North Macedonia is a country steeped in history. Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman empires have all left their mark. Due to that eventful history, the country has a sizeable Muslim minority living alongside the majority who would identify with the Orthodox Church.
They have never been influenced by the Protestant Reformation, and so evangelicals are often viewed with suspicion and as being something close to a cult. This is the context our brothers and sisters minister in within North Macedonia. As they do so, they face many obstacles, but they continue to serve the Lord among a population that knows so little of the liberating truths of the Gospel.
The Evangelical Church in North Macedonia is very small. Exact estimates are difficult to come by, but local leaders speak of only a few thousand believers throughout the whole country. That brings its challenges. With such a small number of Christians, the mission infrastructure does not exist. There are towns and small cities with little or no evangelical witness. Receiving theological training can be difficult, and raising the necessary financial support for new local church planters is next to impossible. Foreign agencies have sent missionaries to the country, but they have found it difficult to overcome the barriers of a suspicious people. Marko Grozdanov, pastor of Skopje Baptist Church, explains:
‘When people come from a different place and move into the area they raise the suspicions of the local people. They begin to ask why are you here, how much are they paying you to move here… (But) if you are a local person, if you are from the city, you know the people, you went to school with your neighbours, you already have a wider pool of people that you can work with. If you have the choice, it’s always better to have local guys doing it… That’s where the partnership with SGA is really helpful… If we didn’t have SGA partnering with us and supporting (Christian workers) …it would be much more difficult to do.’
One example of a local worker being supported in his pioneer church-planting ministry is Borche Kimoski. He is serving in the city of Prilep, an extremely poor region, facing many economic and spiritual challenges. Within this context, Borche is determined to reach new people who do not know the Gospel. He is well known throughout the city as a ‘people person’ with an open home and a ready heart to serve others. This has created many opportunities, and even though he leads a young church that still meets in his home, it has grown with new converts from many different backgrounds. Borche states that the next step is to hire a building in the city which will create more opportunities for service. However, this presents some financial challenges to the young church and is a matter of urgent prayer.
Borche is just one local pioneer being financially helped through SGA’s Leadership Support Programme. He is an example of the value of equipping national workers who have intimate knowledge of the local context.
We are grateful for what God has already done through these important partnerships. We are also trusting He will enable us to make the most of the new opportunities that are opening up in our regions of ministry.
