Magazine May – June 2016
www.transformeuropenow.org
BUILDING KINGDOM
COMMUNITIES Combating Human Trafficking in Moldova
The dignity of causality
Building strong foundations through prayer
summer camps
Help make dreams a reality
Prayer Diary May – June
Harvest For The Hungry A Big Thank You
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hank you so much for your generosity in responding to our 2015 Harvest For the Hungry appeal. It enabled us to send grants of £45,000 to 30 of our partners working in nine countries, which has impacted more than 500 families during the harshest winter conditions. The funds are being put to great use in purchasing food parcels, which our partners have been distributing to the most needy families in their local communities as a practical demonstration of God’s love.
Our partner in Russia Galina Dzhuzenova gave one example of the impact of these wonderful gifts: “We gave a food parcel to a family in desperate need of help. The mother and father are both unemployed and struggle to feed their six children. They were so glad to receive five kilos of potatoes. The father said all the family liked mashed potatoes very much, but didn’t eat it for a long time as potatoes became very expensive for them. “Harvest for the Hungry is a great help to our ministry. Praise the Lord and thank you for it!”
Feeding Children
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esus-a first walked into the church of Mission Possible’s soup kitchen in the gypsy neighbourhood of Rosina, Bulgaria, as a little 4-year-old girl all by herself because she was attracted by the songs Christians were singing. She would just quietly sit there with an unfading smile on her face absorbing this atmosphere of love. Jesus-a, who is now 11, comes from a very poor family with very little food and no warm clothes, but this soup kitchen has become a place of warmth and love for her where she is not only fed soup, but also the love of God. As part of this year’s Harvest For The Hungry appeal we want to feed many more children like Jesus-a, who are in desperate need. According to recent European reports, nearly 30% of children in the EU are at risk of poverty or social exclusion. In the EU the risk of growing up in poverty is highest in Bulgaria, Romania and Greece. Some 40,000 children in Europe’s poorest country, Moldova have parents
who live and work abroad. 21 percent of Moldovan children are missing at least one parent due to labour migration. Families are ripped apart by the lure of job prospects in Russia and the rest of Europe, leaving many children growing up alone and in poverty. Please donate this year so we can feed hundreds more children across Europe: www.transformeuropenow.org/give
Jesus-a, Bulgaria
Welcome
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Contents
urope continues to face significant challenges in 2016, Britain’s EU referendum being one. Whatever the outcome, one thing is certain, there will be families, churches and communities with very different views on whether the UK should remain in or exit the EU. The refugee and migration crisis in Europe continues to be a major challenge. Already more than 1.8 million people have entered the EU illegally between January and October 2015 with nearly one million applying for asylum. These are refugees coming from conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan and economic migrants coming from the poorer parts of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Then there is the ever rising tide of human trafficking. Today there are more people in slavery than at the time of William Wilberforce. It was at 4:00am on the 24th February 1807 when the House of Commons voted to abolish the British slave trade. Today, alarmingly more than a third of the population in Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, Latvia, Hungary, Moldova and other areas of the Balkans are at risk or living in poverty and social exclusion. In half of the EU’s 28 member states, at least one in three children live in poverty. Unemployment in some evangelical churches is as high as 90%. Education and medical health is unavailable to many because of ethnic origins, learning difficulties, poverty, prejudices and stigmatisation. As part of our series on Building Kingdom Communities, in this magazine we are focusing on education. TEN is helping our partners deliver education in a number of ways, from literacy classes, antitrafficking education, vocational diplomas, to theological and university degrees. All of this is helping to bring individuals out of the poverty trap and provide a hope and a future. Our mission is to help Build Kingdom Communities, a place where Jesus is at the centre. This is the route to bringing justice to the challenges of Europe, with Jesus transforming lives resulting in transforming communities. Thank you for your faithful support,
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Building Kingdom Communities Beginning of Life
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Prayer: The Power of Causation
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You and Europe
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Prayer diary
May – June 2016
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News Updates
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…Bob Northey
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60 Seconds with...
What’s going on in... Kosovo
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Summer camps 2016
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TEN Conference 2016
If you’re not able to attend the TEN Conference this year join us on a live video stream of the main sessions. To register your interest please email admin@ten-uk.org
TEN_Today
transformeuropenow
Transform Europe Now 1 Holdenhurst Road, Kingswood Bristol BS15 1HL
Tel: +44 (0)117 961 5161 Email: info@transformeuropenow.org Written and produced by the TEN team Design: Simon Petherick Graphic and Web Design
Gerry Partridge CEO Transform Europe Now
Transform Europe Now is the operating name for Eurovangelism. Registered Charity No. 1140592 and Company Limited by Guarantee No. 7507682. Cover image: Young people from Beginning of Life promote Kingdom Values
Transforming Europe – One Life at a time
Third in a series of articles on TEN’s priorities for building kingdom communities
Educating Moldova’s next generation to
prevent human
trafficking Young Moldovan student Anna started to get concerned when her nephew was communicating with a stranger on the internet. Her nephew admitted to having a middle-aged friend from America, thinking it was all quite innocent and there was no danger.
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owever after some investigating from Anna’s brother, who’s with the police, they discovered this person was just a liar who was looking for an opportunity to harm her nephew. The young boy was shocked and admitted that he never thought something like this could happen to him. Quite disturbingly many young vulnerable people across Moldova aren’t as fortunate as Anna’s nephew and fall prey to human trafficking after meeting someone online. This is why the ministry, Beginning of Life, supported by TEN, is seeking to educate Moldova’s young people to the dangers of trafficking. Thanks to Beginning of Life’s schools’ initiative Anna, together with some other 4
students in her school, has been part of a series of prevention training sessions highlighting the dangers of this issue. As well as the dangers of online chatting; the other main challenge facing Moldova is that poverty is leading to many people fleeing the country in search of a better life. “Most young people here want to escape from the country, so we are preparing them not to be trapped but be sustainable and responsible no matter if they decide to leave or to stay,” explains Serghei Mihailov, Communications Coordinator of Beginning of Life. The need to educate and empower the next generation is so important as poverty and high unemployment caused hundreds of thousands of Moldovans within the last 20 years to leave in search of better
Transform europe now / May – June 2016
Transforming Europe – One Life at a time
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Children are growing up being deprived of parental care and supervision, lacking normal life skills.
fortunes in Russia, Turkey and EU countries. Serghei says this mass exodus is creating a huge challenge of ‘social orphans’ being left behind: “This phenomenon is extending more and more in Moldova. More than 170,000 children in our country are left behind. Children are growing up being deprived of parental care and supervision, lacking normal life skills. Within the last five years in Moldova the suicide rate among children raised fivefold. Serghei explains how they are tackling these issues through education: “Since the very beginning, our vision was not only to help people who already are in a critical situation, but also to prevent this problem before it gets started. “This is possible through education and awareness. Our team was one of the first who began prevention work in Moldovan schools. Teachers were very open to our initiatives, because the social and moral crisis in our country in that period was deep and extended.” Beginning of Life, which began in 2000, has been developing a program to combat human trafficking and sexual violence in Moldova for the past nine years. In February 2009, House of Change was established as a rehabilitation and reintegration centre for victims of sexual exploitation and human trafficking. In subsequent years, the team and their range of projects have expanded greatly. They now run three Urban Centres
providing alternative education and youth development, a Psychological Art Studio, providing art-therapy, as well, Dream House—a prevention centre for teenage girls at-risk from rural communities—and a Humanitarian Aid Centre. In 2014 they also started the Be Different Program for vulnerable teenagers, which is now run in three cities. Also at the end of the same year they launched a social enterprise, Art Story, offering vulnerable women and survivors of exploitation stable employment. Serghei concluded: “Our goal is to empower these young people to grow and become leaders and professionals in any sphere where they will be people who will take responsibility for the situation in Moldova and will make a change.”
Photos: (Top) Awareness in state schools (Bottom) Way to Success Training
Please pray for this vital kingdom-building ministry. If you can help Beginning of Life support these vulnerable young people in Moldova, please contact us now:
tel: 0117 961 5161
email admin@ten-uk.org +44 (0)117 961 5161 / www.transformeuropenow.org
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Transforming Europe – One Life at a time
Prayer: The Power of
Causation Many of you are already faithfully praying for TEN and our partners in Europe using the magazine prayer diary as your inspiration, which we are extremely thankful for. Without your dedication to prayer the work of TEN wouldn’t be as effective. building Kingdom Communities across Europe. Last year we launched the ‘Watchman’ programme with a vision of having 100 Watchmen to watch and pray for the work to TEN. Some of you have already signed up and are receiving our weekly and urgent prayer requests by email. We now want to take this further. We plan to change the name to TEN Intercessors, and we would like more of you to join us in interceding for TEN, our partners and Europe at this extremely significant time in our history.
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S Lewis reminds us of what the Bible shows us from beginning to end: “Our God is not the distant, detached god of the Deist, but rather a Father who is actively involved with his children and His creation. In His all-encompassing knowledge, wisdom and power, He gives us ‘the dignity of causality,’ through which our actions and our prayers really do ‘affect the course of events’ and serve His ultimate purposes.” Every building requires a strong and secure foundation if it is to withstand the storms. We see prayer as the foundation to everything we and our partners do in
Prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance, but laying hold of His willingness. Martin Luther
Will you go further with us in prayer and become a TEN Intercessor? If so just email the office at admin@ten-uk.org and tell us you will be a TEN Intercessor. We will then include you on the weekly and urgent prayer request emails.
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Transform europe now / May – June 2016
You and Europe
Transform Europe Now works across 15 European countries with around 70 Partners, so if you or your church wishes to make a difference in Europe you don’t have to go it alone. Church partnerships, short-term teams, special church services, volunteering, targeted prayer and financial support—there’s something for everyone! Countries we operate in include:
Our prayer for Europe: Heavenly Father, We pray for the children and young people across Europe, who are so vulnerable to the darkness across this continent. Please Lord help our partners who are seeking to educate these precious young lives to avoid the dangers of trafficking and exploitation. Help them to know how to make the correct decisions in their lives and to follow you into the light of your glorious grace. Amen
+44 (0)117 961 5161 / www.transformeuropenow.org
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Prayer Diary
Dragan & Biljana Savka & Jovica Macedonia
Montenegro
Galina
Compassion Ministry, Russia
Metin
Turkey
Slavko & Sanja Bosnia
Vladimir & Marljana
Daniel
Montenegro
Slavoljub & Snezana
Montenegro
Serbia
Prayer Diary May – June 2016 May 2016 1 / Dragan Manev, Macedonia: “Our Orthodox Easter takes place today. Please pray the outreach event at our church in Veles and for the impact of our evangelistic video “The Cross.” 2 / “Please pray for a Roma gypsy conference coming up June 20-22, 2016 in Ohrid. We are planning to invite people who work with gypsies not only from Macedonia, but also from Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia and abroad.” 3 / “Pray for the work with refugees. We expect a big wave of refugees and it is a great opportunity to share Jesus.” 4 / Jovica Bacvanski, Montenegro: “Please pray for the visit of a group of young people from the USA in May. We want to continue with evangelism of our city. Please pray for open hearts of people.” 5 / Galina, Dzhuzenova, Russia: “During the first half of May we will visit many different places with Easter concerts. Please pray we will be allowed to visit all our usual organizations. Sometimes we meet problems in getting permission for our visits.”
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6 / “Please pray for our annual meeting with volunteers in June and our preparations for summer camps.” 7 / Metin Mintaz, Turkey: “Recently, because of terrorist attacks, people are worried in Turkey. Please pray this chaotic atmosphere may disappear and the peace of God may come to Turkey.” 8 / “Our church and the other churches in Turkey need buildings to worship. We request the old church buildings that are not used now from the government, but we can’t get a positive response from them. Please pray we can buy a building for our church.” 9 / Slavko Hadzic, Bosnia: “In May I am travelling a lot and speaking at several events, including the TEN Conference. Pray for safe travel and for talks inspired by God.” 10 / “Please pray for a regional men’s conference June 16-19th called “My Brother’s Keeper” in Slovenia. I am part of the organizing board and I am one of the speakers. 11 / “Pray for our local church activities, especially for
Transform europe now / May – June 2016
humanitarian work (12 families whom we visit regularly every month and help with food parcels), for our teen group, and for the “circle of women” evangelistic outreach in June.” 12 / Vladimir Cizmanski, Montenegro: “We are asking the Lord to lead us in the right decision whether to buy some property or to rent a bigger space for our church.” 13 / TEN Conference: Please pray for this weekend’s TEN Conference in Reading and for our partners travelling to the conference to share, including Teddy & Didi Oprenov from Bulgaria, Slavko & Sanja Hadzic from Bosnia and Mircea & Ronela Cristian from Romania. 14 / Daniel Stracinksi, Montenegro: “Please pray for a conference for all evangelical Christians in our country for good fellowship and encouragement.” 15 / “In May my ID card in Montenegro expires after 5 years. Pray for no problem for a new one because I’m from Serbia.” 16 / “Please pray for wisdom and God’s provision of funds as we start our summer camps in June.”
Prayer Diary
Ljiljana Bosnia
Bera
Serbia
Nesa & Vesna Serbia
17 / “In June we plan to have baptisms in our church. Please pray for all the people who will be baptised.” 18 / Slavoljub Randjelovic, Serbia: “Please pray for the Lord to heal me from cancer.” 19 / “Please pray for our Royal Rangers camp and activities in June that they will have a very fruitful time.” 20 / “Pray for a team from the Netherlands arriving today as they plan to do evangelization and praying for the sick with us.” 21 / Ljiljana Banicek, Bosnia: “We distributed more Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts during Easter. Please pray for those who received them.” 22 / “We will continue to meet with old contacts and make new contacts through distribution of food packages to poor families. Pray that we will be able to share the Gospel with them.” 23 / “In June we will have children’s workshops and youth nights. We will end with a big party at the end of the month. Pray for God to use these ministries to share His love to these children and teens.” 24 / “We will have a foreign team coming to work with the church at the end of June. They will reach out to children, teenagers and adults. Pray that God will use their ministry.”
Nada & Mirco Macedonia
Benjamin Spain
Nikola & Daniela Bulgaria
Dario
Bosnia
Marian, Ionica & Gratzian PRR, Romania
25 / Beredi Dusan, Serbia: “Please pray for the men and women at the Rainbow Centre for their spiritual growth and freedom from heroin. Pray also for the rehabilitation centre finances: the centre is free to use and through our work we manage to cover about 30% of all costs.” 26 / “Please pray for our new church in the city of Obrenovac. This city was ruined in the floods two years ago and we began with humanitarian aid. Now 15 people regularly attend Bible studies groups from Obrenovac. Pray for their spiritual growth and stability.” 27 / “As a church, we are a part of a large prayer movement for Serbia. Our plan is to have every day, every hour, for a year covered with Christians praying for Serbia. Please join us in praying for revival in our country.” 28 / TEN Team: “Please pray for our team who will be exhibiting at Big Church Day Out this weekend for them to make lots of good contacts.” 29 / Nesa and Vesna Radeka, Serbia: “Three months ago we opened a small maternity house. At the moment we care for two women and three children (two babies and a girl of 7 years old). Pray for the provision for everything that is needed and for our day to day activities including Bible studies and parenting lessons.”
30 / “We teach about sanctity of human life and envision others to get involved. Please pray as we organize different events, debates, conferences and training, not only for people in Serbia but also in the area of ex-Yugoslavia.” 31 / “Please pray for God`s wisdom while we plant new house churches among the Roma (gypsy) people.”
June 2016 1 / Mirco Andreev, Macedonia: “Please pray for the refugees coming through Macedonia. There are around 1,200 refugees in Tabanovce who are in terrible conditions. Our volunteers are going each day on the Greek side of the border. There are up to 20,000 refugees there.” 2 / “Please pray for our AGAPE volunteers for their protection as they minister to the refugees each day. Pray for the impact of their distribution of Christian materials, Bibles and videos on SD cards.” 3 / “Please pray for all of those who came to hear world famous motivational Christian speaker Nick Vujicic in Skopje in April.” 4 / “Please pray for a good response at the evangelistic event IMPACT Skopje 2016, July 4–10.”
+44 (0)117 961 5161 / www.transformeuropenow.org
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Prayer Diary
5 / “Please pray for my health. I have many medical examinations, so please pray for the doctors to discover what is wrong with my body as I’ve already had two strokes.” 6 / Benjamin Martin, Spain: “We need prayer for several couples with serious marriage difficulties in Marbella, Malaga that affects our church, especially at this time when the church is in the process of recognition of the first Elders.” 7 / “In view of our diverse annual summer evangelistic efforts in several towns and small cities in the Malaga area, we are starting to form a team of all ages. We expect a group of young people from Argentina. We would like to see more spiritual growth in Spanish youth.” 8 / TEN CEO Gerry Partridge: “Please pray for me as I embark on a bike ride from Porto in Portugal to Santander in Spain to raise funds for Beginning of Life in Moldova. Pray for safety and endurance.” 9 / Nikola Atanasov, Bulgaria: “Please pray for all those who responded to the Gospel at the recent CFAN Fire conference in our city Plovdiv in Bulgaria.” 10 / “Please, pray for three new believers through our ministry, for them to grow in their new faith.” 11 / “In the kindergarten where my little 5-year-old daughter goes, she has been rejected by several children and their families, because of our faith. We need God’s help.” 12 / “Please, pray for three elderly men to be born again. We met them when we brought them food. They are poor and hungry,
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but I think they are more hungry for Jesus. Pray they accept Jesus.” 13 / Dario Kapin, Bosnia: “Please pray for our church growth and for our church bees/beehives project. Also for permanent solution for church space.” 14 / Marian Serban, PRR, Romania: “Please pray for the newest beneficiaries of Casa Chara including sisters Vasilica, aged 8 and Mihaela, aged 9, that they can catch up in school. Please also pray for 15-year-old Flori who has an important exam in June before going to high school.” 15 / “Please pray for the brothers Ștefan aged 10 and Dani aged 9—the newest in Casa Benjamin—for catching up lost information taught in school.” 16 / “Pray for our street ministry to be able to impact many more people for Christ.” 17 / “Please pray for all our staff to have wisdom and guidance as we serve the Lord and the children, teenagers, youth and their families.” 18 / “Please pray for new possible beneficiaries who really need our help and services.” 19 / Erion Cuni, Albania: “Pray for the people in our churches to catch our vision and be the new leaders of the small groups and new church plants.” 20 / “Pray for the families we support and visit for real change in their spiritual life.” 21 / “Pray for us as leaders to have wisdom and power from the Holy Spirit and protection.
Transform europe now / May – June 2016
22 / Monika Mahr, Romania “Please pray we can be an example for the ladies from the sewing class, to help them to put their trust in God.” 23 / “Please pray for wisdom to guide the families we are responsible for that we can help them find God through the difficult times they go through.” 24 / “May the children be ready to ask Jesus into their lives in this year’s summer camp.” 25 / “May CASA Grace be able to continue to support the ones who are in most need.” 26 / Maca Turner, Serbia: “Please pray for God to continue to bless my visits to needy families as I deliver food packages to them.” 27 / “Please pray for the summer team coming to work with us from USA, that it will be a very fruitful time.” 28 / “Pray for God’s protection and blessing over my family, for me to better share my faith to the people around me and for me to know God’s clear vision for my life.” 29 / Zoli Vegal, Serbia: “We are starting a two-week outreach today. Please pray that we get into contact with many people and that God brings new birth to many of them.” 30 / Plamen Borisov, Bulgaria: “Please pray for finances and wisdom as we seek a larger building for our church to minister in.”
News Updates
Business As Mission in Albania A team of four TEN Ambassadors including Chris Hill, Terry Wood, Michael Buie and Richard Favier travelled to Albania in March this year to introduce to a group of partners and local leaders in Tirana a possible new initiative called Business As Mission (BAM). “We were really encouraged by the positive feedback from the 20 local church and business leaders who came to our meetings,” explains TEN Ambassador Chris Hill. Chris added: “At this stage we are in the trial phase of BAM and are committing the future of this to the Lord in prayer. Whether appropriate projects develop will depend on the response we get from those who attended our seminar. “However if BAM does proceed our
long term hope is to see businesses with Biblical values being established not just in Albania, but also in a number of our partner countries that will generate work for unemployed people. Also, we want to see the profits from those businesses being re-invested into church ministry and church planting so they can become more self-sustaining.”
Gerry’s Portugal to Spain Bike Challenge Our CEO Gerry Partridge will be literally getting on his bike for TEN June 8–15, cycling from Porto in Portugal to Santander in Spain. Gerry is taking on this mammoth 450 mile bike ride as part of an 11-strong team from his church in Taunton, to raise funds for TEN’s partner Beginning of Life in Moldova and their anti-trafficking work. Gerry explains the significance of officially starting the ride at the Lars Children’s home in Porto: “This children’s home was the first ever project supported by TEN 50 years ago and I felt in TEN’s 51st year this would make for a very special starting point for this bike ride.” Gerry concluded: “I’m really looking forward to taking on this challenge knowing that every penny we raise will make a difference in transforming the lives of so many vulnerable women and children in
Moldova, who have endured the horrors of human trafficking.” To sponsor Gerry today go to: my.give.net/iTacChallenge
+44 (0)117 961 5161 / www.transformeuropenow.org
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60 seconds with...
60 Seconds with…
Bob Northey
How did you get involved in the work of TEN? I came across the work of TEN last summer while researching Christian ministry opportunities in Bristol following our relocation to Keynsham. Gerry Partridge kindly invited me to meet for coffee, and soon afterwards I was asked to help with TEN’s digital communications on a freelance basis and I’m loving every minute of it. I’ve also just agreed to become a volunteer Ambassador. Could you tell us a bit about your previous work/ministry background? I’d spent the previous three years as Digital Marketing Executive with Visit Cornwall writing content for the website, emails and social media and publishing photos and video. After reviewing my options, I decided to offer my skills to churches and Christian ministries and launched Digital Mission (www. digitalmission.co.uk) as a ‘digital outreach’ resource and blog.
communities such as the Roma and assisting the plight of refugees. These stories of faith and courage are wonderful to share when using film clips on YouTube, publishing news stories on the website and sharing with the online communities on Twitter and Facebook. What is your vision for your work with TEN? My aim, in terms of digital outreach, is to engage with the online audience; encourage people to share the stories of TEN and to ensure that the younger, internet-savvy generation adopts the vision of TEN.
What are the highlights for you being involved in the work of TEN? I love the principle of ‘loaves and fishes’ being given to God and distributed by TEN’s partners in Europe. They are tackling the deep-rooted problems of human trafficking, reaching out to poor
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Transform europe now / May – June 2016
What’s going on in...
...Kosovo
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Our youth are serving, full of commitment towards teenagers of Pristina City and our children’s ministry is reaching other cities in Kosovo.
people who have come to know Christ and their will to serving Him in different ways.” “There are lots of meetings and ministries happening during the week. Our youth are serving, full of commitment towards teenagers of Pristina City and our children’s ministry is reaching other cities in Kosovo.” In response to this hunger from the next generation of believers they started a Bible school in March this year to help them get deeper into the word of God. Artur says the biggest challenges they face not only as a church but nationally is the growth of Islamic extremism and the high rate of poverty (47%). Many young believers from a Muslim background
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osovo has one of the weakest economies in Europe. Sanctions, poor policies, damage from military conflict, weak trade links, organised crime and corruption all make growth quite difficult. The economy is actually shrinking and unemployment is at 70%. The evangelical church is very small but growing. There are now 35 evangelical churches and they are quite evangelistic in their outlook. One example of this is Fellowship of the Lord’s People Church in Pristina which is pastored by TEN partner Artur Krasniqi. Members of this church have been responding to the needs of many families affected by the poor economy by providing food, clothes and medical supplies while sharing God’s word with them. Artur says their church has seen some encouraging breakthroughs: “As a church we have been very blessed to see the growth happening and
face persecution from their families and communities because of their faith in Christ. However, Artur remains optimistic for his country: “Our church is mainly filled by the young people, which gives us hope on being able to transform the societies where they live by the fire they have for God.”
Artur Krasniqi
+44 (0)117 961 5161 / www.transformeuropenow.org
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Transforming Europe – One Life at a time
summer camp appeal From the age of 5 Polina endured 7 years of horrendous abuse at the boarding school she was sent to in Russia as she had no family to care for her.
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Christian summer camp: “It was for the olina explains the nightmare she first time in my life that I felt I was in a endured particularly from the boys in loving family. I got to know that Jesus the school as she was the only girl in loves me! And I started to pray! A year her class: later I came to the camp again and on the “I didn’t have girls to communicate last day I gave my heart to Jesus! I very with, therefore I tried to communicate much appreciate the salvation given to with boys. But all my attempts were me by our Lord Jesus Christ!” rejected. Then I started to receive blows Polina, who’s now 13, is completely to almost all parts of my body. All my changed and attends regular summer body was in bruises. I was afraid to go out camps where she has of doors, thinking that I made lots of great would be humiliated by friends. schoolmates. Each year these “At that time I didn’t summer camps, run by know God. I begged our partners, impact them to leave me hundreds more lives like alone, but they were Polina’s, but they are unshakable. It was a always limited by how great miracle that I many children can come remained alive.” through lack of funding. Her life was turned Would you help us around though when she this year by sponsoring was taken in by a foster a child to come to family who started a summer camp, so taking her to church they can have the where she learned about opportunity God for the first time. to have their lives The following year transformed? she went to her first Polina (right) with camp counsellor
A gift of £90 will fully fund a young boy or girl so they can enjoy one of these summer camps in Europe this year.
tel: 0117 961 5161
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email admin@ten-uk.org
Transform europe now / May – June 2016
CO N FEREN CE • 2016 • • 2016 • 13 – 15 MAY | WOKEFIELD PARK, READING
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I found TEN’s conference to be a valuable way of understanding the wider work of TEN better, meeting other supporters and seeing the full value that TEN offers: seeking to match UK based supporters with church planters and supporting opportunities in other parts of Europe.
CHRIS HILL Ten Supporter and Ambassador
See the back cover for details of the Speakers To book, please complete and return the booking form to: Transform Europe Now, 1 Holdenhurst Road, Kingswood, Bristol, BS15 1HL or call Ken Millwood on 0117 961 5161 or email admin@ten-uk.org
Special room rates available for children under 16, please contact Ken Millwood for details. Please note a £4 booking fee will be added for all card payments. Balance of payments are due NOW. (Please use BLOCK CAPITALS)
Name: Address: Postcode: Email:
Phone:
Number of people attending: Rooms required:
Last date to book is 6 May 2016
Single room, ensuite at £145 pp Twin room, ensuite at £145 pp
I enclose full payment of: £
Double room, ensuite at £145 pp
Last chance to book your place +44 (0)117 961 5161 / www.transformeuropenow.org
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TENCONF-JUN16
CO N FEREN CE • 2016 • • 2016 • 13 – 15 MAY WOKEFIELD PARK, READING FEATURING: TEDDY & DIDI OPRENOV Sofia First Baptist Church, Bulgaria
SLAVKO & SANJA HADZIC Sarajevo Evangelical Church, Bosnia
MIRCEA & RONELA CRISTIAN Rock of Ages, Constanta, Romania
JOHN & PAM BLANCHARD Bible Teacher and former Chair of Trustees
ROB NEWEY Worship Leader
See over page for booking details.
Partners with TEN for over a decade, this dedicated couple have been ministering in Sofia and Bulgaria for over 20 years. They have been involved in ministry to all ages and serving the needy and neglected by society— Roma, orphans, homeless and most recently refugees. A highly esteemed leader and long-term partner of TEN, Slavko pastors a church alongside being national co-ordinator for Alpha; board member and teacher at a Bible School; denominational secretary and board member of national IFES (International Fellowship of Evangelical Students). Mircea and Ronela started Rock of Ages 22 years ago and now co-ordinate an army of 180 volunteers from 25 different churches, currently visiting 27 prisons in Romania, and their work has recently also expanded into Moldova. Pam needs no introduction, having been a member and then Chair of Trustees for TEN for over 20 years. Dr. John Blanchard is an international preacher, teacher and author of over 30 books. We are pleased that John will bring his inspiring Bible teaching to this conference. Rob has been writing and performing songs as his main vocation for over 30 years now. He is a long-term friend and supporter of TEN. He will lead worship at the conference again this year.
transformeuropenow.org