News from Serbian Worship Musician, Dario…

Dario’s CD project

I was thinking about the messages in songs I have written and all of this encouraged me to take some concrete steps concerning recording of my CD.  I feel that now is the time.  Together with Igor Kis, friend, musician and music producer from another church we have made first pilot recording this week . When I sung to him my latest song he was excited and immediately had an idea of how the song should sound. My plan is to record at the same time both Serbian and English version of my songs.

Please pray for this project…

My hope and desire is that by promoting this CD, I will have a chance to visit many churches in region, encourage believers, organize evangelism meetings, meet leaders who are in worship ministry and build a network of leaders for future school of worship, and some other projects.

To read much more from Dario, including news of the growing church, please click here to read his full letter:  Dario’s News Letter Summer 2010

News from Drago and Jaroslava…

We are grateful for the opportunity to share with you the events from our life and ministry that has been trusted to us by our Lord Jesus Christ.

We have wonderful news!

On 3rd July Jaroslava gave birth to a baby boy. His name is Boris. We are thankful to God for such a great blessing. Also, we are very grateful to all those who encouraged us and pray for Jaroslava and me. 

Serving in the church in Sremska Mitrovica and Establishing a new church in Ruma:

Over this last months I preached many times in Ruma and Sremska Mitrovica and prepared 12 people for baptism through a set of  lectures.   

On 18. July 14 new believers from Sremska Mitrovica, Ruma and Belgrade have been baptized in river Sava in Sremska Mitrovica. We are encouraged by seeing how Christ transformed the lives of our brothers and sisters in Christ and hove He multiplies our Christian family.

Milan, one of the people who have been baptized said: “I am happy to leave behind my old life and all bad things. I trust that my future will be filled with good things!”

 

I’ve also been leading prayer meetings on Tuesdays in Sremska Mitrovica and helped the new believers from Ruma to become regular part of our prayer  meetings.

Of course there is also a lot of work individual time spent with new believers – for example meeting with and spiritual counselling a lad who has been for five months in the process of drug rehabilitation.

A new Church building?

Unfortunately we could not reach the agreement with the owner of  the  house about renting the house for our church. However, not long after that we have been encouraged by the municipality officials to submit a request in which we ask city to provide space for the church. Right now, we are prayng while waiting to hear back about our request.

A Christian Concert:

On 2.May we organized evangelization evening in Sremska Mitrovica. Between 40 and 50 people from Sremska Mitrovica, Ruma and Sid came to this event. We organized concert of Christian music, and shared the good news about Jesus Christ with the visitors.

Over these next weeks…

…we will continue with our regular church activities and our work with people.  In September we will start with Alpha course in Ruma and Sremska Mitrovica on which we will invite our friends and their families.  August will be the month of preparation and prayer for this coming event.

We would like to thank for the support you have shown to us and all your prayers. Please keep us in your prayers as we continue our work.

Prayer requests:

  • Please pray that God strengthen and spread His Word and establish His church in Ruma.
  • Please pray for a church building.
  • Please pray for people to be changed and touched by God in Alpha course in Ruma and Sremska Mitrovica.

 We are thankful to our God Jesus Christ for the privilege to be part of His great work.

                     Yours in Christ.

                                                   Drago and Jaroslava

 “ Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” John 17:3

HUB Prayer Bulletin Summer 2010 – the Latest News from the Bible School

Fourteenth Generation Graduates!

 

The latest prayer-fuelling bulletin from HUB is released!

The graduates of the fourteenth generation of the Bible School are now in cities, towns and villages across the Balkans.  They are running children’s clubs, supporting their home churches, talking to neighbours…  

There’s more to read in the new prayer bulletin – written just before the Oak Hall group reached Belgrade, it’s full of the exciting plans that the team have for the summer… 

Please click here: HUB Prayer Bulletin – July 2010  – feel free to print and send this on to others… 

It would be great if you could “subscribe” to this blog!

We are slowly going to phase out using regular e-mails and rely more and more on the blog.  To receive all of the latest news , it would be wonderful if you could make sure that you are “subscribed” – all that is needed is to type your e-mail address into the top right hand corner of the www.OakHall.org.uk home page.  You can then easily manage your subscription simply through a click or two! 

Please read on…

Just in case you haven’t yet – to catch a glimpse of the recent massive Oak Hall journey through the Balkans, read on down below this post on the blog… we’d be delighted if you could join us next time! 

We praise God for your prayerful partnership!

Goodbye Nis!

After an evening of playing football with some of Nis’ welcoming and generous teenagers, we slept a last short, sweet night in our Oak Hall tents.

At 5:30, the “wakeup committee” launched us into a speedy packdown. With warm goodbyes and prayer we left our friends from the city…

We’re now on the road – cutting through the 41 hour journey before us. The coach is filled with great company, music, some newly invented games and much to talk about…

Right now we are approaching Belgrade…

Here is a photo of some of our new friends from Nis – “Come back soon!” – their parting words. We’d love to.

“Somebody knows we are here…”

“You came back. You said you would.”
– Milos

“By coming all this way across Europe, you make us feel like we exist – somebody knows we are here”
– Mira as we left this afternoon.

“We had to leave Kosovo in 1999. We were put in a city sports hall to live. In 2002 we moved here to these temporary houses. We are still here but hope to have homes soon…”
– Dragana, 13 years old and addressing all of us with poise and maturity – she has lived as a refugee since she was 2.

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
– Romans 5:8 – the verse we read and thought over together as we stood in front of the refugee homes.

“Your faithfulness surrounds my soul and Your mercy lifts my head… Hallelujah to the King of Grace.”
– Anna singing a Paul Oakley song to all 150 of us.

An unfinished primary school filled with refugees.

The primary school building was left half-built after the refugees were assigned there. The windows were left uninstalled and the road remained a mud track.

Refugees from this camp are slowly assimilating into the surrounding society but still around 75 call this building “home for now”. There are windows now but not much else had changed – cardboard partitions and unfinished plumbing.

Having walked across the fields we reached the camp…

Here are Neil and Jackie painting a child’s face…

Sunday in Nis

It’s been a differently-paced day: a “Sunday-pace” here in Nis… time to be with local people, hear their stories, explore some of the rich history here…

We travelled to Niska Banja – famous for its radon-infused hot springs – some dipped in their feet, the most courageous swam…  We wondered whether any of the group would glow after this exposure!

Using a hotel conference room lent to us for an hour by a friend in Niska Banja we heard more from Darko and Lidija about the strategic work that they do as directors of the work of CEF here in Serbia.  This summer they plan five camps for children as well as a month-long “institute” for those who are training to work with children…

“There are many needs in Serbia – what we need is trained workers here.  Please pray for this!”

In the afternoon we explored the city of Nis and in the evening returned to our makeshift camp at the school… again many local residents joined us – first for a meeting in the sports hall, then for hot chocolate and some games of basket ball.

For the last hour of the evening, we have been working to prepare packages for the four refugee camps that we ambitiously plan to visit tomorrow.

It’s going to be a massive day – we hope to be on the road at 8:30am and we will return around 9 in the evening having driven around 300 kms on small roads down through the corridor between Kosovo and Bulgaria.  Although we have visited these camps before, we have never taken an Oak Hall coach this far south.

There are hundreds of people in these camps – again forgotten by most of the population as well as by the international community.

We will try to keep you posted as tomorrow unfolds – greetings from us all!

Leaving the Bible School and heading to a hidden Romany Village

After warm farewells, this Saturday morning, we left Belgrade and “comfort” of the Bible School to travel into the centre of Belgrade.  Rather than visiting the “standard” tourist sights, we met Dragan – a Rom from the central city of Arandjelovac.

As we drove together, he told us how in 1999, aware of a personal need for forgiveness and aware of his own vulunerability magnified by the bombing, he found refuge in a friend’s house.  These friends walk with Jesus and through what they shared, Dragan and his wife committed their lives into the hands of Lord Jesus Christ.

Since then, Dragan and Danijela have been joyfully sharing about what God has done in their lives with others from Romany communities across Serbia.

Romany people are viewed as outcasts in this society.  They often live in makeshift homes made out of nothing more than reclaimed junk.  A living made by recycling rubbish they pull out of containers, ignored and often despised by the rest of the population – this is not an easy existence.  The Romany people have their own language and trace their ancestory back to North India – both their colouring and their language carry hints of the Indian culture.

This morning, Dragan brought us to a makeshift settlement where he and Danijela have been working for a number of years.  The welcome we received was immense with drinks, smiles and laughter.

Those in the settlement were very keen to sing to us new songs that they have written about their new found faith in Jesus Christ – “the One whom their hearts longed” as one song explained.

I think for some of us, this has been one of the most moving visits so far.  It has put on many of our hearts a keenness to find ways we can help the Romany community in Serbia and across this region, it has deepened our respect for this people group.  It has also given us an insight into the amazing work that Dragan and Danijela are doing.  Most of all it has shown us the dignity, vibrancy and life that comes to a person, a family, a community as they trust their lives into the hands of Jesus Christ.

We drive on now towards Nis…

25/08/10 – The Story Continues…

It’s two months since our coach left the Romany settlement here in the centre of Belgrade…

Wonderful things continued to happen the day that we visited…  One of the men who is a “patriarch” of this community that day realised his own need for a saviour and trusted his life into the hands of Jesus Christ – the One who has died personally for him…  This will have a great impact on this community.

Dragan, Danijela and Nesa delightedly shared this news with us by text as we drove south…  We praise God with them.

A “Chance” Meeting on the Motorway – a Family Takes a Massive Step of Faith.

Driving down the main highway between Belgrade and Nis, we suddenly see a figure standing in the hard shoulder.  He’s waving his arms as though trying to land a helicopter.  As the bus flies pass, we catch a glimpse of the face of Jovica – graduate of the Bible School.

Moments later, his car is beside us and he signals through the window.  We agree to pull over at the next service station…

Standing on the verge beside the coach, all of us listen as he is translated through the coach microphone.  Kaca – his wife – stands beside him along with their children.  We are amazed to hear that this is the day his family, after a lifetime of living in the relative comfort of the North, are taking the massive step of moving to the spiritually barren South to help to plant a church.

Jovica and Kaca – several years earlier – studied for a year at the Bible College.  The course takes students through the whole of the Bible in a year and is very practical – our prayer is that through it, men and women will grow in their knowledge of God and be prepared by Him to reach their communities.  (Read more about it at www.OakHall.org.uk on the links at the top of the pages…)

With deep emotion, Jovica and his family listen to our prayers for them all.  Jovica, Kaca and the children seem deeply encouraged that God should arrange for this meeting.  It is the one day that an Oak Hall coach is travelling down this road – it coincides with the one most momentous day that this family ventures to take this massive step of faith…

“God arranged this!” 

As we drive on, we acknowledge God’s hand on this meeting – and our responsibility to pray for them…