WHY THE "SHOEBOXES" MINISTRY?

Originally posted on our Facebook ministry group's wall on February 3, 2023

I think I’d already shared with you on several occasions that Montenegro is one of the least reached countries in the world, with an evangelical believer per every 2,000 people (evangelicals make roughly 0.05% of population!). This is the reason why I get so excited to share with you about our activities in the north of Montenegro - an area that makes up 60% of the country with no evangelical presence! 

As I shared in my previous post, at the beginning of January, our team went up to the north for two evangelistic events in two small towns - Murino and Andrijevica. We got there on Tuesday, Jan 3, performed in Murino on Wednesday, Jan 4 and in Andrijevica on Thursday, Jan 5. This operation was the biggest and the most complicated one that we, as National Leadership Team, have done so far. It was the first time we performed/distributed in two locations on a single trip and the first time we had two acting acts as a part of an evangelistic program. Overall, we had around 700 children and their parents attending the program.

People ask me sometimes why I get so excited about the “shoeboxes ministry” and why is our church so heavily involved in it when it is not reaching out to the Roma and Ashkali/Egyptians specifically. There are a couple of reasons for that:

1) Earlier I explained how small the evangelical church in Montenegro is. This implies that our individual outreach efforts are also small and limited in terms of the number of people we can reach. The “shoeboxes ministry” reaches the greatest number of people by far. To illustrate that - 700 people in Montenegro that attended our events equals (proportionally) over 350,000 in the USA. Imagine if there is a ministry in America that reached that many people (in person) over the course of just 2 days! 

2) The “shoeboxes ministry”, like no other, gathers in its ranks Christians from a variety of churches and ministries that are present in Montenegro. This year we had people from 5 different churches and ministries taking part in the project. 

The potential of this ministry to unite Christians over a single cause/project speaks volumes to me. Some time ago, I received from the Lord that the only way Montenegro is going to be reached for Him is through joint, cross-church/ministry-lines selfless efforts of local Christians, whose focus won’t be on building their own ministries (not to say their own kingdoms). Instead, their focus will be on building the Kingdom of God only - with no strings attached! Once I started promoting, or should I say, preaching this, there was no other way but to put my words into practice or should I say - lead by example. Praise God that the need for united, joint efforts was recognized by others, who joined in selflessly and sacrificially. 

3) This ministry, like no other in the country, has the capacity to empower local believers, both the Roma and the non-Roma. The effect it has had on our church is that it gave our members first-hand experience to serve side by side with the non-Roma believers, creating experiences, precious memories, building up the sense of self-worth/value, boosting their confidence and empathy across strict ethnic/racial gap/divide. Shortly, it has taken them mentally and spiritually outside of “their ethnic box”. Same refers to the non-Roma believers who, discouraged by long years of previously futile evangelistic efforts, never believed that evangelicals could accomplish something like that!

Furthermore, serving in this ministry has created a sense of comradeship among men across church lines and it has strengthened the Body of Christ in Montenegro in the most natural, “organic” way. 

There is a lot more that could be said here, but will let you enjoy photos and videos from the two locations (5 performances in total).

Unfortunately, not everything went great! This past week, the event we planned in Gusinje, a Muslim town in the far northeast, got cancelled. Sadly and ironically, it wasn’t cancelled due to Islam, but because of radical secularism that dominates our public institutions. Those in positions of authority didn’t want/were terrified of being connected to any, even slightly “religious activity” and the repercussions it could have on them.

I can’t say that we weren’t affected by their decision, particularly for all the great conversations, connections that were built, informal promises made, as well as time and efforts that we invested in it. However, our “shoeboxes season” is not over yet and we are already looking for a different location and new opportunity to share Gospel. 

Please pray for open doors that won’t be shut, for volunteers’ availability, favor in the eyes of those who yet do not know Him, for wisdom, sensitivity and authority when we speak, for creative ideas, everyone’s selflessness, protection when we travel and generally over all things that could affect us negatively and disrupt our plans. Pray that despite previous successes we do not rely upon ourselves, but that we all keep in sight and in mind that we need Him on every step of the way and that there is nothing good that we can do without Him.