Project: Evangelical

“First of all let me thank Gospel Light Worldwide in the name of the Albanian staff of YBC [Youth Bible Curriculum] project in the Evangelical Alliance of Albania office. You have been a real blessing to us, especially with your huge help with the materials of the curriculum. You have been always ready to help us in every moment. Ditjon, our talented designer told me about your will to help our work. We believe that very soon Albanian kids will have the greatest material ever in their language! An important role in this project has also been our close partner organization: World Vision/Albania. As one part of the work is going well, we want to do the best even in promoting and distributing YBC. Our goal is that every church in Albania will be using the YBC curriculum.”

Program: Youth Bible Curriculum in Albania and Armenia
Language: English

Recently World Vision, our ministry partner in Albania and Armenia, produced a brief documentary recording the progress of our cross cultural collaboration with the Orthodox Church.

Gospel Light Worldwide and World Vision International are currently working together in Albania, Armenia, Bosnia Lebanon, Georgia, and Romania. As Jesus Christ said in Matthew 19:14, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for such is the Kingdom of Heaven.”

A grandmother and her son remember the spiritual and social poverty of Albania’s past and contrast it with the joy and regeneration the Youth Bible Curriculum (YBC) program is bringing to not only children, but also their families. They give testimony to the success of the YBC in bringing lasting transformation to entire communities through spiritual formation, starting first in the lives of children. YBC is set up in cooperation with churches as part of World Vision’s community development work.

Maria, 65, is the anchor and her son, Ilir, 35, the rudder of a remarkable, though simple, Gega household living in a small village on the outskirts of Elbasan, about 50 miles (80 kilometres) from Albania’s capital, Tirana. Ilir’s nine-year-old daughter Jezuela Gega attends a children’s Bible study using YBC. Her mother is Alma, 28, and her brother is Stvro, 8.

The YBC curriculum was pioneered in Russia by Gospel Light Worldwide to bring Bible study materials to children in post-communist countries. There it won the favour of children and their families, as well as the leaders of the Orthodox Church. World Vision and Gospel Light have expanded the program into Albania, Armenia, Bosnia, Lebanon, Georgia, and Romania, where it is adapted to the uniqueness of each country’s context and Orthodox tradition, as well as other church traditions

The interviews with Maria and Ilir were conducted to complement a YBC story featuring Jezuela Gega. They took place in the Gega’s living room with all family members present. Ekaterina Papadhopuli, World Vision Albania’s Christian commitment manager, served as translator.

The spirit of joy and thanksgiving in the family home, and Maria in particular, was powerful. Maria could not stop talking about the Lord Jesus, bursting with the excitement more common to new believers than to seasoned Christians. Ilir laughed as he tried to fit a word into his mother’s spirit-filled monologue. He is a quiet man of gentle reserve. He and his wife enjoyed the distraction of their children, who spent the hour either draping themselves in their parents’ warm embrace, or playfully darting in and out of rooms like children their age do.

Maria says: “My husband died when he was 37 years old. I was a widow with three young children. My son was in the first grade, and I had two younger daughters. I had nothing – no money. I worked at a cooperative [common in communist times] to feed my family. All things have worked out for the best in my life. People are surprised that I’m so blessed. But I know it is because I respect God and His law [for example, Maria does not work on Sundays]. I always said to the others that without the will of God, nothing can be done. Only if it is His will, will things be done. When I was a child, the church was not offering lessons for children. Our family was very devoted and attended church regularly, so we heard the Bible preached there. We learned there. We fasted as a family during Christmas and Easter, and on Wednesdays and Fridays. It was a rule that we always maintained during my childhood and when I was a young woman. After communism came and the church was closed, people weren’t allowed to practice their beliefs (we were not permitted to fast). We still practiced our beliefs, but secretly. For example, we dyed Easter eggs privately. If the government found out you dyed eggs, you could go to prison. We did our best to maintain our faith in the midst of persecution. We were afraid because there were spies (for the government) everywhere.

Saint Vladimir has always helped me in my life. During the communist regime, St. Vladimir Monastery (where Jezuela attends Bible study) was used as a military base for communist soldiers. But I’d always go and ask if I could light a candle there. Sometimes they let me. When the church was reopened and we were free to attend services, I was so happy. I was asking others to come to church and celebrate with me. It was a great thing to freely celebrate Christmas and Easter in the middle of the night. I took my son to church on Easter to light candles.

YBC is a wonderful thing. I always support Jezuela and her brother to go and learn from these books, which have taught them how to pray. Every evening, they pray before they go to sleep. But what is most special is that they come home and teach us what they learned in YBC. I am old, but I have learned something!”

Ilir says: “When you are with our Lord, you are never lost. When I remember my childhood, I think of real poverty, not only in the physical sense, but in the spiritual sense. And now we have the opportunity to not be poor, especially in the spiritual sense. During my childhood, there was nothing to support my faith – only my mother. My mother taught me. I was afraid to talk about God outside of my house. Sometimes I spoke with my friends about these things, but I was always afraid. I am very glad because my children not only are learning about our Lord and faith, but also good morals and how to behave. My daughter’s name, Jezuela, is the feminine form of ‘Jesus,’ and my son’s name, Stvro, means ‘cross.’ Christian names are less common in my generation because it was not safe.”