AN INITIATIVE TO BRING PEACE AND STABILITY TO THE BALKANS
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Journal Fellowship Together We (Andrew & Grethe) went to Zagreb to meet with Pastor Aca Mitrovic, his wife Jasna and his team from Novi Sad, Serbia and with the pastors & families from the Zagreb house churches led by Jasmin Avdagic. Pastor Oliver Buljat from Karlovac and his wife Marija and their children were also there. This meeting is a direct result of the Vukovar reconciliation gathering in August 2006. (You may remember that Jasmin took a team from Croatia to Novi Sad, Serbia in November last year). It was a precious time and for some it was the first time in Croatia since the last war. We had a BBQ together then we went to one of the house churches and had communion; it was a very moving experience as some of these young men may have fought against each other in the last war. Saturday was spent getting to know one another. Saturday night there was a meeting attended by over 200 mostly young people (early 30’s to mid 40’s). Pastor Aca (from Serbia) gave a powerful word from Col:1. Aca mentioned the gathering in Vukovar as the beginning of the process of reconciliation, but there was still much work to do. He encouraged everyone present to carry & live out the reconciliation message. The Bible says "do not despise small beginnings" for Serbia and Croatia this was a HUGE step. There are plans to continue to hold similar meetings and hopefully other churches will also get involved. One of the young pastors and his wife had just had a baby boy, they called him Andrija (Andrew) they asked Andrew to dedicate him to the Lord and pray over his life. This was a great honor for Andrew.
I don't really know how to report adequately what happened at the Daughter of the King Conference, except to say that it was a God time. The venue was full; we had 70 women there with more who wanted to come. We spent a lot of time in Worship. On Thursday night, Cheryl shared openly about her life. (God told her to put her notes away and told her to be transparent about her marriage). No sooner did we issue and invitation for them to come out for prayer, and what happened next took us all by surprise, almost all of them came out. Cheryl, Caroline, Kate and I ministered late into the evening. The rest of the time continued in the same vein; prepared notes were put aside and we just did what the Holy Spirit told us to do. The needs were great, but so was our God, words of knowledge, encouragement, healing flowed throughout the whole conference. Andrew had always felt that the conference had something to do with reconciliation, and that was confirmed by Pieter Timmer (intercessor from our home church in Australia). I could not see where it would fit in, and I was not going to push for it. It is amazing what happens when we leave space for the Holy Spirit to move. (I was really outside my comfort zone). Saturday morning during the most precious time of worship I began to weep, tears that I could not control; suddenly I saw in the spirit this picture that there we were worshipping, a bunch of ordinary women and above us was a circle of the Angelic hosts worshipping with us; and above that I saw a picture of Jesus, standing with tears rolling down His face with His arms outstretched; the tears were falling on different parts of the Balkan Nations and as His tears fell, they washed away all the blood that has been shed for centuries. I then knew that I had to read the scripture that Pieter Timmer had sent from Jeremiah 3:3 and to continue to read as far as verse 14. I sensed that God wanted me to issue a challenge to these women to be the generation to begin to have a confession of reconciliation. Weeping began and I knew that God wanted me to take it further. I called a woman to come out front from each of the Balkan nations and to hold a banner that represented the sovereignty of God (not a Croatian flag or a Bosnian flag etc) I asked them to pray for the women of their nation, to call them forth to become reconcilers. It was an awesome time, when they had finished praying, they began to march around the room with banners of all colors. It was like marching around the wall of Jericho (I know that there was a battle that had been won in the spiritual realm). We then had a time of celebration and that was the end of the conference. It was very much like our reconciliation gathering in Vukovar. It seemed as though God needed to do a lot of healing in the individual before He opened the door for me to share about reconciliation. We started both mornings with an early prayer meeting; I was blown away when I arrived at the prayer meeting, by 5 past seven almost all the women were there. Their prayers seemed so gut wrenching, I asked my interpreter what they were praying; she said they were hungry and thirsty for more of God. On the second morning I thought for sure that they would be too tired to come, wrong, again most of them were there. The women were so grateful for the opportunity to come to such a gathering and I was asked by quite a few, “can we register for next year” “will you come to Macedonia, Bosnia, Serbia etc and do the same there, can we open it up to all women and not just pastor’s wives and women in ministry”. To God be the Glory, what else can I say. Comments from some of the delegates sent to us via e-mail: Just wanted to say a hearty “thanks” for all the time and effort you put into organizing the women’s conference last weekend. I came away encouraged. It was a blessing to meet women from all parts of the former Yugoslavia, and to share on a heart level with them. I think that this conference enabled women to get away for a much-needed time of reflection and refreshment. I just want to say thank you one more time for allowing me to attend the "Daughter of the King" conference. It was a very timely and good conference and Cheryl's messages were 'right on'. The worship and atmosphere of the conference were excellent. Thanks so much for all the hard work that I know you put into planning and coordinating the conference. It was so great to meet you and be apart of the wonderful work our Lord did this past weekend. Thank you again for the opportunity to participate. It is so good to be with women who rely on God for the Message that He wants to be shared. It was a beautiful message and so needed. I saw many women who blossomed from the love He poured out on us through you and the woman He choose to be His messengers. It was also a GREAT privilege to intercede for the reconciliation of the former countries of Yugoslavia. I feel like ever since we arrived in BiH, this is the one thing that I must keep praying about. The 4 sisters from Macedonia are very satisfied, encouraged and Blessed from the conference. They tell me about everything, and I would like to THANK YOU for big Hospitality, especially THANKS to brother Andrew- who take them from The bus station at 3 a.m.! I want to be sure and thank you and bless the Lord for this past weekend. I also would like for you to pass this on to the others that made this weekend possible. The Lord was so kind to make all the arrangements for us. You were bold in your obedience to lead the way in the organization and planning. You mothered us so well. God's people were kind to give their Time, finances, and prayers in order that we might get all the Lord had for us. We are thankful to the Lord and to you all, that we could be there and experienced very blessed time in the presence of the Lord. Our Lord has known our needs and desires and He touched so deeply our hearts at that Conference that we returned in Belgrade completely changed , full of joy and love of God. Thank to you and to whole your team for your love and all you' ve done for us in that Conference. Valentines Dinner We had the privilege of speaking at a valentines dinner at our church in Rijeka. The theme was "How to still be in love after 30 years of marriage". It was attended by 12 couples, 2 of the couples have not been to church before. Pastor Milan and his wife Dranzenka organized the event. One of the couples attending have asked us to come and give the same message in their church. Reconciliation Gathering in Vukovar The first reconciliation gathering was held in Vukovar Thursday August 31st to Sunday 2nd September. It is impossible to put into words all that happened and took place, but here goes. 85 people attended the gathering. We started with everyone introducing themselves in the first session. The second session in the evening Andrew shared the vision that the Lord gave us for reconciliation. It became very obvious that before anything could happen between nations God had to deal with attitudes of individual hearts. God’s presence was there in a powerful way. Many words came out that confirmed to us that it was His gathering and He had His purpose for it and that His purpose went much deeper and wider than we could ever imagine. By Friday evening we knew that God would move powerfully the next morning, so we canceled the morning coffee break, to allow the Holy Spirit to do what he had planned. We had a short time of worship then a short word from one of the key men, we then went into prayer and every single person there fell to their knees and the weeping began, it was a very precious time if you can put it that way. It concluded with the breaking of bread which was done in a very unique way. A Serbian Pastor broke bread with a Croatian Pastor asking forgiveness on behalf of the Serbian people, and then the Croatian pastor did the same on behalf of the Croatian people. That was repeated between representatives of all nations of former Yugoslavia. There was a real sense of a break through having been achieved although what kept coming through time and time again was that this was by no means the end but merely the first step towards national healing and reconciliation. |
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