It was good to hear from another Christian, Jack Murray, who appears in God’s Secret Listener and who now lives in California.
Jack was very involved in helping the Albanian church once the country had opened up its borders to the rest of the world in 1991 when he was then European Christian Mission international director.
In October 1991 Christians decided one of the ways to help the new church was to form an umbrella organisation, which they called the Albanian Encouragement Project, to encourage the Albanian Christians to plant churches and to help them grow.
The first chairman of the Albanian Encouragement Project was Jack Murray, who spent one week in every three months for three years in Tirana developing the project.
Also to provide teaching for the new Albanian church leaders the European Christian Mission, together with the Ancient World Outreach and Greater Europe Mission, started up the Albanian Bible Institute, pictured below.
In the summer of 1994 it moved to a permanent base at Durres, where one of the first ABI students was Berti Dosti.
Now Jack writes in October 2011: “Of all the countries where I was privileged to serve either preaching, teaching, or providing leadership, Italy and Albania stand out above the others.
“Let me share news first of all from Albania. I'm quoting from the newsletter of Shirley, who used to be my secretary.
“She writes about the 15th anniversary of the Albanian Bible Institute. ‘It was a blessing. It was a great encouragement to see all the students who had studied there over the years and who are in many cases in a pastoral position or leadership role in the Albanian church’.
“I remember the day when we dedicated the school, and I brought the dedicatory message. My former ECM colleague, Will Nevin, who also appears in God’s Secret Listener, is now the chairman of the board, and Shirley herself is the secretary.
“Shirley also said that the annual conference of the AEP (Albanian Encouragement Project) would take place in Moldova in Montenegro from October 25-29.
“This again stirred up memories when, for the first three years of the life of this organisation, I travelled into Albania every three months and chaired the meetings.”
Jack concluded by encouraging his friends to phone him on the American number 530-432-7872, or email jmmissions@gmail.com
There’s more details about Jack’s story, the Albanian Bible Institute and the Albanian Encouragement Project in God’s Secret Listener. To buy a signed copy email John@jbutterworth.plus.com
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