Christ the Savior Church

Friends,

Here is a story a bit different than the rest, not just by its content, but also the location where it has taken place. It is a story about my trips to Italy, Christian solidarity in mission, stepping out of the comfort zone and freedom that flows out of it.

In my updates, I mentioned our Italian ministry partners Missione REM several times. We’ve been partnering with them since 2019 and all throughout this time they’ve been a great help and faithful friends. Thankfully, this time we had a chance to give them in return. I assume you all have heard about the recently finished Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina in Italy. This happening has attracted a lot of attention globally and has brought many people to Milan, which is exactly where Missione REM is based. This created a great opportunity to spread the Gospel with as many people as possible, both locals and the tourists.

In order to accomplish this, our Italian friends needed help, because in Italy, just like everywhere else, “the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few”. (Evangelicals/Protestants make about 1% of Italian population). Realizing that they were in a real need and personally being enthusiastic about the idea, I decided that it was time to pay back for all the help we received from them. At first, I tried to assemble a team that would go with me, but unfortunately, for all kinds of reasons, that didn’t work out. Understanding that it may be Lord’s way to let me have a break from the usual responsibilities and get refreshed, I decided to proceed on my own. And so, the next several days I spent handing out tracts, gospels, invitations to a local church’s events, kids Bibles, playing guitar and singing worship songs in the streets, talking to complete strangers in English, limited Spanish and super-scarce Italian.

In all honesty, this wasn’t the first time I went to Italy for some rest and recoupment. In December last year, I took an opportunity to visit our other Italian partners, Missione Urban Vision from Turin. It was there that I “discovered” street evangelism and the blessings one can receive from it. For the first time in years, I served God anonymously, without feeling the weight of responsibility for pretty much everything that is going on. Surprisingly to me, the people were generally open and it was very easy to engage them in a conversation. - very different than in Montenegro!

This was especially true for the poor and the homeless, many of them migrants, coming mostly from Africa and Asia. Many of these men came to Europe chasing the “European dream” that eventually turned into a nightmare. Ending up broke and living on the streets, they were happy to get free breakfast/coffee, but also to share their struggles with us and let us pray for them.

In Milano, though, the “clientele” was a very different crowd (mostly working and middle class Italians, tourists) but also happy to receive a tract, play a game of table hockey and just talk. It is hard to say how many tracts, gospels and other materials were distributed, but it certainly runs in thousands.

Perhaps it sounds strange that after 16 years in full time ministry, all the evangelistic events we had in the Roma-AE camps all over Montenegro, the “shoeboxes” events all over the country and other ministry related public appearances, I discovered street evangelism only now. But the truth is that street evangelism is not something that’s condoned by Montenegrin churches and in reality is being practiced very rarely. The reason for churches not to engage in street evangelism is because the local Christians feel uncomfortable to do it and in all truth, it is not difficult to understand why. Being a small country with even smaller population (little over 600,000 people), Montenegro is a place where “everyone knows everyone” (and even if you don’t, you probably know their family, friends or neighbors), where family and personal connections cut deep and bond people together for generations. As they grew older, people find their place in society, with their social status defining not just where they belong but also what is and what isn’t appropriate for them to do. Otherwise, they might loose the place and the community they belong to.

Having said that, public performances such as street evangelism is definitely among the DON’Ts. With the evangelicals/Protestants still being considered as strange sects and with no other faith group doing anything even remotely similar, the locals see street evangelism as something really awkward. That is why every single such activity had been largely ignored/avoided by the very people they were targeting and their effect was almost zero.

This is to say that in order to reach people with the Gospel, Montenegrin churches and Christians have to make extra efforts and creativity to create a context in which the Gospel can be shared and heard. Such opportunities do not come easy and if they do, it is because we managed to give them an appropriate cultural context and/or because high level of trust of accomplished prior to the event. These rare opportunities can take a lot of planning and a long period of preparation. And even so, the results can be unclear and in terms of numbers, thin.

Please pray for changing of the overly narrow Montenegrin context, but at the same time pray for the new insight, discernment, opportunities and resources that will enable local churches and ministries to reach Montenegrins of all backgrounds in larger numbers. Pray for God to reveal us more effective ways to reach the unreached, as well as for boldness, faith and selflessness necessary to implement them. Pray for more of those that Father will bring to His Son, who then will give them the Spirit to seal their hearts for the eternal salvation.