Thursday began with planning with Dragan and Danijela for home church outreach in Belgrade. They have several ministry focus points, but the one that stood out the most to me is a Roma mahala called Mladenovac. This is a very large mahala, and Dragan and Danijela have been working there for three years. Some of the inhabitants were forcibly moved there from a settlement they had under the bridge. Now they live in containers that have been adapted for living quarters. Some parents approached Dragan and asked, “What have you been doing with our kids?” Since these parents are Muslim, Dragan was afraid he had offended them in some way, but it is our policy to always be straightforward and honest and he responded by explaining about teaching the children songs, telling them Bible stories, and talking about how those stories could affect their actions and attitudes. The parents responded by graciously thanking Dragan and telling him what a positive change they have seen in their children!
We also looked at an apartment Dragan and Danijela are hoping to rent for their move to Belgrade. They live over an hour outside the city now, and it is difficult for them to be available to work with the large number of Roma who live in the city. For the past several years they have stayed with relatives in a small, overcrowded flat, in order to be in the city where they feel God’s calling to work with the Roma people. Linking Partners is proud to be working with them now, coming alongside them in such important work.
After planning for the upcoming year, we traveled south from Belgrade to Prokuplje. On the way we worked through details of a Linking Partners’ short-term mission trip with First Baptist Church of Sherwood during the summer of 2014. We will have a small contingent staying six weeks, and a larger group staying two weeks. Between us, we will work in north, central, and south Serbia.
We arrived at the home of Marijan and Slavica Stankovic in Prokuplje at dinnertime. After a delicious meal, we continued on with planning, as well as delivering another electronic tablet full of resources, and a replacement laptop computer. Current electronic communications makes our work so much easier, as we can Skype with one another, share Bible resources and photographs via DropBox, and plan via email.
One of the highlights of our day today was hearing from both Dragan and Marijan how they are training up disciples to do the same work they are doing, multiplying the people available to lead home churches, and expand outreach into Roma communities where hope from the gospel and aid from generous donors are so very needed. Disciples are disciple makers!
