Category: General

It was a joy to be back in Serbia to teach through the book of Colossians last week.

There is an excellent atmosphere amongst the students and team as they serve, study, share their lives together.

Each day begins with a time of prayer and reflection around a Psalm – a different member of the community takes this each morning…

Following breakfast, studies begin.  Around thirty different teachers take a portion of the Bible each – between them covering all sixty six books in the year’s course!

With Branko from a Serbian church in Zurich, Anastasia from Russia now based in Serbia, Dragan from Montenegro…  representatives of Macedonia, the Rom people group, the Hungarian minority in the North of Serbia: there is a great range of backgrounds represented amongst the eight students!  Each have a key role to play – both in their studies now and as they head out to serve the Lord Jesus in their home areas in two months time.

These study days are punctuated by coffee, meals and practical work around the building – all elements that contribute to the thriving community here.

As well as studies, on Thursdays and Sundays, students and team travel across the region to support former students of the school and other local church initiatives where they also learn a lot personally through these experiences.

The team led by Riste are doing a superb job – deeply aware of their need of God’s help but also of your prayerful partnership, they are serving and inspiring the students…

All of you who receive these bulletins are strategically involved – thank you for being a part of this – we pray and serve on together.

– Andy

Our dear friends, brothers and sisters in Christ,

The fourth week of the 2nd semester at HUB has just finished. It is really wonderful to serve at this place and watch every day how God is preparing the students for His work and how they’re growing in the knowledge of the Word of God and becoming ever more similar to our Lord Jesus. One of our students, Vladimir Vranka, who has spent four weeks altogether at the school, told us, “God brought me to this school. The school is truly God’s work, where He started revealing Himself to me and speaking to me in many situations: through people, studying, worship songs and everything else. I haven’t had a chance to experience it to such an extent before. I see that I’m at the right place and it’s exactly what I wanted. “

Classes at School

Last week, our school was visited for the first time by a guest teacher Mark van Bebber. Mark is from America, but he’s lived and worked in Budapest for 16 years already. He taught The Book of Daniel, a book which always triggers many questions. He was very successful at helping the students understand it.

Practical Day

For many years, an associate and teacher of the Bible school Steve Luibrand, has been conducting the mission of bringing the Gospel into every home in Banat (a province in Serbia) together with the students. Here’s his description of the experience: “About 5 years ago, I began to take students out to do evangelism in the villages around this part of Banat. In people’s mailboxes we put Christian literature, in the back of which there is a card that people can send in and receive a free New Testament and Bible course. We also try to have conversations about God with people on the street. Later, if someone sends in the card, I take a couple students with me to establish a personal contact. We have had many good experiences through this work. Most of all, it helps the students to learn to explain their faith to those who may disagree, to overcome their fears and to rely on God’s strength. Our prayer and hope is that through these contacts, home Bible studies may be started in the villages, many of which have no evangelical church.“

Visit to Church in Parta

This is a fellowship of our former students Nenad and Dusanka Kalaji, as well as Jovana Dima. We were glad to see them close to God and serving in church. Our ex-students are always encouraged when we visit them. They say that, in such a way, they see that we really think of them. All of our students are a part of the big HUB family and are always in our prayers. As apostle Paul put it:

“In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy  because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now,  being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.“ Philippians 1:4-6

Thank you very much for your support and prayers. We wish you every blessing in the Lord.

Riste and the HUB team

Dragi naši prijatelji, braćo i sestre u Hristu,

Završila se i četvrta nedelja drugog semestra u HUB-u.  Stvarno je divno služiti na ovom mestu i svakodnevno gledati kako Bog priprema studente za njegovo delo, kako oni rastu u poznavanju Božije Reči  i postaju sve sličniji našem Gospodu Isusu. Jedan od naših studenata, Vladimir Vranka, kojem je ovo bila četvrta nedelja u školi, rekao nam je sledeće: „Bog me je doveo u ovu školu. Škola je stvarno Božije delo, gde mi se Bog počeo otkrivati i govoriti u mnogim situacijama:  kroz ljude, kroz studiranje, kroz pesme slavljenja i sve ostalo. Nisam imao prilike da to u tolikoj meri ranije doživim. Vidim da sam na pravom mestu i upravo je to ono što sam želeo. “

Predavanja u školi

Prvi put prošle nedelje našu školu je posetio gost predavač Mark van Beber. Mark je iz Amerike, ali već 16 godina živi i radi u Budimpešti. Predavao je Knjigu proroka Danila, koja uvek sa sobom nosi mnoga pitanja. Studentima je knjigu približio na uspešan način.

Praktičan dan

Dugo godina unazad, saradnik i predavač Biblijske škole Stiv Luibrand, zajedno sa studentima sprovodi u delo misiju donošenja evanđelja u svaku kuću u Banatu. Evo kako on opisuje to iskustvo: „Pre oko 5 godina, počeo sam da vodim studente na evangelizaciju po okružnim selima u Banatu. U poštansku sandučad stavljamo hrišćansku literaturu, na poleđini koje se nalazi kartica koju ljudi mogu da pošalju i dobiju besplatan Novi zavet i biblijski kurs. Takođe se trudmo da započnemo razgovore o Bogu sa ljudima na ulici. Kasnije, ako neko pošalje dopisnicu, sa sobom povedem nekoliko studenata da bismo uspostavili lični kontakt. Imali smo mnogo lepih iskustava kroz ovaj rad. To uglavnom pomaže studentima da  nauče da objašnjavaju svoju veru onima koji se sa njom ne slažu, da pobeđuju svoje strahove i da se oslanjaju na Božiju snagu. Naša molitva i nada jeste da se kroz ove kontakte osnuju kućne biblijske grupe u tim selima, od kojih mnoga nemaju  evanđeoske crkve.“

Poseta crkvi u Parti

To je zajednica naših bivših studenata, Nenada i Dušanke Kalaji, kao i Jovane Dime. Drago nam je što vidimo da su blizu Bogu i da služe u crkvi. Naši bivši studenti su uvek ohrabreni kada ih posetimo. Oni kažu da tako vide da zaista mislimo na njih. Svi naši studenti su deo velike HUB-ove porodice i uvek su u našim molitvama. Kao što kaže apostol Pavle:

„U svakoj molitvi za vas uvek se s radošću molim zbog vašeg udela u evanđelju od prvog dana do sada, uveren u ovo: Onaj, koji je u vama započeo dobro delo, dovršiće ga do dana Hrista Isusa.“ Filipljanima 1:4-6

Hvala puno i za vašu podršku i molitve. Želimo vam svaki blagoslov u Gospodu.

Riste i tim HUB-a.