AGWM personnel in Germany, Steven Dunn, shares this testimony of God’s saving grace.  Isabel is an integral part of the church in Pfaffenhofen, Germany.  Her husband, Werner, was a Doctor of Biogeography, a brilliant thinker and professional doubter.  His job was to test newly developed software from his company, find the weak points and problems and give solutions.  He took nothing for granted, but researched, questioned, and doubted until all points were settled.

That is also how Werner looked at faith in God.  Steven remembers an evening with him and several other doubters years ago.  The questions, the reasoning, the hesitations to follow faith in a God that could not be fully explained.  Steve left that evening wondering if Werner would ever come to the point of accepting God’s saving grace through Jesus Christ.

But he did…just in time.  Last summer, he started attending the services with his wife and youngest son.  Then in August he was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumor.  Werner realized that if he was ever going to trust God, he needed to do it now.  He opened his heart to grace and found life.  In November he was baptized…and in March of 2009, Steven held his funeral.

Werner was a key person in his company, so the whole office closed that day to allow his co-workers to attend.  There were many other professional doubters and brilliant thinkers that heard a very moving testimony of God’s saving grace…just in time.

” It all began when a woman came to our house and said she was looking for girls to work as nannies in Europe. I enlisted, and before the week was over we were traveling there. However, I had to endure a terrible oath process which included horrible and shameful experiences.This is the testimony from Janelle (not her real name).  YES, she has been literally snatched out of the hands of the enemy. There are now many girls with similar testimonies in Belgium because of the outreach ministry of Breaking Chains Network, the ministry bringing healing and shelter to trafficked victims in Belgium.  This ministry has provided a safe place for such women to live, be discipled, and learn life skills.

When we finally arrived in Belgium, it was not the nanny position that I received. Instead, I was forced into prostitution. With tears and a heavy heart I resisted, but after being heavily tortured, I yielded.  They told me I had to make 45,000 euros (about $61,000) before they would release me. I had to pay a certain amount every day of my earnings, or they would deprive me of food and would beat and torture me.

It was in the red-light district where a group of Christians with their pastor came to my aid with the Word of God. It was an unforgettable day as revival set in and joy filled my heart. I did not know that there was still hope for me to be saved until the pastor told me Jesus loved me just as I am.

Every day that I heard the Gospel, I became stronger in my faith. Then one day, I made up my mind to quit the dirty job. It was a tug of war with my madam and pimp, but finally they released me. Now I am learning handwork to help support myself and family.  I am very grateful to God that he brought me out of the shackles of death.”

The Breaking Chains Network has outgrown their old building, and now a large new facility has been bought and is being renovated.  This ministry center, which is attached to the safehouse apartments, also houses the church and training/education center.  There are many more trafficked girls needing Jesus and a safe shelter.

                                            From April Foster and Sandie Mundis
                                            AGWM Personnel

Every Monday morning, as many as nine young women come to Matthew’s Table for coffee and “small talk”.  Matthew’s Table is the hospitality ministry in the home of AGWM personnel in Germany, John and Gayle Butrin.  This “small talk” morning around Matthew’s Table was initiated  as a result of the Butrin’s developing friendship with the owners of a beauty salon and cosmetology school in the building where they live. 

During one of their frequent conversations over coffee, the owner casually remarked about their need for someone to teach English “small talk” to the students of the beauty school.  The Butrins, listening for such opportunities responded, “What about us?”  We speak English and Matthew’s Table would provide the perfect setting.  What do you think?”  No sooner was the offer made than their friend responded with “Yes, starting next Monday morning at 9 o’clock.”

So that was how it began.  Naturally, much of the conversation centers on the vocabulary of facials, skin types, and hairstyles, but sometimes this leads to topics of self-image and trust-building.  Gradually, issues like personal finances, life-styles, and morality have begun to surface.  Of course, the Butrin’s ultimate goal is to move into issues surrounding personal faith in God.

The Butrin’s quote the Apostle Paul’s challenge in I Corinthians 9:19-22 as their guideline for missional living today:  Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people:  religious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized–whoever.  I didn’t take on their way of life.  I kept my bearings in Christ-but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view.  I’ve become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life.  I did all this because of the Message.  I didn’t just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it!  (The Message)

We met him a couple of years ago. But now…he’s gone. On a recent Wednesday night during our Bible study in our home, he had shared his heart with us. He had struggled with the news that he had AIDS (he also had hepatitis and a small tumor on his brain) and wasn’t feeling good. He had been losing weight from an already thin frame. We had laid our hands on him and prayed for him. Friday night, two days later, he died. It was a shock to our group. He was in his early fifties.

We don’t know his whole story, but here is what he had shared with us over the couple years that we knew him. He had moved from our island of São Miguel to Canada at about ten or eleven years of age with his parents. At twenty-five years old he became enraged at his step-dad who was abusing his mom – and killed him. So from the age of twenty-five to forty-two he was in prison. When he was released, he was not allowed to stay in Canada since he had never applied for Canadian citizenship and was deported back to his country of origin – The Azores Islands, Portugal.

Like the majority of the approximately one thousand deportees who have been sent back to the islands from the USA and Canada after prison terms for various criminal offenses, he came back alone. No family. No job. No driver’s license (and in their situation it is nearly impossible to get one). And worst of all – no hope and no future. He relied heavily on drugs and alcohol to cope with his new life. Finding a job where he could earn more than minimum wage was impossible, so he could not afford to have his own apartment – regardless of how small. There is simply not enough money to pay rent, utilities and food on a salary of less than 500 Euros per month. Like so many others, he lived in an apartment with several other men, sharing expenses.

When we met him he was angry and bitter. He felt like it didn’t matter what he did, his life would not get any better. A few months after our initial contact with him he began to attend our church. He came to understand that God loved him, had forgiven him and that his acceptance was not based on his abilities or merits. He had been raised with religion. He had even gone on a pilgrimage as a boy of ten before moving to Canada. But he knew religion was not the answer and could not deal with his guilt and sin.

The change that began in his life was not dramatic. But over time we began to see that things were changing in his life. One of the huge changes that he had recently told us about, of which he was proud, was that he had gone the whole year without alcohol or cocaine. He also began to think differently and that began to affect his behavior. Like the time he told us that he had gotten distracted in a small café and accidently walked out without paying, and hadn’t been caught. He felt convicted and told his roommate that he was going to have to go back and make it right. As he relayed the story to us he said, “In my old life I wouldn’t have done that.” He told us that he had talked with friends going through empty religious exercises, telling them they could not earn their way to heaven but that Jesus had paid the price for us. And even though he had made a private commitment, this past Easter Sunday he responded to the invitation to receive Christ as his only Lord and Savior.

But now…he’s gone. We know we will see our friend again one day when we are all united with our Lord in heaven.

From John and Beccy Rodli
AGWM Personnel in the Azores, Portugal

In 9 AD the Romans conquered the region of present-day Montenegro. Slavs massively colonized the area in the 5th and 6th centuries, forming a semi-independent principality, Duklja. Duklja gained its independence from the Byzantine Empire in 1042 and expanded its territory. Its power started declining at the ending of the 11th century and it was conquered an incorporated into Serbia. In 1499, Montenegro fell to the Ottomans, who annexed it.
Under Nicholas I, the only king of Montenegro, the Principality of Montenegro gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1878. In 1910 Montenegro became a Kingdom. It initiated the Balkan wars in 1912 and 1913 in which the Ottomans lost all lands in the Balkans, achieving a common border with Serbia. In World War I in 1914 Montenegro sided with Serbia against the Central Powers, suffering a full scale defeat to Austria-Hungary in early 1916. In 1918 the Allies liberated Montenegro, which was subsequently merged with Serbia.
In 1922 Montenegro formally became the Zeta Area of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and in 1929 it became a part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In World War II Yugoslavia was invaded by the Axis forces in 1941, who established a puppet Independent State of Montenegro, liberated by the Yugoslav Partisans in 1944. Montenegro became a constituent republic of the communist Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, its capital renamed to Titograd in honor of the president Josip “Tito” Broz. On the basis of a referendum held on 21 May 2006, Montenegro declared independence on 3 June of that year separating from Serbia.

Church History

Religion is very important to the people of Montenegro. It is considered one of their most distinguishing characteristics. Most Montenegrin are Orthodox, while most Albanians – another ethnic group in Montenegro– are Sunni Muslim. Pentecostal believers from the United States and Europe began evangelism and church planting in Montenegro in the 1930s. After WWII, contact with believers outside the country was difficult because Christians were “watched” very closely.

The Movement Today

Today, Montenegro has one Pentecostal Church located in the capital city of Podgorica. Several Pentecostal church plants are underway in various parts of the country. The number of Montenegrin Christians is now about 300.

Additional Facts About Montenegro

• Capital: Podgorica
• Area: 34,116 square miles
• Population: 7,334,935
• Ethnic Groups: Montenegrins 43%, Serbs 32%, Bosniaks 8%, Ethnic Muslims 5%, Albanians 3%, Others 9%
• Languages: Serbian 63.5%, Montenegrin 22%,Bosnian 6%, Albanian 5.5%, other 3%
• Agriculture: Cereals, fruits, and vegetables
• Economy: Aluminum, Steel, agricultural processing, and tourism

Map

Darrell and Dianne Wood, AGWM personnel in Belgium, minister to Indonesian congregations in Belgium and the Netherlands besides being on the faculty of Continental Theological Seminary. Their years of missionary experience in Indonesia have opened incredible doors for them in Europe.

One of the Indonesian congregations in Netherlands has not had a pastor for several years. The Woods have ministered numerous times to this congregation and has trained the lay leadership of the church. Through this fellowship, they met a young couple, Sari and Wessel.

Sari, a petite young Indonesian who came to Holland a few years ago, met and married Wessel, a tall Dutchman. After Sari led him to accept Jesus as his personal Savior, they asked Darrell to perform Wessel’s water baptism in a public swimming pool. The Woods have discipled this couple into a deeper knowledge of the Christian life and are praying for Wessel’s unsaved family.

The Woods have been active members of an Indonesian fellowship in Belgium for the past eight years. One of their desires is to reach out to the many European husbands, most of whom are agnostic or nominal Christians.

Selly and her Danish husband Claus have become dear friends with the Woods over the past four years. Raised in an atheistic home and society, Claus found it extremely difficult to accept the reality of Jesus. But when health and family issues threatened to overwhelm him, Claus opened his heart to receive Jesus as his personal Savior. Darrell has discipled him, and has seen exciting growth in Claus’s faith. His conversion experience fills the Woods with hope for other European husbands of Indonesians whom they have befriended.

How can a small church take on a missions project of collecting, fixing, and shipping 300 bicycles to Ghana?  John and Susan Blair, AGWM Personnel in Scotland say it wasn’t easy, but their small church-plant   was committed to sacrificing for this project.  The newly planted church gained a vision to help others across the world even as they receive help to grow as a church.

A bike can change a life.  In a developing country, the simple bike becomes a locally sustainable method of alleviating poverty and building healthy communities as it gives access to educational and economic opportunities.  In communities where people make only a few hundred dollars a year, a bicycle that costs an average of $100 is financially out of reach.  The Ghana Bike Project was born out of this great need.

The project soon became a community effort with bicycles pouring in from near and far.  Several fundraisers were held.  Not only did community members volunteer their time alongside of the church folk, but people hauled the bikes from different locations and highly advertised the project.  Teaming with a community organization called Reiver Industries, the bikes were brought in and refurbished.  The organization helps reintroduce mentally and physically challenged people back into the community by training them and two of their members are fixing the bikes.

On April 24, the team loaded the bikes into the container and they arrived at the Accra port on May 16.  At the time of this writing, five members of the team are scheduled to go to Ghana to distribute the bikes.  Being a missional church is exciting.

On December 5th of this recent Christmas season, a Winter2Go outreach took place, an unusual and creative, not to mention fun way to share the Gospel. In 15 different European countries 1800 people went out in the cities dressed up as Santas to talk to people about what Christmas is all about – Jesus!

The report from Dresden, Germany is that 32 Santas went out in teams to 4 different parts of the city. The day started with a time of worship and preparation before the group split up into teams. AGWM Personnel in Dresden, Steve and Christina Walent say, “We have been on the streets a lot doing witnessing, but never dressed up as Santas. Normally Germans would never just walk up to a perfect stranger on the street and start a conversation, but since we were Santas, the openness was totally different. It is not every day 7 Santas get into a street car at one time. Right away we had people asking us what we were doing. This opened up the way for us to ask them why they think we celebrate Christmas. Answers were like ‘Santa’s Birthday is on December 24th’. So we told everybody who wanted to hear about the best Christmas gift ever, that God sent his Son Jesus to take the punishment for our sins so we can live in fellowship with God. We had little bags of cookies and candy to give out and also a small booklet describing God’s gift to us and how we can receive it.

If people said they were sick, we asked if we could pray for them. Christina and her Santa-partner got to pray for one lady who had serious kidney problems and also for another lady, whose Mom was sick. In the area of Gorbitz, the team of Santas was asked to come into a restaurant and tell a company of people there about what they were doing, so they sang some Christmas carols and gave a short sermon about how Jesus came.

In Prohlis, the Santas were frying donuts outside a shopping center and giving them out as they talked to people about Jesus and invited them to church. They got some good contacts that way and were able to make people aware of the new church plant in that area.

Dressed as Santas, we were able to give many people reminders of God’s love for them.”

From Newsletter of Steve and Christina Walent
AGWM Personnel in Germany

As a direct result of the demographics in Kosovo, where 50% of the population is under 25, this fledging fellowship’s greatest needs are training for pastors and ministry to children. Both long and short-term training for ministers is needed since the leadership of the church is so young (almost all of the pastors are under the age of 35, and many have been Christians for less than 10 years). Intensive leadership training classes are held several times annually, and a Bible school is planned, but the need is still great. The Kosovar church also requires education and literature materials for use in Sunday school, Children’s Church, as well as in the public schools.

Although a ministry called “Agape Kosovo,” continues to help the Kosovar church with humanitarian aid, more areas require help. Christian orphanages are desperately needed for the countless numbers of children orphaned in the war. Medical care is expensive and in short supply. HealthCare Ministries (HCM), the medical outreach of Assemblies of God World Missions has sent several teams to minister in Kosovo in the last few years. Offering free medical and eye care to former refugees who have returned to their homeland, HCM has had incredible opportunities to share the love of Christ in this war-torn region.

Although the war is over, ethnic tensions persist. The Kosovar church has endured persecution, poverty, and war, but young evangelists and pastors continue to emerge out of this vibrant group of believers. The church is growing and thriving despite all obstacles. Many more churches have been established since the war, including the Community Fellowship Center of the Assemblies of God, which opened its doors in April of 2001. Located in Mitrovica, a city near the Serbian border, this Pentecostal fellowship, along with many others, hopes to bring healing and hope to a city, and a region, that has so long been divided.

The Assemblies of God in country reports the following statistics:

• Churches and outstations—2
• Members and adherents—125
• Ministers—0

Official Name: Kosovo

Location: A province in southwestern Serbia in Serbia-Montenegro (formerly known as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, or FRY), on the Balkan Peninsula in Southeast Europe; Macedonia to the southeast and Albania to the southwest

Administrative center: Pristina

Area: 4,203 square miles

Government: The UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) has jurisdiction over foreign affairs, monetary policy, justice and public order; NATO’s Kosovo Force (K-For) has jurisdiction over defense and security; the local government oversees other civil affairs

Industries: Agriculture, winemaking, timber, mining; Chief crops: Corn, wheat, barley, potatoes, plums, grapes, and tobacco

Population: 2—2.2 million (this 2003 UN figure is approximate due to large population migrations and displacement of people during the war); Ethnic Groups: Albanian (88%), Serbian (7%), others (5%); Languages: Albanian, Serbo-Croatian

Education: Free and compulsory for ages 5-18; Literacy: 94%

Geography and Climate

Mountains, covered with deciduous forests, meadows, and pastureland, and hills comprise much of the province of Kosovo. Several peaks in the Sar Planina mountain range rise to more than 8,200 feet. The Ibar and the Sitnica rivers as well as a branch of the Drin River flow through the area. Although the region is rich in natural resources such as lead and zinc, it has historically been one of the poorest regions in Europe.

History and Government

The Illyrian tribe of Dardanae was the first to inhabit the present-day region of Kosovo in the Neolithic period. After a period of rule by the Romans, a Serbian ruler annexed the area at the end of the 12 th century. At the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, the Ottoman Turks inflicted heavy casualties on the Serbian army and eventually gained control of all of Serbia by 1459. Kosovo remained an Ottoman territory until 1912, when it became part of the newly independent state of Albania. One year later, however, the Great Powers—Austria-Hungary, France, Britain, Germany, Italy, and Russia—forced Albania to cede Kosovo to Serbia. In 1918, it was incorporated into the newly formed Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, which later became Yugoslavia.

In 1946, Kosovo became an autonomous province within Serbia. Periodic uprisings by ethnic Albanians resulted in greater autonomy over the years until riots in 1981 led to a Serbian backlash. Serbia’s Communist party leader, Slobodan Milosevic, placed the province under de facto military rule in March 1989. One year later, Serbian authorities abolished Kosovo’s parliament. Kosovo’s political leaders sought refuge in Macedonia, where they declared Kosovo a separate political entity within Yugoslavia. The Serbian government declared this exiled government illegal.

Tensions between ethnic Albanians (the majority of the population) and Serbs mounted as the Albanians continued to agitate for secession from Serbia, seeking either union with Albania or outright independence. In March 1998, a major Serbian crackdown began in response to repeated attacks from an armed ethnic Albanian group called the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). In the months that followed, hundreds of people, mostly ethnic Albanians, were killed; more than 200,000 were driven from their homes. Although Milosevic agreed to withdraw troops in October under pressure from NATO, he strengthened his forces in Kosovo instead. Fighting resumed in November, and Serbian forces began a major offensive against ethnic Albanian villages in late December 1998.

On March 24, 1999, NATO forces began a campaign of air strikes against military targets in former FRY. Serbian assaults on ethnic Albanians intensified. NATO continued its campaign of air strikes during April, bombing roads, bridges, oil production facilities, and other targets in Yugoslavia. The United Nations estimated that nearly 640,000 people were forced from Kosovo between March 1998 and the end of April 1999. In late May, the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) released an indictment accusing Milosevic and four other senior Yugoslav officials of committing war crimes in Kosovo. On June 3, the day after the indictment was made public, Milosevic finally agreed to an international peace plan for Kosovo. After verifying that FRY troops were beginning to withdraw from Kosovo, NATO suspended bombing on June 10. A 50,000-member international peacekeeping force helped ensure the safe return of Kosovo refugees, who numbered about 780,000 by the time the peace agreement was reached.

As NATO-led troops (K-For) began occupying Kosovo, the UN Security Council set up a temporary administration (UNMIK) for the province, which was legally recognized as still being a part of the FRY. Thousands of Serbs and other non-Albanians fled the province as Albanian revenge attacks on Serbs increased.

Local government (municipal) elections in October 2000 brought the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK)—which had proclaimed the independence of Kosovo in 1990—to power; legislative elections in November 2001 confirmed the party’s preeminent place. Dr. Ibrahim Rugova, head of the LDK, was elected president of Kosovo by the legislature. A 120-member legislative assembly includes ten seats reserved for Serbs, and ten seats reserved for other ethnic minorities (mostly Roma, Turks and Bosniaks).

In 2002, Serbia and Montenegro reported hosting 277,000 internally displaced people (the vast majority being Serbs and Roma from Kosovo), which included 201,641 persons displaced from Kosovo into Serbia proper, 29,451 displaced from Kosovo into Montenegro, and about 46,000 displaced within Kosovo itself, including 16,000 returning refugees unable to inhabit their original homes.

In March 17, 2004 , serious unrest in Kosovo led to several deaths, and the destruction of a large number of Orthodox churches and monasteries in the province, as Albanians clashed with Serbs. Several thousand more Kosovo Serbs were reported to have left their homes to seek refuge in Serbia proper or in the Serb-dominated north of Kosovo proper.

Most of province’s Albanian inhabitants support the independence movement, while Serbs fear it would be a preliminary to further ethnic cleansing and the formation of a “Greater Albania”. The Kosovo parliament issued a resolution supporting independence since the “political will of Kosovo people for independence is non negotiable”. In the meantime, the Serbian cabinet adopted a resolution opposing full independence for Kosovo

Although Kosovo is still considered a province of the former FRY, now known as Serbia and Montenegro, the president of Kosovo continues to work toward self-determination for Kosovo under international supervision.

Religion

The ethnic Albanians of Kosovo share the ethnic background of the people of neighboring Albania. Most ethnic Albanians are Muslim, while the Serbian population generally belongs to the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Recently, the Pentecostal churches in Dresden, Germany teamed up to host an outreach group to their city. AGWM Personnel, Michael Tyler relates the following experience during that afternoon.

“I was sitting with two teens from the outreach team when a group of five young men, obviously tourists, sat down next to us. They were not speaking German so we decided to see if they spoke English. It turned out that they did. They were students visiting from the Canary Islands and from Brazil. They were taking in the city sights and had stopped to enjoy the music, some sunshine, and to watch the presentation, but they had no idea what it was about. So they asked us if we knew what was going on. It opened a great door for us to share the Gospel with them.

The guy who had started the conversation with me had some questions about Jesus and he listened to what I shared, but after a few minutes he was done. He thanked me and got up to leave. He told his friends to follow him, but as he stepped away from me, three of his friends jumped forward and almost pushed him out of the way to continue a conversation about Jesus. I knew they had been standing there all along, but I didn’t know how intently they had been listening.

The three of them all had profound questions and I was thrilled to sit there and explain the Gospel to them. One of them decided he wanted to go home, read more of this Bible and to think about what he had learned. Another said he was a Christian already, but was thankful I could answer some big questions for him. The third man had no religious background at all, but told me he had been seeking the truth for some time. As he got up to leave, he told me he thought our conversation was a divine opportunity. I agree…After all, its not every day that a Brazilian college students sits down next to an American pastor in the middle of a German tourist destination to spontaneously hold a conversation about the life Jesus. No, I can’t imagine that it is anything but divine.”