October News - Supporter Conference, God's Blessings + TENteams
We hope you're enjoying the beautiful colours of autumn and keeping well. Thank you for all your support and for opening this email. We hope you are encouraged and inspired by what you read.
Here's what's coming up in our October news:
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Supporter Conference 2025 - Early Bird tickets are available now!
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Churches Come Together in Montenegro - Ursa Curcic writes about a new alliance of churches and hope for the future.
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ANA Conference in North Macedonia - Main speaker, Vesna Puzderlieva shares how she encouraged women to Arise & Shine!
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TENteams 2025 - Get involved with one of next year's short-term trips.
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Essential Gifts - Something a little different for Christmas or birthday? These gifts will bless people in Eastern Europe and the Balkans.
Blessings
Banner Photo: Podgorica, Montenegro |
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Supporter Conference 2025 - Early Bird Tickets
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We hope you can join us next year to celebrate 60 years of Eurovangelism (now Transform Europe Network) at our Supporter Conference. You can purchase Early Bird tickets until 31 December (date inclusive).
We will be joined, in person, by TEN partners Tedi and Did Oprenovi (Bulgaria) and Leonora Maloku (Kosovo). Emil and Vesna Puzderlievi (North Macedonia) and Boris and Ursa Curcic (Montenegro) will share with us via video.
Standard tickets are £25 each, but you can purchase them for the Early Bird price of £20 each until the new year. Your ticket also includes a complimentary light lunch. Refreshments will be available throughout the day, free of charge.
We hope you can join us on Saturday 29 March to give thanks together for all God has done through you and our partners over 60 years. We look forward to where God will lead us in the future.
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Churches Come Together in Montenegro
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By Ursa Curcic - Christ Gospel Church, Podgorica, Montenegro
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Christ Gospel Church was the first registered church in Montenegro in 1996. Pastor Jovica Bacvanski was the leader of this church for 25 years. Most of the believers were foreigners with just a few domestic believers. Soon, divisions between believers happened, leaving many feeling wounded. This impacted an already difficult atmosphere in an Orthodox-Muslim environment.
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We are the first generation that testifies to changes in the spiritual ambience in Montenegro. We started with monthly prayer meetings of all evangelical believers from different churches, mutual forgiveness and joint cooperation. We all felt that the disagreements and tensions were big obstacles in reaching souls in Montenegro.
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Recently, leaders from seven registered churches formed an alliance of Protestant Evangelical churches. This is the first alliance ever established in Montenegro. It represents Christ's body in relationship with and recognised by the government. As we worked on this alliance, God worked in our relationships with each other. This is actually the best part; the love and respect that grew between us.
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We live in a country where being a Christian is equal to being a sect. Anything except Orthodox beliefs are a sect here. It is very hard to evangelise Montenegrins. They're not open for it. We see young people are more open so there is a hope for Montenegro. But most of all we have hope because we did what God asked from us. We forgave each other and we believe that now God is able to glorify Himself through his Church.
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ANA Conference in North Macedonia
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By Vesna Puzderlieva - Struga Evangelical Church, North Macedonia
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Arise and Shine, was the theme of the ninth ANA Women’s Conference, held this month in Struga, Macedonia. Everything, from the worship, testimonies, preaching, prayers and fellowship, was beautifully led by the Spirit of God. I considered it a huge privilege to speak at the conference. My message focused on ‘Arise’ and ‘Shine’:
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Rise – arise from all the things that kept you down for so long: fear and anxiety, guilt and shame, insecurity and negativity, despair and pain, demonstrated by the biblical examples of women and my personal life experiences.
Shine – be a lighthouse of hope, a beacon that points to the only One that can save; be the Samaritan woman. Bring out the God-colours in the world; be Tabitha. Share the gospel and be a light in this world lost in darkness; be Phoebe, whose name actually means ‘radiant one’.
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We all arrived overwhelmed and a bit hardened with life. But we left feeling heard, seen, softened, nurtured, renewed, empowered and encouraged to make the next step on our personal paths.
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You can read more about the ANA Conference in our January edition of Connect Magazine - we hope you're enjoying our October edition! |
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We're gearing up for TENteams in 2025 - our short-term team trips to the Balkans to support our partners in their ministries. Here's what you can get involved with:
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Pogradec, Albania - Women's Team
6-13 May
This trip focuses on women’s ministry within local towns and villages. You'll help lead Bible studies, share testimonies, lead devotionals, and support the children's work.
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Struga, North Macedonia
6-13 May
This trip focuses on evangelism. You will also help run a cultural event, facilitate Bible studies, and the sharing of testimonies and devotionals.
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Camp Fokus, Croatia
July - dates to be confirmed
Join us for a hands-on trip where you'll assist a church in leading a summer camp for children. You'll have the chance to run games and activities, help with cooking and cleanup, and even share your testimony!
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If you would like to join a TENteam, or if you're considering if you or your church could visit and support a TEN partner, get in touch with Lucy Reid. |
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With Christmas not too far away, we've launched our latest Essential Gifts catalogue.
Each Essential Gift enables you to buy a gift on behalf of a friend and directly bless a person in Eastern Europe and the Balkans with a gift that truly makes a difference to their lives.
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There are three categories of gift - Compassion, Education and Sustainability. Take a look to discover more!
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Thank you so much for your support. We hope you are encouraged and inspired - you really make a difference.
Be blessed!
The TEN team.
Posted: October 2024