Posted on

Floods in Serbia

Even small things can make a difference!

It’s always horrible to hear about natural disasters, still most of us probably think that such things won’t happen to us, to our country. However, nature is an uncontrollable and unpredictable force.

No one was left untouched by the news of recent floods and the subsequent losses  in Serbia, so a couple of churches in Vojvodina(Pacir, Backa Topola, Subotica, Cantavir) have decided to gather and get relief supplies to flood victims in Šabac,Serbia.
On the 26th of May we set out in a van packed with food , drinking water and personal hygiene products.

We went to Šabac to meet with the pastor of the local church. He directed us2 to go to families who were affected by the floods the most. We were excited to bless them financially and  spiritually as well. It seemed that they needed words of encouragement more than anything else.

Posted on

Massive flooding in Serbia and Bosnia

Over the last few days there has been massive flooding in Serbia and Bosnia.

Some have been killed and thousands have had to leave their homes. Graduates, students, former Bible School team, their friends and churches have also been heavily impacted by the floods.

Sinisa in northern Bosnia explained yesterday, “It is a catastrophe here. I am in a village near Banja Luka helping with the clean up.”

Sladjan, leading the Bible School said today, “This is a tragedy on the scale of the aftermath of a war – may our people seek after God at this terrible time…”

Kreso in central Serbia said today, “The ground floor of our home has been under 1.5m of water. The water is receding to leave everything caked in mud. Many of our neighbours are in great difficulty…”

Sasko and Ira explained, “We would like to… provide the families with the basic things that will help them go back to normal life again, but even more importantly, our hope is to continue visiting these families and share the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ with them.”

We are going to prepare a fund to send to those helping those caught up in the floods in Serbia and Bosnia.  As is our usual practice, all of the gifts that we receive will go in their entirety out to the Balkans to be used  by those on the front-lines.

We will divide any gifts received between the following groups to use in relief work:

  • BANJA LUKA (Northern Bosnia) – Sinisa and Olja – Banja Luka Christian Fellowship
  • SARAJEVO (Central Bosnia) – Slavko – Evangelical Churches of BiH
  • HUB (Belgrade – connected across the region) – Sladjan and Jaroslava and the Bible School team
  • BELGRADE (Serbia Capital) – Sasko and Ira – International Church, Belgrade
  • BELGRADE (with interest across the rest of the country) – Dane & Ondrej – Baptist Union of Serbia
  • NOVI SAD (Northern Serbia) – Danny and Vera – Novi Sad Christian Fellowship

Please pray on for those caught up in these floods and for all of those seeking to serve their neighbours and point to the Lord Jesus.

– Andy and Faye Mayo

www.OakHall.org.uk

Please use this link to reach details of how to give.  Please reference your gift, “flooding”.

BiH landslide
BiH flooding – map
Posted on

CHURCH AS IT WAS MEANT TO BE

HURCH AS IT WAS MEANT TO BE
I just returned from our weekly house group Bible study, but this was much different than ever before.

Tonight, an extremely poor family hosted the Bible study group. Please understand that when I say a “poor family,” I mean extremely poor. They have no beds on which to sleep. They have no chairs on which to sit. They have no electricity to light the room. What they have, however, is an passion about being part of the Body of Christ and an excitement to gather with believers in their home to study the Word of God!
This family spent all week preparing a room for tonight’s study. They cleaned the room. They painted the walls. They bought candles for light. And tonight, seven of us sat on the floor in this very special room, bathed in candle light, and rejoiced together as we studied Mark 4.

We didn’t need comfort. We didn’t even need light bulbs. We had a special gift from the Lord…fellowship and His presence!
Church as it was meant to be…

Posted on

NEWS FROM THE HUB BIBLE SCHOOL 07/02/2014

Dear friends,

DSC_0328It is amazing how time flies. Week four has already started, and it seems like yesterday that we started our second term. Intense Bible study, fellowship and serving to others make time in school pass unnoticeably. The students are glad that they can be at a place like HUB, where they can receive these blessings.

Students’ practical days in the past two weeks In the past two weeks.

For their practical days, the students have done many activities: they gave out the New Testaments and shared the Gospel in Belgrade downtown, visited families with disabled children and a Nursing Home for Adult Disabled People in Belgrade. They also visited an elderly sister who is not able to go to church, gave out tracts to all the homes in Alibunar, participated in Youth meetings at Pentecostal church in Pancevo and visited “Duga”, the rehab center for drug addicts in Novi Sad. We are thankful to God that He opens the doors for us to be used together with the students to His glory.

Serving to churches We rejoice that we can be a blessing to churches in this way.

Visits and serving to churches every week are some of the important kinds of our ministry. Within these couple of weeks we have visited the Protestant Christian Fellowship in Temerin, the Church of God and the 2nd Baptist church in Belgrade, as well as a new founded church in Novi Belgrade. Every week, a few of us go to participate in a small group in Titel. Please pray that this ministry, given to us by God, would advance in spreading the Kingdom of God in Serbia and the Balkans.

Thank you for being with us.

Posted on

New doors opened

It’s so amazing to see God pour out His grace and blessings. I can see His hands guiding and directing me in all my ways. He is always faithful!

REACHING YOUTH
Two weeks ago, we held our first junior high-aged youth meeting and had a great turn out. Our desire through the party was to build connections and get to know each other better. I was excited that some youth from last summer’s evangelistic English camp came! I have wanted to work more with these teens for a long time…kids classes are boring for them, but they don’t understand much of the preaching and Bible studies for adults.
Please keep me in your prayers to be committed and wise in this ministry, and also to love these young people with God’s love…they need it so much.

STUDYING HIS WORD
In January, we started home groups for the church I pastor in Pacir. There are now about 16 people meeting weekly in three homes to study God’s Word, including a few who are not from church! It is exciting to see people learning, and growing closer to our Lord.
Thank you so much for praying with us for the church in Pacir. God is working!

Posted on

NEWS FROM THE HUB BIBLE SCHOOL 01/22/2014

P1040676Dear friends, brothers and sisters in Christ,

By God’s grace, the second term has begun in the Bible school. The students have been eagerly awaiting to come back to school after the break, in order to continue studying the Bible intensely, spend time with each other and prepare for what God has in store for them. We have two new students from Serbia who have joined us from this term, so we have a great group of students. It is such a privilege to be a part of their lives which we can invest in and watch as God is changing them and preparing for mission, to His glory.

The term finishes at the end of March. In the course of this term only, we will have had about 20 teachers who come from all over the world.They will be taking the students through the Bible books.

Thank you for praying for and supporting this ministry. God is great and we see it every day!

Posted on

VESTI IZ HUB-a BIBLIJSKE ŠKOLE ZA 22.01.2014.

P1040676Dragi prijatelji, braćo i sestre u Hristu,

Po Božijoj milosti, počeo je drugi semestra u HUB Biblijskoj školi. Studenti su željno čekali da se vrate u školu posle pauze, da bi mogli da nastave intenzivno da proučavaju Bibliju, druže se i opremaju za ono što Bog ima za njih dalje.

Od ovog semestra nam se priključilo još dvoje novih studenata iz Srbije, tako da imamo zaista odličnu grupu studenata. Velika je privilegija biti deo njihovih života u koje možemo ulagati i gledati kako ih Bog menja i priprema za misiju, sebi na slavu. Semestar traje do kraja marta i samo u ovom vremenu imamo oko 20 predavača koji nam dolaze iz svih krajeva sveta i oni će studente voditi kroz biblijske knige.

Hvala što se molite i podržavate ovu službu. Bog je veliki i vidimo to svakod dana!