Guidelines Team members recently returned from a rewarding and rigorous trip to Albania and Macedonia. Through 13 days of ministry, Bonnie Sala, Guidelines President/CEO, spoke at 5 women’s conferences, met with several radio partners, and taped hours of radio and TV interviews for broadcast there.
It’s complicated. Nowhere in the world does that phrase apply more, than to the Balkans. The Balkans are made up of 12 countries that were once all provinces of the Ottoman empire. Over a dozen different ethnic groups have lived in this region for centuries with no real peace. Hostilities remain strong today. If there’s a place where only the gospel will heal and where it’s important to hear the gospel in one’s own language, it’s there.
In Macedonia, the Team visited the station that Guidelines supporters helped plant in 2019—the first Christian radio station in the country. The station broadcasts in two different languages—in Albanian and in Macedonian. It sits in the middle of a Muslim city where the staff, who are Christian, work from home as they are too afraid to come into the station. The local station reaches a broad audience by airing news, sports, Christian music, and the only spoken-word gospel program is Guidelines. Local feedback in this unreached part of the world tells us our short-form practical Biblical devotions are very effective.
In Albania, both ministries we partner with have been under threat of having their licenses taken by the government. The licensing authority has fined them and said that their licenses will be taken if they refuse to put a Muslim leader on their stations. Much prayer is taking place, and at present, the government seems to have turned its attention elsewhere.
Our partners are among the first and the few followers of Jesus—making up only .6% of the population. The Guidelines Team saw firsthand how they face oppression, attack, and illness daily, yet continue to have a ferocious faith.
Guidelines is so thankful for having had the opportunity to spend time with our partners face to face, listening to them, praying with them, and encouraging them. Please join us in prayer for our radio partners as they pay a high price daily for their efforts to be the voice of hope in the Balkans.