March 6-8, 2024 Paestum/Capaccio (SA), Italy More details soon! Stay tuned! www.pef.eu
IMPACT MONTENEGRO 2017
On July 2-9, Impact Montenegro took place in 7 different cities of this small and beautiful nation, namely in Podgorica (the capital), Tuzi, Niksic, Bar, Budva, Kotor, and Ulcinj.
This summer outreach, conducted under the auspices of the Pentecostal European Fellowship (PEF), was defined by local leaders as being historical.
Before dispatching the teams in the various cities, training and prayer sessions were held at the University Hall in Podgorica, featuring inspirational messages by PEF Chairman Pelle Hornmark (Sweden), PEF Executive Director Daniel Costanza (Belgium) and Tom Benigas (USA) as well as practical workshops with Veera Hug (Finland), Markku Ovaska (Finland) and Stefan Ross (Germany).
Beside the natural beauty of this country (with a total population of only 600.000 people), our IM17 teams were struck by its extreme spiritual poverty (the Evangelical presence is estimated at ca. 150 people), making Montenegro the least evangelized country of Europe.
Clearly, this outreach was an opportunity to “clear the land” in a spiritually dry ground. The people were usually quite cold, indifferent, and difficult to approach. In spite of a rather hostile climate, the Lord touched many hearts, including Muslims in the Albanian-speaking areas.
Here are a few praise reports:
1) Unity and cooperation among the 6 pastors/missionaries in Montenegro working under the umbrella of PEF.
2) Dynamic teams (about 150 volunteers) from 11 countries of Europe, including Belgium, Finland, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, and also the USA.
3) Fraternal cooperation between teams from the Balkans, precisely Albania, Croatia, Kosovo and Serbia.
4) Favor with the cities’ authorities in the 7 towns covered.
5) A prevailing spirit of intercession for this nation, which will usher into more teams returning there in the future.
6) Hundreds of significant conversations and contacts which will now be followed up the local pastors/missionaries.
7) Great encouragement for the local believers and leaders as well as new connections that will be beneficial for future projects in Montenegro.
The climax of this outreach week was the open air evangelistic concert held on Saturday night in one of the main squares of Podgorica, where hundreds of people had an opportunity to hear the Gospel through music, drama, testimonies and personal contacts.
While everyone felt Montenegro will need our continued prayers and help in the future, participants rejoiced in hearing the announcement about next year’s summer outreach, IMPACT KOSOVO 2018 on July 9-15) in cooperation with Jesus Revolution.
Daniel Costanza,
IM17 Coordinator