Where is Albania?
Albania is a small country roughly the size of Maryland located just north of Greece and just east of the “heel” of Italy! It is the poorest country in Europe and is predominantly Muslim.
What are we doing?
God has impressed upon us a vision to help start a youth movement of Christ in the capital city of Tirana where almost 1 million people live without the love and hope of Jesus! Two statistics have pierced our hearts to see this happen:
1. 85% of Christians come to a relationship with Jesus in their teenage years. This means that this is a crucial time in life when they are most open to the gospel!
2. 92% of youth pastors are ministering to only 4% of the world’s youth. That means that only 8% of youth pastors are ministering to the REMAINING 96% of teens in the world!
This year (2008-09) we will be slowly moving out of the season of language learning (although it is an ongoing process) and culture adjustment and moving into full time ministry. Our areas of focus will be:
- growing and building on a foundation of healthy youth ministry at Disciples of Jesus Church
- leadership training and development, specifically for Egli, a young man from our church, and more broadly, Albanian youth workers throughout the country
- developing youth resource materials in Albanian
