . Andy Johnson has been particularly involved here, teaching the churches and arranging Impact teams to visit some of them in the last couple of years.
Vlada in Serbia has planted a vibrant, growing church in Nis. Recently a number of new people have been saved – quite a breakthrough in growth has taken place there. Another church plant in a place called Kragujevac is taking shape and Vlada is developing into another very significant leader.
In Kosovo we were led to go to a place called Prizren where by the grace of God we met up with a young man called Shpendi. Although he was a young Christian from a Muslim background, he had led a number of people to Christ: a miraculous breakthrough in such a difficult place. When Martyn first visited 18 people were baptised and another new church has started up there.
 Recently we have been invited to a new church plant led by an Englishman, Peter Needham, in Chania, Crete. Ken and Ann Bothamley have visited here and we look forward to getting further involved with this exciting new development. Very recently Martyn, together with Ken and Sean Green (Reading), spent a very productive long weekend with a new church in Varazdin, Croatia, with whom it is clear that another relationship will be developing.
Several other UK churches have been involved in this growing Balkans work - Rodney Haggar (Worthing), Ian Portwine (Durham), Robert Thursfield (Uckfield), Andy Amey (East Grinstead) and Tim Goodenough (Hayward’s Heath).
More workers are needed in the Balkans, though, and if you are interested please contact Martyn Dunsford:
+44 (0) 1489 699699 or martyn.dunsford@kcc.uk.net. |
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Church Search
To find contact details for Newfrontiers Churches in this nation and others around the world please use the Church Search.
Terry Virgo's website
Visit Terry's website for weekly bible studies, talks to download and to read his blog.
www.terryvirgo.org
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