We have bible studies and youth group weekly.
But we have also focused a ton on reaching out to the community and creating a name for Kisha Ungjillore Pogradec.
So often here, we have seen how drawing people into the community of the church is a way that Christ draws them to himself.
Many of our students have come for events, or plays, or day trips and then, as they get drawn into the life of the church, they get saved. Then we watch their lives change.
This doesn't mean that the church service is watered down, or the outreach is more important the maturing the saved. But it does mean that we spend time on outreach because of the fruit we have seen from it.
And that seems obvious. This is a church plant. There aren't other churches really to pull Christians from. We are building from the ground up. We are watching people get saved before our eyes.
And this is truly a privilege.
Last week the women's bible study had 20 women. I don't really know how to describe how huge or exciting this is.
This bible study is only a year and a half old. Our church is 3 months old.
The culture here is one that gives women "less" freedom I would say. It's not easy for them to get away from their house for "fun," or for something that doesn't necessarily benefit their home. For women to make time to come to bible study means that they want to be there. Or at least the relationship is important to them. There can always be wayward motives, but we truly talk about the Bible for an hour, and they are all interacting and thinking.
Most of these women have little to no Biblical background. Melodie is going through Genesis to give them a foundation. Each week they ask great questions and wrestle with controversial topics.
For Christmas, Melodie had a dinner for them at a nearby hotel/restaurant. When I walked into the room where it was being held, I thought I was in the wrong place. There were so many women there I couldn't believe it!
When Melodie stood up and prayed, it was truly amazing to think that a year a half ago none of that existed.
Some of the women were new but most of them were women who had relationships with Melodie.
She has visited their homes, assisted them with their newborns, walked with them in difficult circumstances, and simply been a friend to them.
And I was just, and still am blown away by the impact that relationship has. And I feel privileged to watch this happen and privileged to learn from Melodie. And as these women continue to come to bible study, and to church, and as they continue to get saved, I get so excited to think about what God will do in their lives, in their families lives, and in the lives of so many people in this city.
I also had a little Christmas party with my girls. You can pray for this group of girls this semester. The majority of them are going to college next year. And I'm not exactly sure where that will leave our group.
You can pray that I would invest in them well and that as they move on in live, the truth of scripture would grow deep in their hearts.
Right after this, we had a Christmas Program on the 25th and 26th.
The program presented the Christmas story through monologues. Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth, a wiseman, a shepherd, and the inn keeper.
And Cory sang 5 Christmas songs in Albanian. I was so proud of him. That is no easy task.
After the program we had cake and drinks and met a lot of new parents and friends.
And again, I felt so overwhelmed.
Being a part of the beginning of something is really exciting. There is something about watching this church start and grow that is just unbelievable. Especially in a place where it doesn't really exist.
And this is what I mean by outreach. There were probably 500 people that came in those two days. 500 people that heard the story of Christmas. 500 people who have never grown up celebrating Christmas, or even really knowing what it was about.
Obviously, not all of them will come to church, not all of them will get saved. But they know of church, they know the Christmas story, and they know us.
Last week, we started AWANA. Or a form of it anyways. Everything here in Albania, requires a bit of "modification" for lack of a better word.
95 kids came and sang their hearts out. Erion told the story of Christ's death through the perspective of Barabas and the kids were hooked. Afterward, we gave out Operation Christmas Child presents. They were thrilled.
As I was looking out at all the kids, I kept thinking, some of these kids are the future of the church. One day they will be the leaders within it.
And I'm excited to find out which ones they are. I'm excited to see which ones get saved. Which ones bring their parents and siblings and friends. Which ones grow in the knowledge of Christ.
And as our current students helped and sang and danced, it was so fun to watch. You could tell that they were actually having a blast. They were excited too. Like they understood that this is something they are needed for and this is something that will be awesome to watch unfold.
I've talked about numbers a lot in this blog. Do numbers really matter?
No. Yes.
Numbers don't "matter." One life, one profession of faith, one person growing. That is exciting.
But as that one shares their faith with their family and friends, and then 2 and then 4, and all of a sudden you have 70 faithful people at church, that is AMAZING.
More than anything, through the numbers, I can communicate to you what we are witnessing.
We are watching as God slowly is changing lives. And I believe that one day, these lives will change, in many ways, the culture of this little city.
So I'm thankful. And again, I am privileged.
There is still growth and change that is needed, but it is exciting to be beginning in a place where the harvest sure does seem plentiful.
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