Branko Bjelajac

FEDERATIVE REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA 1996/97:

A REPORT ON EVANGELICALS

The war in the former Socialist Yugoslavia had ended in December 1995. Four republics created new states: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia. Two other republics, Serbia and Montenegro, remained in the federation which had changed itís name to FRY (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) in 1992. Today, FRY has app. 11 million people, dominantly Serbs 67%, Albanians 14% -- mostly in the south Serbian province of Kosovo, Montenegrins 5% - mainly in the Republic of Montenegro, and the rest are ethnic minorities: Hungarians 5%, Croats 1.6%, Romanians, Rusins, Bulgarians, Romanies (Gypsies), Germans, Slovaks, etc. -- mostly in the north Serbian province of Vojvodina.

Because of the involvement in wars in Croatia and Bosnia, FRY was under total UN sanctions implemented by the Security Council of the UN from 1992 to 1995 (sanctions covered economy, trade, air and sea travel, transit, tourism, culture, sport, science, educational exchange, etc.). Recent demonstrations from Nov. 96 to Feb. 97 (that lasted 110 days) and unrest in Belgrade and other major cities in Serbia, were only some of the signs of the tense and uncertain situation not only in the newest Yugoslavia but the Balkans as well. At the beginning of 1997 there were demonstrations in Serbia, FYR Macedonia and, for several days only, in Hungary. Also, there was more serious unrest in Bulgaria and particularly in Albania. The Balkan Peninsula is a well known area for wars. Only in the XX century there were five wars: two Balkan wars 1911-1913, WW I (The Great War) that started in Bosnia, WW II, and the recent one in the former Yugoslavia.

There are not many evangelical Christians in FRY, maybe a little above fifteen thousand. This is a very low percentage (0.14%) of the 11 million people in the country (10.5 million population + 700,000 refugees from Bosnia and Croatia). Still, even among that number of believers, not all of them are active in fulfilling their Christian duties and responsibilities. Apart from their spiritual low-esteem and low self-evaluation, we can easily indicate several other reasons for their apathy, i.e. lack of theological education, constant shortage of pastors and church leaders, poor financial church base, and non-professional approach to the publishing of Christian books.

Relations with the Serbian Orthodox Church

The national and traditional church of Serbia, the Serbian Orthodox Church, is acting toward evangelicals as a trespasser in their own property. The recent developments of the sectarians in their own ranks: The Macedonian Orthodox Church in the 1960ís, The Montenegrin Orthodox Church in the 1990ís, as well as steady growth of evangelical churches in the last ten years, and a small but constant growth of the evangelical churches, have caused the Serbian Orthodox Church to take a stand. They support and publish books and magazines_ where evangelicals are accused as sects who misguide Serbian people, but the most frequent accusation is re-Christianization of the Serbian people who are Christians for twelve centuries! From the very first record of their appearance in Serbia, in the mid XIX century, evangelical believers were referred to as sectarians. The representative of the British Bible Society in the 1830ís was accused as a spy for Rome. For the oldest and most spread Serbian translation of the Bible, by Vuk Karad(i( and (uro Dani(i( (1868), it was claimed to have been done by the influence of Rome and on its behalf. The attitude toward anything new in religious life is very negative. Even Orthodox New Testament scholars were disputed when they dared to publish their translation of the New Testament from the Greek manuscripts in 1930ís_ and 1970í_. It is so today.

In 1992, an influential orthodox priest from the ìAlexander Nevskyî church in Belgrade even started a Missionary school for young and zealous Orthodox believers. But their major and most important duty was to go on evangelical meetings and obstruct them by disrupting the lecture, and if necessary by creating disturbance. This priest (prota Ljuba Petrovi(), along with one clinic psychiatrist (V. Cvetanovi(), in 1995 also founded ìThe Society for the Battle Against Religious Sects.î In their frequent public addresses they refer to all other ìnon acceptedî religious communities in Serbia as sects: Satanists as well as Baptists or Adventists, Hare Krishna, Pentecostals, etc.

So-called Serbian Saint Sava Youth Movement (Srpski omladinski i studentski svetosavski pokret) was founded in 1992 on behalf of some Orthodox theology students, but it is closely connected with the Missionary school. In their public addresses they were radically against any other Christian denomination in Serbia, asking for the government to ban their legal rights, close churches, and expel all the missionaries. Even the Orthodox Church had to draw a formal line between this movement and itself.

According to the state survey in 1991, Eastern Orthodox believers in Yugoslavia make up a little over 45% of the population, i.e. over 5,000,000 people. In the process of rising nationalism in 90ís, prewar climate and war conditions, the number of people looking for national and religious identity within their own cultural sphere, had significantly increased. But also, with the fall of Communism in Europe and in the countries of Warsaw Pact, people felt at ease to express their religious feelings again freely and openly. That resulted with increasing number in church attendance in every denomination in Serbia. In the conclusion of the book the Serbian Orthodox Church, by church historian dr. Radoslav Gruji(, it is said that in 1991 the Orthodox church in Serbia had 1,891 priests and 31 bishops, over 1,200 monks in 200 monasteries, four high school level Divinity schools, two Colleges of Theology, two relief agencies, a womenís organization ñ the Serbian Sisters (Kolo srpskih sestara), Peopleís Divinity University for basic theological training of laymen, etc. These numbers are growing every year.

A survey conducted by the worldwide student missionary organization Novi (ivot (Campus Crusade for Christ, Serbia) in 1996 among several hundreds university students in Belgrade showed that the great majority (around 64%) believes in God, but only 25% of them would like to talk about it. 50% say that Christ is Savior, although they do not practice their faith. Even 11% of these young people believe that they are born as Christians, because they are born in the Christian nation, another 2% believe that salvation can be obtained by visiting the local church, and 21% believe that they will became Christians by living a moral life. When it comes to the point of leaving the address or the phone number for further contacts, 74% of them showed that they are not interested in further conversation about religious themes. Out of 25% willing-to-talk people, 90% reject a second or third contact, because often they have been spoken to by their friends, parents and priests. They have been strongly advised to cease further contacts, because of the fear that the ìnewî religion necessarily means treason to the Serbian nation and cause, as the Orthodox Church implies in its frequent statements.

The Serbian Orthodox Church does not have an exact and expressed formal policy toward many other Christian churches. Still, various church officials do not hesitate to publicly state their negative opinion about evangelical Christians. In fact there are so many of them, that the book has been published in Serbian with the collection of public statements about evangelicals_. Further more, in their Divinity (Theological) College in Belgrade they teach_ that there are no more than five Christian denominations in the world: Eastern Orthodox, which is the only true and holy and apostolic and catholic, then the Roman-Catholic which separated itself in XI century and Lutherans, Anglicans and Reformated who separated themselves from the Roman-Catholic church in the time of Reformation. Every other church denomination, no matter how numerous and how old, they see as a byproduct of Protestant attitude toward Western Christianity, as sects. So, the valid question is, according to them, what are Protestant denominations doing in Serbia where there had been no Reformation and counterreformation? Therefore, in almost every possible situation, representatives of the church undermine and allude to minor Christian churches in Yugoslavia as the sects who are trying to take away Serbs from their utmost part of being, from their ìmother churchî. In their main journal ìOrthodoxyî (PRAVOSLAVLJE) in Serbia, evangelicals are regularly labeled as dangerous sectarians, religious devastators, evil heretics, and enemies of everything that Serbia stands for.

The Serbian Orthodox Church builds its attitude toward others upon three basic postulates:

1. TRADITIONALISM. Nothing that is validly Christian is happening outside of the Church (meaning Serbian Orthodox Church). If there is some kind of activity in the country, especially evangelistic events or Jesus film showings, or anything else, the Orthodox church will be against them prima facio. It is probably because they are not done or organized and controlled by the Orthodox Church.

TERRITORIALISM. There is an old Serbian saying: Who owns the sheep owns the land. The Serbian Orthodox Church draws its authority since the times of the Ottoman Empire (Turks) who ruled Serbia for five long centuries (XIV ñ XIX). The Empire was by its social structure and organization a theocratic one. The Turks had a special policy toward conquered nations, which they employed in Serbia, as well. All the responsibility for ruling over the Serbian people in one particular region was in hands of the local Orthodox priest. National identity, culture, tradition, literature, even alphabet probably would not be preserved, if there were not churches and monasteries, who acted as centers of cultural and national identity survivals. The State regained full autonomy again in 1879. Further-more, since the foundation in 1219, the Serbian Orthodox Church was responsible for crowning the rulers of Serbia until WW II, and was in very close relationship with the state. The Church recorded births, deaths and marriages, and these records were taken to be legal documents. It is only in the past 52 years that the church has not been allowed to perform their activities in civil society as centuries before_. With the dissolving of the Socialist Yugoslavia, the church is tending to regain some of the former duties and responsibilities, which would actually bring more formal and political power to its elders. The Orthodox Church believes that Serbia is its protectorate, or to be more accurate, Serbs are its target population. The church was always devoted to the national ideals and the identification of ìSerbiaî with the Orthodoxy, Serbiandom with the Christendom. So many times the priests have repeated that every Serb is an Orthodox believer by birth, that it became self-supporting. Whoever else approaches Serbs is proselytizing, which is unacceptable.

3. THEOLOGY. The Serbian Orthodox Church teaches that its teachings contain all the truth. A Sectarian view is not simply a mistake - it is a sin of dividing the Church. The sin of disobedience to the Church is equal of parting from Christ himself. They firmly believe and practice the church father Cyprianís saying: ìOutside the Church, no salvation,î referring to the Church as to itself, because of the alleged apostolic succession.

There is, however, one case of mutual cooperation between the evangelical churches and the Orthodox Church ñ the founding of the Yugoslav Bible Society in 1994. Interestingly enough, the president of this Society is the Orthodox bishop Lavrentije, as the representative of the majority church, and the vice-president is president of the Baptist union, dr. Aleksandar Birvi(. This Society had not done much yet, but Bible publishing has always been a slow and detailed process. In two and a half years since the foundation, this Society had published only a preliminary edition of the story about Abram in a comic book. It is not expected that the actual edition can be published until the end of 1997. Another project, The CHILDRENíS BIBLE is now waiting for three years for the approval from the Orthodox church in matters of changes in the translation done for some Old Testament stories. Changes were due to the simplification of the text for the children audience. Just recently, the Society published the third revised edition of the formal translation of the New Testament for the Serbian Orthodox Church.

This attitude toward the Evangelical churches in Serbia was been recognized by some (rare) Western Christian scholars who visited the country. Dr. James W. Sire_, in his December 1996 International Report states:

ìIn Croatia and Serbia, for example, evangelicals have been marginalized first by the communist regime and now by the Catholic and Orthodox churches.î

Relations with the West

In his book ìOPERATION WORLDî Patrick Johnstone has stated that in FRY are 9,600 evangelical Christians, and about believers he noted:

ìEvangelical believers among the Serbs are few, and congregations are small and scattered and often characterized by spiritual mediocrity, personality clashes, petty legalism and rivalry.î_

Since the war broke out in 1991, there is a somewhat hidden, and many times alluded to, opinion among the Christians of the West_, that the Christians in Serbia were not active enough during and about the war in the former Yugoslavia. For years people in Yugoslavia had listened to the local (Orthodox) sources who warned them against Western society and attitudes, asking them to remain faithful to tradition, customs and culture that is preserved through centuries of struggles, wars and persecutions. When people finally decided to approach the West for help, encouragement and aid, few Christians and mission agencies responded. The aura of war created a mist in front of the eyes of many believers in the world, and the secular media created an image of Serbs as undoubtedly guilty war criminals, rapists and murders. But, among Evangelical Christians in Serbia there were people who refused to be drafted as active soldiers, like men of the 250 member Christian Pentecostal Church in Novi Sad.

ìMost North American aid is being channeled to Croat and Muslim victims and refugees. In addition to reports of Serb aggression and war atrocities, political and logistical obstacles have, in part, impeded aid from reaching Christians in Serbiaî (Christianity Today, March 6, 1995, page 58)

Few Christian churches and aid agencies have sent their help to Serbia during the war years; nevertheless there were over 700,000 refugees from Bosnia and Croatia. Relief agencies and various Christian organizations were more oriented toward the other side, which undoubtedly suffered a more extensively in this war. Still, a bitter taste remains after one speaks with certain pastors and relief directors in the west, and when one hears that they support only Christians of one side.

There are several missionary organizations present in FR Yugoslavia nowadays. The biggest and most influential is Novi zivot (Campus Crusade for Christ, Serbia) which organizes student ministries, anti-AIDS programs, and the Jesus film distribution ministries. EUS (IFES Serbia) holds regular meetings with the students in Belgrade and Novi Sad, organizing lectures and Bible studies. Navigators are involved in friendship evangelism. YWAM is starting a ministry in the city of Nis where there is a small university with several thousand students, and they are willing to work in the Serbian part of Bosnia, the Republika Srpska. GEM is preparing for the future educational ministry and possible establishing of a theological school. The ëGospel in every homeí movement just started their activities in the city of Vrsac. Present also is Word of Life, from Upsala, Sweden with a small church planting team in Belgrade. New Eastern Europe for Christ (NEEFC) is trying to work among Slovak minority living in Yugoslavia, while Hungarian biggest church ìHit Gyulkezeteî sent its missionaries to minister to the Hungarian minority. Several other missionary organizations and agencies are present, but only through activities of nationals and some financed programs: Slavic Gospel Mission, Literature, Sound and Vision, World Bible Translators, Gideons, Bible Pocket League, etc.

Still, the Western Christianity does not have clear and accurate picture about Yugoslavia and evangelical Christians in there. The WORLD CHURCH HANDBOOK_ was published in February 1997, prepared by Christian Research from Great Britain. Data presented about Yugoslavia shows decreasing number of evangelical Christians with very depressing estimation that within short time their number will decrease even more. For example, number of baptized members of all Baptist churches in FRY in 1995, according to this book, was 520, and their estimation is that in the year 2000, their number will be 330! (see table below for the field report).

Relations with the government

On the third side, the governments of Yugoslavia (and its constituent republics of Serbia and Montenegro) are rather negative toward evangelical churches and their friends and visitors from the West, especially missionaries. Yugoslavia was once known by its freedom of religion imparted in the state constitution. In 1939 in the Yugoslav Constitution Baptists were listed and equaled with the Orthodox, Catholic and Muslim believers. But 50 years of Communist/Socialist government have left deep scars. Briefings in the Ministry of Faith are long and repetitious, and pastors and national missionary workers have to answer the same questions over and over again. Their motives and their attitude are always in question. In this way, the Yugoslav government and its agencies are pressing evangelicals to defend themselves all the time, and to show their loyalty to the present regime by soliciting more relief aid or cash donations to the hospitals and medical institutions from the West. Freedom of religion is, also, in acting Constitution, but there is an ongoing pressure from some right-wing nationalistic parties and from the Orthodox church, for the change that would recognize some churches, while deny some. For the alleged reason of religious holidays, many workers in various private and state owned companies had to fill in questionnaire with their church affiliation. In this way, Orthodox believers get two non-working days within year, Roman-Catholics, Muslims and Jews one day, and the rest nothing.

The state had developed a secure system for denying visas to missionaries, placing them always in between the Ministry of Faith who gives the opinion, and the Foreign police department who actually issues visas. Every year, there is a certain quote of missionaries who are denied of getting their visas renewed.

In the summer of 1994, Belgrade-based Yugoslav Military Magazine ìArmyî (VOJSKA), and later the same year the daily newspaper ì The Evening Newsî (VE(ERNJE NOVOSTI), published a serial of articles concerning special war against Yugoslavia. In these articles missionaries and missionary agencies were pictured as military units. Campus Crusade for Christ, one of the biggest student missionary organizations in the world, was represented as aggressive, paramilitary organization who has several hundred thousands of armed volunteers throughout the world, under covered with religious motives. Authors summoned that these new ìcrusadersî are dangerous, well organized and after Yugoslav political and military stability!

Evangelical Christians in Serbia

Despite the pure relations with the majority church, biased image created in the West and severe hardship from the government, evangelical Christians in FRY are doing their best to work toward evangelization of the people frightened by war, sudden poverty, corruption, and massive numbers of refugees, as well as political turmoil and insecurity in the government.

Their work we will divide in three main sections: refugee aid, opening the dialog in the country and on the Balkans, and the statistical data about the churches/denominations.

Relief Aid

Christian relief and refugee Agency ìThe Bread of lifeî (Hleb (ivota) was founded just after the war broke out. Founders were The First Baptist Church and the Holy Trinity Pentecostal church in Belgrade on volunteer workers bases, but in 1997 they expanded to over 70 volunteers from five Evangelical churches in Belgrade. They supported and still do app. 20,000 people every month with food, clothing and hygiene products, as well as with words of comfort, understanding and compassion, regardless of their national origin or religious orientation. Some believers had opened their homes and vacation houses. On the other side, there was no obligation for the refugees to participate in any church activities. ìThe Bread of Lifeî had open a pharmacy unit, where prescriptions were not charged. In the days of UN sanctions this pharmacy was the only source of many necessary drugs for various chronicle diseases and illnesses. There are so many children-refugees that Pentecostal church has to perform 10 consecutive Christmas puppet shows every year, to enable every interested child to come. In July 1996 ìThe Bread of Lifeî opened a relief center in the city of Prijedor in the Serbian part of Bosnia. In 1996 only, ìThe Bread of Lifeî distributed 1.5 million pounds of food, clothes, and medical supplies! It is important to say that the work of this agency is unique because its outreach is focused on refugees in private accommodations, while governmental and other agencies are oriented toward refugees in camps, which is only 10% of the total number of the needy.

Christian Agency ìTabitaî was founded in the city of Novi Sad by the local Baptist church. The same happened with the cities of Ni( (ìLjubi bli(njega svogaî) and Sremska Kamenica (ìDugaî). People were responding to the basic needs of those in desperate situation.

Seventh Day Adventist Church relief agency ìAdraî somehow acquired the UN permission to distribute parcels with food in surrounded Sarajevo in 1992-3. So, while Bosnian Serbs were fighting against the people and government of Sarajevo, Serbian Serbs were supporting the same people in Sarajevo. ìAdraî distributed parcels for everybody: Adventists, Baptists, Muslims, and Communists as long as they were properly tagged and had contained food from approved list. More than 52,000 parcels with 1,000 tones of food, were sent and distributed in Sarajevo.

Serbian evangelical publishers had published books with the specific topics_ explaining Christian position in the war situation, some churches held seminars for reconciliation_. Long before the war ended, Serbian and Croatian Christians had met several times in southern Hungary to share a mutual pain and concern, joys and hopes, and to pray together giving an example to their nations, of how brethren dwell in unity.

Some churches in Serbia started evangelistic tours to the Serbian part of Bosnia, hoping that they can help in releasing the tension, by bringing the Word of God and good will, as well as food and medicine. The Serbian Gideon organization distributed several hundreds of thousands New Testaments to the Serbian militia and army in Bosnia, as well as in the hospitals, schools and refugee camps.

Christian refugee agency ìBenefactorî of the Serbian Evangelical Ministers Alliance_ (EMA), that was founded for the purpose of helping the people in Bosnia, distributed several trucks of food and goods to the Red Cross organizations in the cities and towns of Serbian Bosnia. People would fill in the van with food, Bibles, and medicines and just drive to Bosnia, praying that military checkpoints would let them pass through. This organization was sending pastors regularly to preach the Word of God, to the growing number of evangelical Christians in Bosnia during the war. Today, they have regular services in the cities of Br(ko and Bijeljina, and they regularly visit clusters of believers in the cities of Prijedor, Prnjavor, Banja Luka and Bratunac. Their needs are great.

Of course, all achieved both in FRY and in the Republika Srpska, would be substantively lesser if there were not help and provision from Christian brethren from the West. ìDiakoniaî - Germany, ìCelebration Ministries Int.î - Belgium, ìDorcasî and ìGood News Serviceî from The Netherlands, The Mennonite Central Committee from the USA and Europe, the Southern Baptists from the USA, are just some of those who had helped during the war times. In autumn 1996, the Evangelical Church from the Muslim part of Sarajevo sent a van filled with food and clothing with a message:

ìWe in Croatian-Bosnian part of Sarajevo have enough food and clothing, in fact too much. We decided to help you, our Serbian brothers.î

When speaking with humanitarian groups, many answer ìYes, we are helping Bosnia and Herzegovinaî_. But, that refers mainly to the Croat-Muslim Federation. Serbs in the Republika Srpska (the other entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina) are often forgotten, even though their needs are great. The media had and still has great influence in creating this mind set, yet Serbs pray and hope that times will come when many will respond to their needs.

ìChristian organizations from all over North America and Europe are sending aid to regular assistance programs in Croatia", says Hansurlich Gerber, Europe director of the Mennonite Central Committee, an agency assisting war victims of all factions. ìOnly a handful are supporting similar efforts in Serbia.î (Christianity Today, March 6, 1995, page 58)

Toward Reconciliation

After the end of the terrible war that took many thousands of innocent lives and caused great destruction, evangelical Christians of Serbia wanted to help together with all evangelical Christians of the Balkans in spiritual renewal and healing of itsí nation and of other nations in the region. EMA, located in Belgrade, together with the Christian leaders from other Balkan countries have shared a common vision. They met in Athens in 1995 where all representatives unanimously and wholeheartedly supported the idea to organize The First Balkan Evangelical Conference in September 1996 in Belgrade.

The Conference was held under the main theme: Hope for the Balkans: Jesus Christ. A total of 1,200 delegates met in Belgrade ìto proclaim the hope which neither politicians nor economic riches can offer. Only the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, can bring such hope.î _ Main speakers were dr. John Taylor, Council of the Conference of the European Churches; Stuart McAllister, Secretary of the European Evangelical Alliance; dr. Thomas Wang, Chairman of the International Board of AD 2000 & Beyond Movement; Rev. Petru Dugulescy, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Timisoara, Romania and member of the Romanian Parliament; dr. Nikolai Nedelchev, Secretary of the Bulgarian Evangelical Alliance and director of Bible College ìLogosî; dr. Demosthenes Katsarkas, representative of the Evangelical Alliance of Greece; representatives from the Serbian part of Bosnia, Hungary, FYR Macedonia and Yugoslavia. On this conference the Balkan Coordinate Council of Evangelical churches is founded, which main duty will be to create and perform mutual activities of Gospel spreading in all Balkan states. The next conference will be held in Sofia in September 1998. Yugoslav government had sent federal minister in charge of religious groups to open the Conference and representatives of other churches were also invited: Eastern Orthodox, Roman-Catholics, Seventh Day Adventists, as well as other Protestant denominations. The conference received positive and fair coverage in local television and print media.

Finally, how many evangelical Christians are in Yugoslavia? It is really difficult to collect all the data when there is no organization that collects it from all sources. During March-June 1996, I conducted a small research due to collect all the possible data about the evangelical Christians. The following list is not complete. It represents an attempt to clear out the situation in Yugoslavia after the war and secession of several republics. Data for this revue are received from denominational unions and/or pastors, missionaries who live in the country side, from the articles published in the bimonthly magazine ìChristian Reviewî (HRI((ANSKI PREGLED), from JESUS film distributors in Serbia, Christian publishers and their representatives.

EVANGELICAL/PROTESTANT CHURCHES

in FR Yugoslavia in May 1996

___Denominations_Affiliation or

apparent affiliation_Congre-gations_Baptized members_Theological education_Publishing ministry__1. Baptist Union of Yugoslavia

(Savez baptisti(kih crkava)_Connected with the European Federation (Hamburg) and the World Federation (Washington)___Higher Theological school (BBC LOGOS) - Novi Sad, 2.5 years, Associate in Theology, not accredited in FRY, boarding school, 10 + students_ALFA I OMEGA - Belgrade, major Christian publishing house in FRY, in 1996 published 6 books, 2 local authors__ completed data__16_770____ Incompleted data__41_____2. Church of United Brethren in Christ

(Crkva Bra(e) ñ Slovaks__13_450_Laymenís Theological education in Ba(ki Petrovac, offers one year program in Slovak language, boarding school_KIC - Christian Informative Center in Ba(ki Petrovac produces regular radio broadcast for local station in Slovak language, 30 minutes a day__3. Calvary Chapel

(Crkva Golgota)_California, USA_3_140__Small publishing house in Senta, in 1996 published 2 books__4. Slovak Evangelical Christian

Church - (Kristova duhovna

evandjeoska crkva) - Slovaks_Augsburg confession_6_600____5. Church of Christ

(Hristova crkva)_Non-instrumental, USA_1_30____6. Church of God

(Crkva Bo(ija)_Clevland, USA_9_290_Laymen Theological education in Sremska Mitrovica, weekend courses___7. Evangelical Christians - Baptists

(Crkva evandjeoskih hri((ana

baptista)_SBC, USA (?)_9_522__DOM MOLITVE - (House of Prayer) - Pe(, publishes mainly sermons in monthly booklets__8. Methodist church

(Metodisti(ka crkva)_United Methodist Church, USA_12_425____9. Nondenominational free churches

__9_241____10. Other Protestant churches

__4_640____Pentecostal Union of Yugoslavia

(Savez pentekostnih crkava)_Indigenous Pentecostal churches; former Religious Church of Christ ñ Germany; former Church of the Spirit, etc.

_53_3,595_Higher Theological school ñ Novi Sad (founded 1996), 2 years program, Associate in Theology, boarding school for 25 students;

Laymenís theological education in Leskovac, Several two and three weeks courses during the year_HRI((ANSKI PREGLED - Belgrade. Publishes bimonthly magazine (circa. app. 800). In 1996 published 3 books and serial for childrenís Sunday school in 16 booklets__12. Seventh Day Adventists

(Hri((anska adventisti(ka crkva)_World Headquarters: Silver Springs, Maryland, USA_170_7,000

_TEOLO(KI FAKULTET BEOGRAD (Theological Faculty Belgrade), founded in 1992, 4 years, BA, accredited in FRY, app. 90 students, boarding school_PREPOROD - Belgrade, publishes 3 bimonthly magazines (Glasnik HAC-a, (ivot i zdravlje, Znaci vremena) and Bible study booklets__Seventh Day Adventist Church ñ

other denominations (various)__5_150____Union of the Reformed Seventh

Day Adventist Church

(Unija reformisanih ASD)_General Conference: Roanuk, Virginia, USA_20_500

__GLASNIK REFORMACIJE - Belgrade, bimonthly magazine, publishes also Bible school booklets__ Total of congregations and

members_ _371_15, 353____

Note: In this listing there is no data for the following denominations: Lutherans (Evangelical Church, mostly Hungarians), Nazarenes (Christian Nazarene Community), and Reformed (Calvinist Reformed Church).

_ For further study see books: Milin, L: CRKVA I SEKTE, Eparhija (i(ka, 1986; Banovi(, Tomislav: POLITI(KI ASPEKTI U(ENJA I DELOVANJA VERSKIH SEKTI U SFRJ, Univerzitet u Beogradu, 1986; D(omi(, Velibor: SEKTE, SATANISTI I LAZNI PROROCI, Eparhija (i(ka, 1994; Milo(evic, Zoran: VERSKE SEKTE I KULTOVI, Beli andjeo, 1997; magazines: Pravoslavni blagovesnik, Valjevo; Svetigora, Cetinje; Pravoslavlje, Beograd, Pravoslavni Misionar, Beograd, etc.

_New Testament, translation by dr. Dimitrije Stefanovi(, New Testament professor on the Orthodox Divinity College in Belgrade.

_New Testament, translation by dr. Emilijan (arni(, New Testament professor on the Orthodox Divinity College in Belgrade.

_For further readings look: Maksimovi( Goran: HRISTA RAZAPINJU, ZAR NE?, Hri((anska pentekostna crkva Novi Sad, 1995

_Lazar Milin: NAU(NO OPRAVDANJE RELIGIJE: CRKVE I SEKTE, knjiga 6, Eparhija (i(ka, godina 1986

_ìPrior to World War II it was the church of the ruling dynasty and was widely acknowledged to be the traditional church of the people. The patriarch sat on the royal council, and many Orthodox priests were members of the national assembly. Orthodox holidays took precedence, and parliamentary oaths were celebrated according to Orthodox rites. In addition, the church owned large estates and received important subsidies for its schools and the salaries of its leaders. In Montenegro priests were recognized and paid as civil servants. All of these privileges were swept away by the Communist regime after World War II.î Barrett, David B., ed.: WORLD CHRISTIAN ENCYCLOPEDIA (Oxford University Press, New York, 1982) p. 754

_ Dr. Sire had published his book in Serbian language about various world-views: THE UNIVERSE NEXT DOOR (Serbian title: Svemir moga suseda, Alfa i Omega, Beograd, 1996)

_ Johnstone, Patrick: OPERATION WORLD, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids Michigan, 1993, p. 588

_See articles: In the Camps..., Christianity Today, February 8, 1993; Holocaust & Ethnic Cleansing, Christianity Today, August 16, 1993; Prayers or Bombs? Christianity Today, April 26, 1993; War Stirs Gospel Desire, but Few Sarajevo Evangelicals Left, Christianity Today, April 4, 1994; Bosniaís Bitter Truths, Christianity Today, March 4, 1996, etc.

_Brierley, Peter Dr. ed.: WORLD CHURCHES HANDBOOK, Christian Research, London, 1997, pp. 908-12

_See books: KAKO BOG MO(E TO DA DOPUSTI?, Alfa i Omega - Beograd, 1993; O RATU I MIRU, Alfa i Omega - Beograd, 1995; (ALOM, Hri((anski pregled - Beograd, 1995; CRKVA I RAT, Hri((anska pentekostna crkva - Novi Sad, 1995; etc. In 1993 the Yugoslav Bible Society published New Testament, a special edition for free distribution among the refugees from Croatia and Bosnia.

_Under the sponsorship of the Mennonite Central Committee Europe.

_Evangelical Ministers Alliance (EMA) is a free association of the citizen, but in the same time it is the the horizontal-connecting association of the evangelical believers in Serbia. It is created mainly to represent ministers before the government, and to realize their rights on the medical, social and pension insurance for them and their families. EMA is consisted mainly of pastors from the Pentecostal and free Evangelical churches and church workers, and has 220 members.

_ Benefactor, a bulletin of the Serbian Ministers Alliance for humanitarian aid for Serb Republic in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Volume 1.2, Autumn 1996, p. 2

_EMA Press Release, September 7, 1996, Belgrade

T_h_e_ _o_r_g_a_n_i_z_a_t_i_o_n_ _,_t_h_e_ _y__ s_,_,_a_ _a_ _a_n_d_ _e_v_a_n_g_e_l_i_c_a_l_ _C_h_r_i_s_t_i_a_n_s_ _a_ _t_h_e_ _e_a_ _t_h_e_ _I_p_l_a_c_e_y_ _i_t_s_ _f_r_e_e_d_o_m_ _o_f_ _r_e_l_i_g_i_o_n_ _e_s_t_a_b_l_i_s_h_s_f_o_r_ _i_s_e_s_t_a_b_l_i_s_h_e_d_ _i_n_ _t_h_e_ _i_n_t_e_r_i_m_a_ _ _r_e_c_o_g_n_i_z_e_ _s_o_m_e_ _c_h_u_r_c_h_e_s_,_ _b_u_t_ _o_t_h_e_r_s_a_ _a_e_s_a_ _a_n_ _i_c_h_ _h_a_s_ _s_e_v_e_r_a_l_ _h_u_n_d_r_e_d_ _t_h_o_u_s_a_n_d_o_f_d_e_c_l_a_r_t_h_e_ _,_t_h_e_ _t_h_e_ _T_h_e_ _t_h_e_ _b_a_s_i_s_ _o_f_ _s_u_p_p_o_r_t_ _i_c_i_t_i_e_s_._ _ __ T_h_e_ _B_r_e_a_d_ _o_f_ _L_i_f_e__ _e_d_ _f_o_r_t_h_e_ _T_h_e_ _T_h_e_ _e_y_ _w_e_r_e_ _p_r_o_p_e_r_l_y_ _t_a_g_g_e_d_ _a_n_d_ _n_ _5_2_,_0_0_0_ _p_a_r_c_e_l_s_ _w_i_t_h_ _1_,_0_0_0_ _t_o_n_t_h_e_ _a_n_d_ _t_h_e_i_r_o_u_l_d_T_h_e_ _a_l_t_h_e_ _ _M_a_i_n_ _s_p_e_a_k_e_r_s_ _w_e_r_e_ _D_p_e_a_n_ _E_v_a_n_g_e_l_i_c_a_l_ _A_l_l_i_a_n_c_e_;_ _D_e_r_ _o_f_ _t_h_e_ _R_o_m_a_n_i_a_n_ _P_a_r_l_i_a_m_e_n_t_;_ _D_c_t_o_r_ _o_f_ _B_i_b_l_e_ _C_o_l_l_e_g_e_ __ L_o_g_o_s__ ;_ _D_l_i_c_a_l_ _c_h_u_r_c_h_e_s_ _i_s_ _f_o_u_n_d_e_d_,_ _w_h_o_s_e_t_h_e_ _G_o_s_p_e_l_ _T_h_e_ _I_ _c_o_n_d_u_c_t_e_d_ _a_ _s_m_a_l_l_ _r_e_s_e_a_r_c_h_ _p_r_o_j_e_c_t_o_n_a_r_i_e_s_ _w_h_o_ _l_i_v_e_ _i_n_ _t_h_e_ _c_o_u_n_t_r_y_

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_1_5_1_7_

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