Kraljevo, south of Belgrade was reportedly fire-bombed amid claims of a "smear-campaign" to halt the spread of evangelical Christianity in the Balkan republic.
Pastor Alexander Vitakic from the Evangelical Church in Kraljevo, 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of the capital Belgrade, told Mission Network News (MNN) that "some people destroyed our window with a stone and then they put in a petrol-bomb and set our premises on fire," in recent days. "It looks like a horror movie," he said.
Vitakic said it was not an isolated incident. "In June, we experienced an attack on our church with stones, but this is much, much, much worse. We cannot believe that this could happen in our city and to our church." Another church about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Belgrade was also vandalized with rocks, he said.
Vitakic and other leaders believe evangelical churches are being targeted after what they describe as "a media smear campaign" allegedly orchestrated by some radical elements from the main Orthodox Church, who fear to lose ground to the expanding evangelical churches. They say, "We are sects, that we are evil, that we are destroying Serbian identity," the pastor added. There were no signs that arrests were made Friday, December 22.
CHRISTIANITY SPREADING
It comes amid signs of a growing interest in Christianity, including among Gypsies, who prefer to be known as Roma, the most impoverished group in Serbia and elsewhere in the Balkans. In a statement, the international Christian broadcaster Trans World Radio (TWR) said it has begun producing the program ‘Shalom Romalen’, or ‘Peace be to the Roma’ people. It was broadcast on eight local FM radio stations and in October began airing on an AM frequency.
The programming is effective, said TWR’s director of Central and Eastern Europe, Branko Bjelajac, as "The largest (evangelical) church in Serbia is the Romani church.: He told MNN that TWR has "founded and built several churches. We have seen the fruit of the radio program. "
In addition it has distributed 500 solar powered radios tuned to 1548 AM frequency among Roma in southern Serbia where they are often lacking electricity.
Bjelajac said the programs have an impact. "The administrators of cities are saying there’s less crime rate. There’s better employment. And, the situation in the cities between the Serbian and Romani population is getting better because of the affects of the evangelical church around them."
WORK EXPANDING
Despite opposition, evangelical workers are also expanding in neighboring Croatia. The World Bible Translation Center (WBTC) said the first 11,000 copies of the new Croatian Easy to Read New Testament was printed and made available at an early-December ceremony, MNN
said.
There have been more requests, but WBTC said it was unable to import the Bibles as due to current Croatian laws they must be printed within the country. There is limited competition among printers, which forces the printing costs higher. However WBTC believes it will be able to provide a Bible to anyone who needs one, MNN reported.
Analysts have linked the growing interest in Christianity in the Balkans to the search for spirituality and peace after years of wars across the region which led to total break-up of Yugoslavia. An estimated 250,000 people died in the conflict and millions of people, including Christians, were displaced. (With BosNewsLife Monitoring and reports from the region).
