On the occasion of a prayer evening for the Balkans in Ede: - The Balkans may be a confusing term because it seems that one term describes one area. But if there is one thing that describes this area well, it is versatility. Unfortunately, this also goes hand in hand with division here. In all perspectives.
- - the Balkans is the area where all monotheistic religions come together in Europe. Ever since the origins of those religions. So a very interesting area and a challenge in terms of the Gospel of Atonement.
- - During the war from 1991 to 1995, all kinds of religious communities arose. There was a revival for a while. Baptist churches grew, Pentecostal and Evangelical churches came into being. After the war, that growth actually came to an immediate end.
- - The Balkans still includes the countries of Europe with the smallest percentage of believers. They are also worldwide at the top (or actually at the bottom)
- - so you would think: a nice field of missions, but no, missions in the Balkans are very marginal. Most of the missionaries who have come have already left. Reasons? One reason is certainly nationalism in Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia. These countries are still very closed to foreigners and many foreigners (including missionaries) have left because they do not receive a residence permit.
- - The former Yugoslavia was socialist. Tito did not like religion or believers. That has created a vacuum regarding questions of faith. Tito was an atheist and so you were supposed to be. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the collapse of the Berlin Wall, this socialism also collapsed. People went in search of the identity that gave rise to the war. As an identity they have been prescribed a religion and if you do not join that religion, then you are not an apostate but actually a traitor. Especially in Bosnia, believers are afraid to come out.
- - many of the developments since 1991 have come from fear. Fear of not belonging. Communities of faith that arose or grew are turned in on themselves. Afraid of the big world and therefore afraid of the mission field that is ripe for reaping. My prayer: “When he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion toward them, because they were chased and weary, like sheep that have no shepherd. Then said he to his disciples, The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. " (Matt. 9: 36-38)
- - But: it is equally important to pray for unity, for cooperation between believers, for initiatives from the local church itself. That they are mobilized. Our brothers and sisters are stuck again. Not now in Tito's prison but in their own "worries", entangled by the worries of everyday life. I would like to tell from the experience with our work here in the Krajina, where we have been running a great project for 16 years, but where the local church has never shown interest in the long term.
- - Finally, the Krajina: the border between Bosnia and Croatia, the border between the world's religions. Take a piece of paper, tear it in half, that's the Krajina, that's the product of the former Yugoslavia. Again, a great opportunity for the Gospel.
Regards!
Meindert