Best of 2010 - Connections in the BalkansScot Bower - 30 Dec 2010
In June Glasnost, the 24-7 Prayer communities from Macedonia, hosted a weekend gathering for friends and 24-7ers from across the Balkans and beyond.
This was the second year 24-7 Prayer had gathered in the South East of Europe for what has become known as ‘Balkan Connect’. Fifty church planters, missionaries and other 24-7ers came to connect with God and with each other, to plan and dream as well as share their stories and their struggles.
As the worship thundered from our small sweaty room at the back of a simple restaurant Alpin Popnikolov, one of the Macedonian leaders, brought a challenge to raise hopes and expectations for the weekend. He pointed out that where spiritual opposition is strongest there we will see the greatest breakthrough. I pray and believe that may be so across the Balkans and it certainly felt like there was a battle going on to make sure everyone arrived safely. 2 cars and one motorbike broke down en-route to the gathering, thankfully whilst repairs took a while and were fairly pricey it didn’t stop anyone from getting there. Then on Thursday evening we heard from a carload of Croatians who were stuck at the Serb/Macedonian border and being refused entry! We prayed and a few hours later got the news that they had been allowed through.
As is the way with 24-7 gatherings there was a strong emphasis on hearing from each other and breaking to pray into situations often: We heard about a coffee bar church plant in Greece and church planting amidst the youth of Slovenia, of the struggles of Zagreb as well as the challenges of Skopje. Words of encouragement poured out from older and wiser figures of the movement, from bible smuggler Ian Nicholson, church planter (and bad joke teller) Tommie Naumann as well as the Tall Skinny Kiwi Andrew Jones (who blogged some reflections on the gathering) and underground church pioneer (who having flown in from Vancouver won the award for furthest travelled) Trevor Macpherson. There was of course plenty of time set aside to hang out and get to know one another as well as soak up some of the spiritual history of the ancient lakeside town of Ohrid.
This felt like a significant time for the growing 24-7 Prayer network of friends in the Balkans and several times I caught myself people-watching as co-conspirators from different nations laughed together and listened to each other. This is an isolated corner of Europe and time spent in the company of
like-minded spiritual family is extremely valuable.
I'm left with the reassurance and hope that God is up to something in this volatile corner of Europe. That something is stirring and with our whispered prayers and shouts of encouragement we join with others, with saints and pioneers of the past and continue to pray that the Kingdom of Heaven might truly come and His will really be done on earth.
If you’d like more details about Balkan Connect you can contact Phil Evans or join the Facebook group.
This was originally posted on 30th June and is republished now as part of our end of year roundup of memorable posts from 2010.