by Heidi, an Alliance worker serving in Europe

Every morning in the winter we play a family game called “Are the mountains there today?” Sometimes we can see the snow-capped peaks of the majestic Sharri Mountains. Oh, those days of glass-blue skies, when we are awed by the immensity and beauty of nature, overwhelmed with gratitude for a God who creates something so imposing yet exquisitely detailed! Those are the days of easy praise.

Then there are the days when the mountains, obscured in a murky mix of low-lying clouds and gray-brown smog, don’t even seem to exist. On those days, it’s easy to get used to not seeing them, easy to forget we live in a basin surrounded by magnificent mountains. In the winter, we sometimes feel as though we live at the bottom of a smoke-filled bowl covered with a lid. We are hidden from what we know is there and find so awe-inspiring.

“Are the mountains there today?” we ask.

Sometimes we need to remember they are still exactly where God put them.

The Slow Climb of Ministry

At times, the spiritual atmosphere in this Balkan country feels like the physical atmosphere. With an evangelical population of less than 1 percent, we sometimes feel as though we live under a heavy spiritual cloud. Yet just like we know the mountains exist on smoggy days, we know God is not only present but is also accessible and powerful. We would love nothing more than to shout it from the mountains.

Our work at a community center in the capital city positions us each day on a bustling street in a low-income neighborhood. Our classes and programs—including an English conversation club, art classes, and a group for moms and littles—bring us in close contact with hundreds of unsaved people every week. Because of your generosity and prayers, we see more and more tweens and teens coming in to play games, do homework, and just hang out. Moms often stay to have coffee while their kids attend programs, and even some dads and grandpas come in. We have several comfortable seating areas for small gatherings. Deeper conversations often happen over a cup of coffee or after games of UNO or chess. In this culture, it takes many cups of coffee or rounds of UNO to get below the surface.

We work hard to be trustworthy, loving, and kind. We make room to be disrupted from our Western, work-focused mindset. We set aside agendas and to-dos so that we are available for a student who asks, “Teacher, are you a Christian? I have some questions”; or for a young mother who confides she’s been struggling with crippling anxiety and needs prayer; or for a new believer who is seeking mentoring. Your faith-filled prayers and giving make these opportunities possible.

Although relationships may be hard to build at times, we are continually encouraged by the way our work is received—like when a teenager says the community center is her “safe place.” Or when an unemployed father asks for a Bible and takes it home in a paper bag to avoid being seen with it on the street. Or when a diaspora college student, home for a visit, finds Jesus abroad and asks for Bibles and books to share Jesus with his childhood friends. The kids who crave attention—even when it comes out sideways—drink in the unconditional love from our team, and they come to know we are different.

Keeping the Mission in Sight

Our mission statement is simple: You Matter. People sometimes ask, “Why are you here? Everyone wants to leave our country, and yet you came. Why?” The answer for us is easy. We want each child, teen, and adult who enters our doors to feel and know they matter to us and to God. We want them to understand they are loved in a way they have never experienced.

Our vision is to be a bridge to the local church. While partnerships can be complex, they are worth the effort. Several small groups from the church meet at the community center, and local believers are our primary source of volunteers and paid staff. For most people here, the center workers and volunteers are the only believers they have ever met. God has blessed us with overflowing programs and lots of new ideas to reach more people.

And people keep coming.

Our strategy to sustain the impact of our work hinges on developing and empowering local leaders and owning property to house our ministries. Leadership recruiting and development can be exhausting—even overwhelming—at times, but as we are stretched to capacity, we keenly feel the need to grow our team. For this to happen, though, we must rely on God to draw more local believers into mission alongside us and to provide more ministry partners who send and sustain new workers through Alliance Missions. We know God is stirring hearts at this very moment to join this work.

What You Can Do

We invite you to prayerfully consider what role God could be calling you to play in the mission to shine God’s light in this Balkan country where so many live under a cloud of despair, worry, and empty religion.

Maybe God is working in you to go. Maybe He wants you to help send more workers or help us fund new projects and acquire property to reach more people in our community with gospel access and tangible expressions of God’s love.

On the hard days, when the sooty smog obscures the mountain right in front of us, we choose to remember our Rock is still here and accomplishing His purposes even when we don’t recognize His work. Faithful ministry partners like you constantly encourage us to look beyond the clouds and smog to what is unseen. Yes, we can trust the mountain is there every day, and that is what fuels us to press on.

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