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Internet Ministry Impacts Church Growth in Albania

08 March 2012 Tirana, Albania [tedNEWS] There were many reasons to give praises and thanks to God as churches and groups throughout Albania convened in Tirana for the “Festival of Faith” and Internet Ministry (IM) training on 25 and 26 February 2012.  Pr Julian Kastrati, Web Pastor for Albania, could not hide his enthusiasm as he gave the IM report in front of two hundred people present for the event.
Just five years ago there was virtually no online Adventist presence in the Albanian language. However, the year 2012 finds the Albanian Mission and ADRA Albania online and actively involved, networking, and building friendships and bridges with the online Albanian-speaking community. Each local church now has its own webpage or blog as well as a strong Facebook presence. Moreover, just a few months after its launch in Albania, LIFEconnect  website now features over 4100 members in its Facebook group! This large online presence is catered for and networked by over 50 digital missionaries who provide quality content via the newly launched website www.lifeconnect.al.
“God has blessed the Church in Albania with highly-talented, innovative and high-profile and media savvy members and friends, so it is a privilege as well as fun for me to work together with them.’ said Pr Kastrati ‘Both the Adventist Church and ADRA Albania enjoy a fine reputation and a growing audience among the Albanian public, online as well as offline. In Albania, 1 in 3 citizens have a Facebook account, and if we are to make an impact, we need to be where the people are, so we can establish contacts and friendships to be followed by a discipleship path.’ Pr Kastrati explained.
Already results are seen in Tirana Central Church, as during the morning programme two new members of Pr Kastrai’s Bible study group shared their touching story of how they got in contact with church through the Internet.
Pr Gentian Thomollari, a dynamic and prolific networker and radio-presenter in Elbasan, referring to the above mentioned story, showed clearly that internet ministry brings real and tangible results and has a direct impact on church growth and popularity.
The main speaker of the programme was Pr Miroslav Pujic, Internet Ministry Director at the Trans-European Division, who encouraged and urged all present to be spiritually fit themselves in order to point others to Jesus. He also conducted further training on relevant topics on post-modernism and social media and its impact. Mr Pujic concluded the meetings by challenging the DMs to continue to grow and interact with people, make connections with them and most importantly invite them to get to know and follow Jesus.
LIFEconnect is part of Trans-European Division (TED) Internet Ministry initiative. For more information, please visit www.lifeconnect.info and choose your language. [tedNEWS]

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