Part of our vision is:
•
To raise up a new generation of leaders who will effectively serve in churches, fellowships and the business world with fairness and justice.
In accordance with this we finally launched a Youth Church this past Sunday Evening. This is something we have been talking about for over a year. Our Wednesday youth group has grown to almost double this past year and having services for them on Wednesday evenings (since it is in the middle of the week) gives them very little time to hang out, invite their friends, have music rehearsal, do street evangelism, etc. Our youth are very active in helping prepare and put on the service. They do their own worship, help prepare games, serve refreshments, etc. This is one way our church is endeavoring to prepare the next generation to be leaders.
Another part of our vision is:
•
To actively launch and influence politics, the media, and the business world in the Republic of Croatia by extending and maintaining Biblical morals and ethical principles.
Since Croatia joined the European Union, because of the unfavorable economic situation and political corruption, statistics have shown that about 400,000 Croatian citizens have left the country to seek work elsewhere. This has not only created economic problems for us, but in the smaller rural areas some churches have literally closed their doors and others are close to closing because they have lost so many members. Most of these churches have fought for years to grow- our churches are generally smaller- but now because of economic migration, many have been left with just a handful of members, some have lost their pastors, and others have been left with no one at all.
Because of the present economic situation and the influence of many years under social and communistic rule, many people have issues with understanding economics and finances in general. For the past 8 years we have endeavored to encourage young people to be entrepreneurs, have a proper understanding of economics and finances from a godly perspective. This has really helped the people in our church, and over 70% of our people either own their own businesses, are in high positions of management or work for the government. Encouraging people to invest in themselves and teaching on the biblical perspective of finances can help to bring stability to the remnant in Croatia.
For this reason, I wrote a 300 page book,
“Our Daily Money”
, in which I explain in great detail from a Biblical perspective, work ethic, economics, budget making, saving, and other principles that will help many in Croatia and the Balkan regions to stay and be able to be successful by operating with integrity and using their finances in a godly way. This kind of book has never been written in Croatia and I believe it will be very helpful and a blessing to many, as well as an evangelistic tool for those who are interested in economics. The book is completely ready for print, however we need to pray in the finances for that. Would you be in prayer with us for this need? Our goal is to print 500 copies (the cost for that is
$3200
).
