Growing faith in Croatia
Lorraine, a Bangor Worldwide Committee Member visited Croatia in 2004.
In 2004, I said a very sad “doviÄ‘enja” (goodbye) to a church family and special friends I had spent the previous three years serving alongside, having been sent out to Croatia from my home church in Donaghadee. What a joy it has been since returning home to follow the journey which God has taken some of the young adults I worked with on. Brankica was one of those young adults. She married Dragan in 2007 and they now have three children. Allow me to introduce you to Dragan and Brankica to hear their story…
Dragan
I have lived in Croatia all my life and was raised in the Roman Catholic faith. By reading the New Testament I discovered Jesus. I started attending a local Biblical church and in 2005 at the age of 26 years I accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.
That same summer I met Brankica and we married in 2007. We have three beautiful children, Benjamin, Lea and Noemi.
In 2014, I started attending the Theological Biblical Academy in Krapina with the goal to grow in biblical knowledge and depth in my relationship with God. This is where I met Mario who was also studying. He invited me to consider joining him in church planting in an unreached area of Zagreb. After a lot of prayer and meditation, my wife and I believe that the Lord was stirring our hearts and calling us to this work.
I see that there is spiritual darkness in Croatia, and that my countrymen and women need hope that they can only find in Jesus. But, this is not a story about us, it is about our Lord who works great things through small and ordinary people. Our obedience and total trust in Him is crucial. I currently work full–time in secular employment, but am an elder in our church, preach regularly and help as we reach out to people in our community with the Gospel. Please pray for us, that the Lord will continue to do marvellous things in us, and through us in the future.
Mario
I am a missionary and church planting pastor born and raised in Croatia and also grew up in the Roman Catholic faith. I met my wife, Jeni, when I was 19, and we moved to the United States together in 2002 where we were enjoying the ‘American dream’.
In 2005, God radically changed both our lives and opened our eyes to our need for forgiveness and reconciliation to God through Jesus Christ.
Shortly after, God laid a burden on our hearts to return to my homeland of Croatia to share the Gospel with lost souls.
When we met Dragan and Brankica in 2014, a close relationship quickly blossomed as we started casting vision and dreaming about one day planting a church in our home country together where less than 0.5% of the population know Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.
We planted Church of God’s Grace in January of 2018, with six adults and eight children. Today we have grown to 26 members, and we are eager to see how the Lord will continue to use us to proclaim the gospel and minister to people around us.
For four years, Dragan and Brankica have been faithfully serving alongside us, and they were instrumental in helping us get the church plant off the ground, and that it is built on the solid foundation of Jesus Christ and truth of God’s Word.
Our hope and prayer is that Dragan will be able to serve the church full–time in evangelism, teaching and preaching in the local language, and translation of worship music. We also have a vision to send out another church plant as the Lord leads.
If you would like to hear more or be willing to pray for us, please be sure to check out our website at www.cityonahillcroatia.org or contact us via email churchofgodsgracecroatia@gmail.com. We would love to hear from you.