SHOULDER TO SHOULDER #124 ----5/28/00
Posted by: root <root@...>
As We fight The Good Fight
(A letter of Encouragement to People in
Vocational and Lay Ministry)
SHOULDER TO SHOULDER #124 ---- 5/28/00
My Dear Partner in Ministry:
Today I greet you from one of the most famous cities in the world ----
Sarajevo, Bosnia Hercogovina. Jo Ann and I have just concluded five days of
travel with our team of 25 from the United States to Bosnia, originating in
Kansas City, and traveling through Chicago, Amsterdam, Vienna and Zagreb. It
has been a time of long days and sleepless nights, accompanied by new
cultures, time changes, and one day of sight seeing in Vienna for the team.
My letter today is going to be just that ---- a letter from me to you
describing some observations that have been formulating in my heart since we
made our approach into the airport in Sarajevo, surrounded with military radar
installations, vehicles, and armament. Sarejevo is indeed probably one of
the safest cities in the world.
We finally arrived in Sarajevo at 9:00 p.m. Friday ---- minus about ten to
twelve pieces of luggage. Now, in the United States it is usually expected
that you lose luggage because it was missed, routed incorrectly, or misplaced.
However, this was a new one on us. The plane was too small! I suppose I
shouldn't have been surprised when I learned Jo Ann and I were in row 14, and
it was the last row on the plane! So, it should have been no small wonder
when we learned that they just didn't have room for all the luggage.
As is always the case, my heart is touched again by the people, the place, and
the overwhelming problems in this part of the world. I am overjoyed by the
opportunity to be here again and to work with Tomislav and Lidija, and
others. I am indignant over the way so many of us in western countries
continue to squander the resources we have on ourselves with so little care
about the suffering of believers around the world. And how seldom we are
significantly touched and permanently affected by the realities of places such
as Sudan, Indonesia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Serbia, and Ethiopia, or how little we do
to support those believers who do so much with so little.
Prior to the war, Sarajevo had a population of about 700,000. Today, some
five years after the fighting stopped, it is still filled with hulks of burned
and bombed out buildings occupied by about 400,000. While thousands have been
repaired or rebuilt, there are more thousands still standing as they once did
six or seven years ago.
The main tower of the Parliament Building retains its gaping holes caused by
cannon shots and mortar rounds. The center super structure of the newspaper
building remains, gallantly standing unrepaired, as a testimony and officially
declared monument to the world that the voice of freedom could not be stopped
even by the most horrendous bombarding.
A city of 90% Muslim religion, it has an unemployment rate of between 60% and
80%. Now, added to that are tens of thousands of Serbs, Kosovars and
Albanians who have fled there for safety. An enormous challenge faces the
believers of the city and the country of Bosnia Hercogovina as well as other
Balkan countries.
Out of a population of 400,000 in Sarajevo, there are 200 known believers.
There are only 500 known believers in the entire country, making up about 20
small congregations. All the current congregations are less than five years
old.
When Jo Ann and I made our first trip to Croatia in early 1995 while fighting
was still raging in Bosnia, there were only about 4,000 believers in all the
countries of the former Yugoslavia. We praise God that the figures have
greatly increased ---- but the army of the Lord is still tiny in these
nations, and help is constantly needed from those of us who have so much more.
The "Krscanska Baptisticka Crvka" of Sarajevo, pastored by Tomislav Dobutovic
for the past three years, has as its motto on the front of its building "Dom
Molitve Za Sve Narode" ---- "House of Prayer For All The Nations". Though 38
of their 40 members are unemployed, they work hard at living up to their
motto. Moving with "feverish quietness" this little group of people minister
in ways that most of our churches in western countries would never consider.
But of course, our lives have not been blasted into chaos and tragedy ---- so
there is no need for us to get too serious about doing our part in fulfilling
the Great Commission. We're too comfortable, and it's too inconvenient.
So, we spend the next two weeks with a church planted conspicuously in an
international city, with an international call from God. They are ministering
strategically in three areas ---- 1) the life and ministry of the church
itself, 2) major humanitarian work through "Moj Blizni" (meaning "My
Neighbor"), and, 3) a major focus on reaching youth of the city.
Through the life of the church they regularly overflow a small room that will
seat no more than 50 into another room where they use closed circuit T.V. to
broadcast to scores of others. They are also planting new churches, helping
strengthen others, and training believers to be messengers of the Gospel.
Through "Moj Blizni", a multinational Christian humanitarian aid agency of
which Tomislav is Director for Bosnia, they minister monthly to more 5,000
people ---- more than some of our largest churches in America do in a year.
Through their youth ministry they operate a Christian coffee house in the
heart of Sarajevo, hold weekly outreach activities, do "street" and "park"
events of music, entertainment, and preaching, and train their own young
people to build relationships with unbelieving friends.
It is an absolute honor to invest our lives, time, and effort for two weeks
with these people. Following our orientation and team preparation Saturday
morning, we had our first major event ---- a youth meeting at the "Kairos
Center", the church building where they meet for most church activities.
Our team was outstanding, using humor, friendship, worship, and sharing to
break the ice and establish a basis for two weeks of intensive youth
ministry. I wish you could have been there.
Sunday we had incredible experiences conducting services in two churches ----
one in Sarajevo and another that afternoon in Novi Travnik, about an hour and
one half away. Again our team was wonderful, as they did skits, special
musical presentations and shared personal testimonies. It was easy for me to
get up and preach after all they had done.
As we drove through Sarajevo and out into the countryside toward Novi Travnik,
the affects of a war fought over five years ago were evident. We drove
through neighborhoods still lying in ruins from three years of bombardment
from the surrounding mountains. All along the highway to Novi Travnik there
were clusters of houses still standing like dead skeletons of life long gone.
The event made a major impact on our team members. We talked long into the
night Sunday about their revulsion toward it all.
We desperately covet your prayer for us. The schedule for the next two weeks
is astounding. I wonder if Jo Ann and I have the stamina ---- I know the kids
do.
Monday through Wednesday in the mornings we will do major humanitarian aid in
Sokolovic' Kolonija, about an hour from Sarajevo.
Also, Monday evening we will be doing some recreational things with the youth
and having a few hours for sightseeing around Sarajevo. Tuesday afternoon and
evening we will distribute posters for the "Jesus" film. Wednesday we will
show the "Jesus" film at the Kairos Center.
Thursday and Friday mornings we will do major humanitarian aid in Kakanj,
about an hour north of Sarajevo. This is a special experience for Jo Ann and
me because the very first group of people with whom we worked on our first
trip in 1995 had many from Kakanj. We have wanted to go there ever since
then. Thursday evening Jo Ann will be leading a women's evangelistic Bible
study while the rest of us will conduct open air activities in the city park,
preparing for a Friday night youth meeting.
Saturday we take a "break" of sorts, with a day trip with believers and their
unbeliever friends to Skakavac, a major park filled with waterfalls. Jo Ann
and are wondering if it is like Plitvica Lakes National Park in Croatia where
we have gone so often.
Then the following Sunday we'll start another series of events about which
I'll write next week. Let me simply prelude that report by asking that you
remember Jo Ann and me particularly that week as we travel to Tuzla for
special meetings on Sunday and Monday and also as we prepare to teach youth
leaders Monday and Tuesday from across Bosnia Hercogovina from IFES
("International Fellowship of Evangelical Students") on the subject of
forgiveness.
FINALLY:
As I conclude this letter, the thought crosses my mind ----"What does this
have to do with the purpose of "Shoulder to Shoulder", which is to bring
encouragement to fellow ministers?
Well, while I may not be able to fully know the answer, I would hope that you
would be encouraged in the following ways:
1.To thank the Lord for the ministry He has given you, and to never treat it
lightly. Whatever it is to which you have been called of God, it is important
---- just as important as anything Jo Ann and I would ever do.
2.To repent and turn from any form of useless, careless, wasteful, activities
carried out in the name of Christ but yet producing little or no fruit. The
most important thing you will ever do is to allow God to develop an intimate
relationship with you. He's more interested in that than anything you can do
for Him. What you do for Him must flow out of what you have become in Him.
3.To begin finding ways to expand the view your church has, to where it
eventually becomes a genuine "world view" people ---- both in its own
activities, its praying, and its giving and going.
4.To ask God to show you perhaps fresh new ways in which He wants to expand
your own ministry to include the world ---- and least more parts of it.
Well ---- I think that's the sum and substance of what I wanted to write
today. Different though it was, I do hope it blessed and challenged you.
Have a wonderful week discovering what God is doing around you, and then
joining Him in it. And, pray for us! Should you want to write me while I am
gone, address your letters to [email protected]. Put my name in the Subject
line.
In His Bond,
Bob Tolliver
We would love to hear from you ---- prayer requests, insights, etc. Feel
free to drop us a note at <[email protected]>.
If this letter has blessed you and you know of someone else who needs to
be encouraged, feel free to forward it in its entirety to all such people
you know.
If you would like a list of past issues which you could receive upon
request, just let us know. Write <[email protected]>.