The percentage of Protestant Christians in Croatia is 0.34%. It’s so bleak for Christianity in Croatia, but praise God, we see the Lord at work. He goes ahead of us. He brings this disruption in our lives and then has something much better for us. This is such a wonderful, encouraging story I wanted to pass it along to the Sovereign Grace family. Mario & Jen Vucenovic have been faithfully serving at Church of God’s Grace in Croatia for the past three years while experiencing crippling earthquakes, the pandemic, fear, family death and illness and losing their church meeting location, but God has blessed them by his care and faithfulness.
I’m excited to share an excerpt from his recent monthly update and this short 3-year anniversary video of what has been built in this hard and difficult land. We are grateful they are a part of our small global family. I trust this blesses you.
After more than 3 years of meeting in our church location, we were given 30 days notice that we had to move. We had already been looking for a space unsuccessfully for a year, considering about 15 possible locations that were either too small, too expensive, or would not welcome us. So we started looking right away, and of course, began praying.
I remembered passing by a "space for rent" sign recently, and decided to stop by the next day. The space is 1,350 square feet, triple our current size. For months the members have attended in shifts, longing for the day when we could all be together again. It is a new modern and clean gymnasium size space on a main street near the center of town, with men's and women's bathrooms, and on the other side of the building, 2 separate rooms for children's ministry. Our whole church could meet with social distancing, and invite guests.
Before I got too excited, because of high rents, I asked how much they would charge. Meanwhile, my wife Jen was outside in the parking lot praying that they could offer it to us by the hour, possibly allowing it to be within our budget.
They then replied that they rent the space by the hour—--and it would cost the same amount in rent we are currently paying! In addition, a free parking lot is included, no utilities fees, and they do the cleaning and upkeep.
There is more to the story. Many years ago Missionaries in Zapresic had read the bible with them and they became christians. They said it would be a joy for them to rent their space, they are eager to attend services, and are recommending how we need to bring people in! Lord willing we will have our first church service in our new space on February 28. Thank you for praying with us!
password: hope
Mario Vucenovic is the Senior Pastor at Church of God's Grace, Zapresic, Croatia. He and his wife, Jen, have six children. If you would like to receive his monthly update, email here.
Mark Prater is the Executive Director for Sovereign Grace and serves as an elder at Covenant Fellowship Church. Mark and his wife, Jill, have three adult daughters and ten grandchildren.