Emanuel and Jelena live and work in Serbia and Montenegro. They are involved in church planting ministry being supervised from the Baptist Church of Nis which functions as a regional Baptist Center. The vision is to start several Baptist churches in the south of Serbia. Some of them are among the Roma people.

Serbia and Montenegro used to be a part of the former Yugoslavia. Now it has been an independent state since 1991. The Baptist Union comprises 14 local churches and about 30 mission stations.

The missionary vision of Montenegrian Baptists is to spread the Gospel, especially in those places which are not evangelized yet. Serbian Baptists pray for a spiritual revival so that the majority of the population may acknowledge Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. The scope of their mission includes also evangelistic work among the Roma people.

New opportunities for the Gospel appeared when the Baptist humanitarian organization “Love Your Neighbor” was started during the Balkan war in the 90s. The work of distributing Christian literature, medicines, food, cloths, etc. is helpful in initiating contacts with people, who can  be exposed to the Gospel later. Indeed, many have come to know the Lord through this ministry.

Emanuel and Jelena have been involved in church planting ministry for several years. They have a good deal of help and the most needed supervision from the Baptist Church of Nis, which functions as a regional center. The vision is to start several churches in the south of Serbia. The mission work has already been started in Aleksinac, Berilje, Bela Palanka and Sainovac. Every Friday night 15-20 people gather in a home in Sainovac (25 km distant from Nis). A Bible study group has been started in Berilje. A congregation of about 30 meets in a small town of Bela Palanka (45 km away from Nis). New contacts have been initiated in Sainovac. Each mission station is visited by Emanuel and Jelena at least once a month. They make efforts to build and empower other indigenous leaders who are involved in this ministry. 

The missionary couple had the following plans when they reported one year ago:

In Sainovac we plan to involve Zvonko and particularly encourage him to visit people and invite them to the Christian meetings. We try to set an example for him and show him what we mean. In Berilje we plan to start a Sunday school and a Bible study group. In Aleksinac we will concentrate on distributing literature in order to reach more people. In Bela Palanka we shall help Bojan and Goran in preaching.

The recently delivered reports show what has been done. Here are some quotes:

SAINOVAC
Visiting people regularly was a great encouragement to us and we did visit homes of all the children that attend children’s lessons. We took Zvonko and his wife with us and encouraged them to visit those families more often, which has proven very effective. The number of children has grown up to 23 over the last six months. It is really amazing to see how the Lord works in their lives and how happy they are to hear Bible stories, pray and sing. We also earned the trust of children’s parents and some of them invited us to their homes. The greatest problem that we face now in Sainovac is a place to meet. We still meet in Zvonko’s living room but it is very crowded. The plan is to buy a small house and renovate it, so we are very excited. The door for the church planting ministry is opening wide in Sainovac!

BERILJE
Many Roma people are interested to hear the Word of God, but we still could not manage to organize children’s lessons. This is a real problem. There are too many of them and we do not have a place to meet. No one wants to let 50 children in his living room, especially when we brought Christmas presents. They are all happy and open to talk to us. Each family got a present with a small children’s booklet „The greatest gift“ where children can read about Jesus. More than 140 families got these booklets and also the Gideon New Testaments. So we pray that the Lord may use the planted seed and make it grow.

ALEKSINAC
We distributed aid and used every chance to share the Gospel, both to children and adults. At least 300 New Testaments and other literature were handed out. But when people hear about the Gospel, they refuse to listen or simply leave. Just a few showed any interest and talked  in private. We pray for a spiritual revival in this place. Nebojsa lives there in a very small apartment with his wife, two children and his grandfather. It is really crowded and we cannot meet at his place. He has contact with those who responded. We will continue to pray for Aleksinac.

BELA PALANKA
The work is developing very well. This church plant still needs our help as they do not have a pastor yet. The local leaders Bojan and Goran are active and we try to help them as much as we can. They also attended a seminar on pastoral ministry which encouraged them to continue their work. We try to help these brothers to develop their gifts so that they are sufficiently equipped for leadership. Two ladies were baptized a few months ago and became members of the fellowship. Some new young people started to attend, so the church has been refreshed. It is good to see many young people at the meetings.

PRAYER REQUESTS

Sainovac – pray that Zvonko and his wife may grow spiritually and continue their work. Pray for the church building project that a right building will be purchased.

Berilje – pray that all the children and families who received the New Testaments and other literature will be receptive to the Gospel. Pray that we can have new opportunities to teach the children from the Word of God and that we can find a good place to do so.

Aleksinac – pray for Nebojsa as he is eager to help us, and that God may open the hearts of people to the Gospel. Pray that God may show him the right direction concerning his future ministry.

Bela Palanka – pray for Bojan and Goran as they are serving the church plant. Pray for the two ladies who were baptized that they will grow in faith, and for the new group of young people who joined the fellowship.

Pray that the Lord may continue using Emanuel and Jelena in their evangelistic ministry to several mission stations of Montenegro. Pray for the new leaders emerging from among numerous converts.

To help planting reproducing churches!
To help growing healthy churches!
For the glory of God!