<i>Adventists in Serbia have made
meaningful connections with people</i>

<i>through healthy activities.</i>

<i>Health clubs have drawn a lot
of interest from the community.</i>

<i>Groups go hiking, exercise together,</i>

<i>hold health lectures, 
and conduct cooking demonstrations.</i>

<i>If not for these activities,</i>

<i>it’s likely that the participants
might never meet an Adventist</i>

<i>or be exposed to 
the Adventist message.</i>

Here it’s important to
actually build friendships first

and then you can say who you are.

Otherwise they will
reject you from the start.

<i>Personal connection
is how Jesus ministered</i>

<i>when He was on earth.</i>

<i>So these church members
are following His lead</i>

<i>by implementing Christ’s
method of ministry.</i>

<i>This is key to building relationships,</i>

<i>especially in the growing
cities like Belgrade</i>

<i>where people tend to stay focused 
on their own busy lives.</i>

This is a community
that lives in big buildings.

There are a lot of skyscrapers here

that has a lot of people there.

It’s a very, very big area 
to actually outreach to.

There are a lot of people
who actually live here

and don’t know anything about God.

They are not that religious.

People don’t want to
learn and search for God,

because they live in that kind of society.

Now, no one wants to know about God.

So, it’s hard to actually
talk about it with people

who don't know or want 
to know about God.

That’s the challenge here.

I mean, it is a secular country.

<i>Just a few years ago,</i>

<i>the area known as Novi Belgrade 
had no Adventist church.</i>

<i>Any time church members who lived
in this part of the city wanted to gather,</i>

<i>they had to travel far to
get to the nearest church.</i>

<i>In 2020,</i>

<i>a portion of your 13th Sabbath Offering 
helped establish a church</i>

<i>in Novi Belgrade!</i>

<i>They were able to get
a space with two levels</i>

<i>and are in the process 
of renovating the lower level</i>

<i>to be an urban center of influence!</i>

It means a lot to us,

because we have our own services,

we can invite friends.

The facility is very good,

and we are very grateful to God 
that it has two levels.

The upper one, where we are now,

where the services are held,

and the lower part,

which is very convenient
for various activities.

This is going to be a center of influence,

and we are going to have 
the health clubs here.

We are going to teach people
how to cook healthy food

and maybe some kind of crafts.

There are a lot of people
here who like crafts,

like making soaps 
from healthy ingredients,

as well as decoupage and quilting as well.

<i>Your contributions to
the 13th Sabbath Offering</i>

<i>have already been received with gratitude.</i>

<i>The new space feels like home 
to this congregation,</i>

<i>and hopefully, it will allow them to grow.</i>

I am very grateful 
to those that helped us,

all the brothers and sisters
from all over the world,

because this is a big municipality 
where we are

and where our church was not.

Believe that we have prayed 
for over 20 years.

We have prayed to have this church,

and that’s why we are also
ready to give our offerings

to those who also need
to have their own church.

I have so much gratitude.

Thank you.

I’m grateful to God

that He gave those people
the will to actually give,

and that He inspired them to give.

That tells us we actually have to work

and to justify what we already got.

And that we have actually 
prayed for God

to actually use us where we are 
to fill this building,

so we have to find another one.

<i>Please pray for this church</i>

<i>as they soon open an urban center
of influence in a new part of Belgrade.</i>

<i>Thank you for giving to 
the 13th Sabbath Offering in 2020</i>

<i>and making this congregation’s
dream become reality!</i>