Pray for Kosovo

The cobblestone streets of Kosovo’s cities are frequently brimming with people visiting restaurants and tea shops while enjoying the lively music of street musicians. Europe’s second-newest nation is filled with the energy of thousands of young people. Out in the country, sheep and cows graze peacefully in the rolling pastures of Kosovo’s hills. Family ties are strong and hospitality is highly valued. Kosovo has come a long way from the destruction and tragedy of its 1998-1999 conflict. For more than a year, ethnic cleansing killed thousands of people and thousands more fled their homes, lives broken by violence. Today, this greatest suffering lies in the past, and many young people look toward the dream of a peaceful future.

Still, tensions between Kosovo’s Serbian minority in the north and its Albanian majority continue to fuel unrest. Although Kosovo declared independence in 2008, Serbia does not recognize it as a country. Serbs, displeased with Albanian political leadership, have taken to the streets in protests that sometimes turn violent. Culturally and geographically, Kosovo is divided by ethnicity. An Albanian in the capital might never meet a Serb during the day, and if she did, she would avoid starting any conversation. Beyond ethnic tension, corruption, organized crime, and unemployment have slowed economic growth — young adults are moving away to find jobs. Numerous families rely on money sent home by fathers and mothers living in Germany, Switzerland, or another European nation.

Although Islam has shaped Kosovo’s culture for centuries, it has become a matter of culture more than religion. There is a minor but notable movement of younger Albanians converting to Christianity, especially Roman Catholicism. Alongside them grows a small, passionate evangelical Church that is drawing in the lost through personal relationships and compassion ministries. Those who come to Christ from Islam can face rejection from friends and family, yet God has brought in many former Muslims to His Church. These believers have gone on to plant churches in other Muslim communities. Through God’s people, Kosovars are encountering the love of Christ.