Adventists in Serbia have made meaningful connections with people
through healthy activities.
Health clubs have drawn a lot of interest from the community.
Groups go hiking, exercise together,
hold health lectures, and conduct cooking demonstrations.
If not for these activities,
it’s likely that the participants might never meet an Adventist
or be exposed to the Adventist message.
Here it’s important to actually build the friendship first
and then you can say who you are.
Otherwise they will reject you from the start.
Personal connection is how Jesus ministered
when He was on Earth.
So these church members are following His lead
by implementing Christ’s method of ministry.
This is the key to building relationships,
especially in the growing cities like Belgrade
where people tend to stay focused on their own busy lives.
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 we 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 don't even want to know about God.
That’s the challenge here.
I mean, it is a secular country.
Just a few years ago,
the area known as Novi Belgrade had no Adventist church.
Any time church members who lived in this part of the city wanted to gather,
they had to travel far to get to the nearest church.
In 2020,
a portion of your 13th Sabbath Offering helped establish a church
in Novi Belgrade!
They were able to get a space with two levels
and are in the process of renovating the lower level
to be an urban center of influence!
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 convenient for various activities.
This is going to be a center of influence.
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 as well
because there are a lot of people here that like crafts,
like making soaps from healthy ingredients,
as well as decoupage and quilting as well.
Your contributions to the 13th Sabbath Offering
have already been received with gratitude.
The new space feels like home to this congregation,
and hopefully, it will allow them to grow.
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 actually tells us that we have to work
and to justify what we've got,
and that we have to actually pray for God
to actually use us where we are, and to fill this building
so that we have to find another one.
Please pray for this church
as they soon open an urban center of influence in a new part of Belgrade.
Thank you for giving to the 13th Sabbath Offering in 2020
and making this congregation’s dream become reality!