History
Albania is one of Europe’s
smallest countries. It was known as Illyria in ancient
times and was always being fought over and controlled
by foreign nations. After more than four centuries of
domination by the Ottoman Empire, Albania won its independence
in 1912. However, it succumbed to Communist rule from
1944 to 1991. Communism gave way to an emerging democracy
in 1991, but the political atmosphere was unstable.
The Socialist Party was voted into power in 1997 and
continues today.
The government of Albania is comprised
of a president, prime minister and parliament. There
are two main ethnic groups that make up the population:
Ghegs and Tosks.
Church
History
The first evangelist to come to this
region was Titus. The Apostle Paul wrote about his missionary
efforts in Illyria in the New Testament. But in modern
times, the Gospel has been slow to penetrate the people
and culture of Albania. Christianity spread in the second
century and continued through to the end of the Byzantine
Empire, but Islam replaced it in the 15th century under
Turkish rule.
The Protestant church had little
impact on the people of Albania until the late 1800s
when Gjerasim Qiriazi began to publicly preach the Gospel,
start schools, and write and distribute Christian literature.
Then in 1967, official atheism was declared and religion
was outlawed.
Assemblies of God missionaries first
entered Albania in 1991. They found people hungry for
truth and immediately began to proclaim the name of
Jesus. Within one year an international church was planted
in the capital of Tirana. Civil strife and refugee crises
from nearby wars gave Assemblies of God missionaries
opportunity to minister to thousands of people. The
Assemblies of God reports the following statistics for
Albania: three churches and outstations, 500 members
and adherents, three national pastors, and six missionaries.
The
Movement Today
Today, Albania’s population
is 70 percent Muslim, ten percent Catholic, and .003
percent Protestant Evangelical. But the fellowship grows
steadily and it hopes to soon form a national Assemblies
of God and a Bible school to train national pastors
and missionaries to reach the Albanian people.
Additional
Facts About Albania
Capital:
Tirana
Area:
11,100 square miles
Population:
3,152,000
Agriculture:
corn, potatoes, sugar beets, and wheat
Mining
and Manufacturing: chromite, copper, petroleum,
cement, fertilizers, and textiles. |
