The Serbian side of Mitrovica, from the river that splits the two groups of people. It looks rather charming. 🙂
Kosovo was a hard month for me.
It was good and fruitful, but difficult. The atmosphere was heavy and we felt it.
There are many variables at play in the spiritual atmosphere of this 90,000-person city (occupied almost entirely by Albanian people who have a handful of their own traditions and a slightly colder culture than that of their neighboring country, Albania), including the fact that the tiny nation of Kosovo is approximately 98% “traditional” Muslim. They may not wear hijabs and many of them are unaware of specific teachings in the Q’uran, but they feel it in their heritage and identity.
Combine the information above with the driving concepts of honor and shame in Kosovar people’s social interactions, and their painfully recent history with “Christians” who kept their nation in bondage and slaughtered their people, the result is a strong devotion to the tradition of one’s families’ religious beliefs and a guard against anything that could alienate them from those in their city and/or shame their family as a whole. Honor is more important than honesty, and authenticity is suffocated by the scripted responses each individual has memorized to portray exactly what is expected of them.
Christ-followers in this city need to be willing to, as my husband bluntly states, “Ruin their lives.” It costs them everything, from their social status and plan for their future to their relationship with their family and unity with their Mitrovica neighbors. I’ll explain.
View from the bridge where we would pray over the people of Mitrovica at sundown.
Isaak on the bridge as he diligently prayed over the city. It was lovely to see the leaves changing color!
There is a bridge that divides the north and south of this city. On the south side are the Albanian Kosovar people and on the north side are the Serbian Kosovar people. The bridge is guarded by Italian police, a neutral party. The North does not acknowledge the South as part of the separate nation of Kosovo, but as Serbians who rebelled. When on opposite sides of the bridge, we observed different languages spoken, as well as different currencies used, but similar strains of hatred that have driven the groups apart for the last two decades, people which are otherwise indiscernible to the foreigner.
We were instructed by our missionary contacts, when on the north side, NOT practice our Albanian, because to them the great language barrier, is better than hearing the tongue of their enemies from our lips. “It would cause distrust immediately,” they said.
In 1998, Serbia and the young nation of Kosovo were at war with each other. Family members young and old were killed by gunfire, or in some even more personal cases, drowned in the river that now splits the city in two. We were told that there were multiple cases where the Serbians would murder a Kosovar infant or commit another vile act and mark the despicable with an Orthodox cross…Needless to say, the symbol we hold dear as a representation of Christ’s gift of salvation does not carry the same reverent significance for the Kosovar people.
For them, to be Christian is to be Serbian, and to share any similarities with the Serbian people is to be an enemy of Kosovo. It is to spit in the face of families who still have the corrupted cross burned into their memories of their murdered loved one(s).
So, they wear the badge of Islam proudly. For their families. To taunt their enemies. And because their identity would be destroyed without it.
Both sides have a statement religious establishment that the other can see from across the river. We were told that this mosque is so elaborate and huge because it is supposed to make a statement, “We are Albanian and we are Muslim,” while the picture below is Serbia’s Orthodox church, big and beautiful to say “We are Serbian and we are Orthodox.” Both sides believe they are in the right and that their religion is superior, and most importantly, as opposite as possible to their enemies across the bridge.
We saw many people wince at the name of Jesus, no matter how quickly they regained composure. They loved prayer and would accept it many times it was offered. But to Allah. There were a few that corrected us mid-prayer because they were convinced their life depended on it and Mitrovica culture did nothing to teach them otherwise.
So yes, it was heavy.
One of the prominent ways we did ministry in that city was by covering it in prayer. For seven days in a row, we walked to the bridge that divides and covered it in prayers for unity, freedom, salvation, and the fruit of the Spirit. On the last day, we walked the perimeter seven times and each positioned ourselves on one corner of the bridge and praised the Lord out loud. We felt from our first night in Mitrovica that the bridge that represented hurt and division needed to be turned into a place of worship. Praise the Lord for the opportunity to do so. We are standing in faith that many “walls” and other spiritual strongholds came tumbling down. So we rejoice!
Please join us in prayer for this city and the ministers who walk in the spiritual heaviness day in and out. Pray for their marriages, for their joy, and their perseverance in the exhausting atmosphere. Please pray that the number of believers would grow. Right now, there are a few families who know the Lord and are courageous enough to live for the Lord in their city, sharing what they have with others. There is one, small, functioning church. And the missionaries are tired. Pray for their children to be bold in their own walk with the Lord when their peers are blind to the goodness of the Father. Pray for them to be strengthened in Spiritual discipline and encouraged through the Spirit. Pray courage for the people of Mitrovica, that more would come to the knowledge that ruining their lives would be worth it if they find the ONE way, the ONE salvation in Christ. Pray that they would forgive their enemies and that the nations around them would be inspired by what they see the Lord doing in this place!
There is hope for these people and this city!
(View from fortress ruins on a mountain in the Serbian part of Mitrovica.)
Psalm 31:24 “Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord!”
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
