It's been 18 days since I've been back from Macedonia. Just thought I'd take the time to share what God taught and showed me, and how this beautiful south eastern European country forever changed my life....
Before I even got on the plane to go to Macedonia, I KNEW God was going to transform my life, I KNEW I was going to make lovely life long friends, & I KNEW I was never going to want to leave Europe....what I didn't realize, was how much this Macedonian missions trip was going to SHAKE the very being of who I am, and COMPLETELY take my heart and life and turn them upside down....
I don't even know where to start........
The average size of a typical evangelical church in Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia & Montenegro is about 20-30 believers...I knew the amount of believers was going to be small, but I didn't realize this reality till I actually experienced it. This past year attending North Central University ( a small Christian college in downtown Minneapolis) my goal was to find the largest mega church possible to connect with....God completely left me speechless as I visited the churches in these south eastern European countries. One perspective that really stuck out to me was how passionate my dear Macedonian, Serbian, Bosnian, & Montenegran brothers and sisters were when it came to WORSHIP. It didn't matter the size of the church, as much as the heart did... Just seeing each worship team sing their heart out to Jesus, was absolutely. beautiful. Their worship was REAL. AUTHENTIC. FROM.THE. HEART. It just brought tears to my heart and eyes.....Despite the reality there are few Christians in these countries, my dear brothers and sisters STILL have a hope that every dear soul in their country will one day be saved, and find Christ, they have a perseverance to pursue this vision until the very end, they have such an ON FIRE heart when it comes to worship and simply loving Jesus. This may sound straight up, what I'm about to say, but "American worship" LACKS what my dear Macedonian brothers and sisters have....I'm NOT saying every single church in America has this problem, I'm just saying this from the perspective of all the churches I've ever observed in my life....Just think about it, America has become one of the major "Worship Arts" countries of the world. It has a endless amount of worship conferences, events, schools & universities that specialize in this area of music ministry. We don't even think twice about it. With these overflowing amounts of worship arts opportunities, American worship has sadly started to lose in genuineness, authenticity, and originality. What happened to simply worshiping Jesus for who HE IS? Sounds like a DUH question, but seriously, American worship has become this SICK competition...Which church has the best worship band? Which church has the best worship experiences? Which church has the most people attending music ministry events? It just DISGUSTS me.....In Macedonia, my dear brothers and sisters, they simply get together to WORSHIP JESUS. Why?...because there is very few churches, very few believers, they simply desire to grow close to God's heart. DO YOU realize that worship arts conferences & schools are still a VERY NEW concept in south eastern europe and europe in general???? and even without these things, my dear brothers and sisters still have the same passion as you and I to simply worship Jesus. Getting the privilege to meet each dear Macedonian, Serbian, Bosnian & Montenegren worship leading musician, and realize that they are bold and daring to start this music ministry passion in their countries, was so AMAZING, and such an honor. I look up to each of them and their passionate example that they set for the rest of the worship leading world...It leaves me SO SPEECHLESS.....
More Makedonian thoughts to come...<3
Before I even got on the plane to go to Macedonia, I KNEW God was going to transform my life, I KNEW I was going to make lovely life long friends, & I KNEW I was never going to want to leave Europe....what I didn't realize, was how much this Macedonian missions trip was going to SHAKE the very being of who I am, and COMPLETELY take my heart and life and turn them upside down....
I don't even know where to start........
The average size of a typical evangelical church in Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia & Montenegro is about 20-30 believers...I knew the amount of believers was going to be small, but I didn't realize this reality till I actually experienced it. This past year attending North Central University ( a small Christian college in downtown Minneapolis) my goal was to find the largest mega church possible to connect with....God completely left me speechless as I visited the churches in these south eastern European countries. One perspective that really stuck out to me was how passionate my dear Macedonian, Serbian, Bosnian, & Montenegran brothers and sisters were when it came to WORSHIP. It didn't matter the size of the church, as much as the heart did... Just seeing each worship team sing their heart out to Jesus, was absolutely. beautiful. Their worship was REAL. AUTHENTIC. FROM.THE. HEART. It just brought tears to my heart and eyes.....Despite the reality there are few Christians in these countries, my dear brothers and sisters STILL have a hope that every dear soul in their country will one day be saved, and find Christ, they have a perseverance to pursue this vision until the very end, they have such an ON FIRE heart when it comes to worship and simply loving Jesus. This may sound straight up, what I'm about to say, but "American worship" LACKS what my dear Macedonian brothers and sisters have....I'm NOT saying every single church in America has this problem, I'm just saying this from the perspective of all the churches I've ever observed in my life....Just think about it, America has become one of the major "Worship Arts" countries of the world. It has a endless amount of worship conferences, events, schools & universities that specialize in this area of music ministry. We don't even think twice about it. With these overflowing amounts of worship arts opportunities, American worship has sadly started to lose in genuineness, authenticity, and originality. What happened to simply worshiping Jesus for who HE IS? Sounds like a DUH question, but seriously, American worship has become this SICK competition...Which church has the best worship band? Which church has the best worship experiences? Which church has the most people attending music ministry events? It just DISGUSTS me.....In Macedonia, my dear brothers and sisters, they simply get together to WORSHIP JESUS. Why?...because there is very few churches, very few believers, they simply desire to grow close to God's heart. DO YOU realize that worship arts conferences & schools are still a VERY NEW concept in south eastern europe and europe in general???? and even without these things, my dear brothers and sisters still have the same passion as you and I to simply worship Jesus. Getting the privilege to meet each dear Macedonian, Serbian, Bosnian & Montenegren worship leading musician, and realize that they are bold and daring to start this music ministry passion in their countries, was so AMAZING, and such an honor. I look up to each of them and their passionate example that they set for the rest of the worship leading world...It leaves me SO SPEECHLESS.....
More Makedonian thoughts to come...<3
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