Report on visit to Macedonia: 30 April – 4 May 2009
Together with my wife Anne and the Europe Secretary in the Connexional Team, Colin Ride, I was invited to visit the United Methodist Church in Macedonia. The itinerary was organised by Rev Wilfried Nauser, the Superintendent of the Macedonia Circuit, and he, together with his wife Jean, travelled with us on a 500 mile journey around the country.
Macedonia has a long and proud history. For centuries it has been dominated by neighbouring countries and empires and only gained independence in 1991 following the break up of Yugoslavia. The difficult relationship with neighbouring Greece, who continue to object to the use of the name Macedonia without qualification, continues to have a major impact on the country, limiting it’s aspiration to join the European Union, limiting trade, and preventing its citizens travelling freely. It is a small land-locked country with a population of 2 million, a quarter living in the capital Skopje. Whilst there is evidence of development in the major towns, unemployment remains at nearly 40% and the country has one of the lowest per capita GDP in Europe. Almost 2/3rd of the country belong to the Macedonian Orthodox Church whilst 1/3rd are Muslim, most being ethnic Albanians. The United Methodist Church is a small minority with around 4000 members spread across 13 congregations.
We travelled directly to Strumica, a small town in the south of the country around which most of the Methodist work is centred. We were welcomed by Mihail and Christina Cekov to the Miss Stone Centre. Mihail is a minister in Strumica and has led many of the developments within the UMC in Macedonia.
The Miss Stone Centre is a modern building and is the centre for a variety of activities, not least the “Meals on Wheels” programme led by its Director Mitko Konev, a former National in Mission Appointment. They provide just over 100 hot meals a day for some of the poorest members of the local community. Religious affiliation or ethnicity is no barrier to those who receive meals. A few recipients pay a small contribution to the meals but most are given free. As important is the personal daily contact offered by the meals on wheels team, and they also help with clothes and firewood when necessary. This is a vital service and witness in a country where there is little or no state organised social support. Most have to rely on families, but this can cause major problems when family ties break down. The work at the Miss Stone Centre featured on a recent Macedonian TV documentary.
The following day we visited 4 of the churches in and around Strumica. We were warmly greeted by their ministers and lay pastors. We heard many stories of overcoming adversity, particularly during the years of communist rule. Local Methodists told of how they managed to build and rebuild their churches despite the many obstacles placed in their way. In one instance this meant many local villagers turning out at midnight to repair a church wall and roof because permission would not be given for the necessary work to be done by the local communist officials. By the time informants had reported what was happening the work was completed.
As we left the church in Kolaschino, we were greeted by Vilma Trajkovski, the wife of the former President of Macedonia Boris Trajkovski, who was tragically killed in a plane crash in 2004. Methodists remain extremely proud of this man who emerged from their small community.
All 4 of the churches appear to be thriving with children’s and youth work, women’s groups and weekly Bible groups in addition to the two Sunday services in each church. There is a strong lay leadership within the churches but also a hope that more young people will hear a call to ordained ministry. Currently, in addition to the newly appointed Superintendent, Revd Wilfried Nauser, who will have pastoral oversight of the church in Skopje as well as working within the developing Methodist Church in neighbouring Albania, there are only 2 other ordained presbyters and one deacon in the country.
We had hoped to be able to visit the Methodist work in Albania but our travels were restricted because of the border checks imposed by the Macedonian health department to limit the spread of H1N1 (swine) flu. We had been checked for signs of infection on entry to the country at Skopje airport and had had to attend for a follow up review in a local clinic in Strumica. We were fortunate then that Christina Cekov was able to arrange what was required, but this would not have been possible to do again should we briefly leave the country to go to Albania. However Wilfried and Jean Nauser were able to give us a good insight to the developing Methodist Church there which had many parallels to the challenges facing the church in Macedonia.
On Sunday we travelled 2 hours from Skopje to worship with the Church in Kocani. Our visit coincided with a youth weekend that brought together over 30 teenagers from across Macedonia. Kocani has a majority Roma population and this is reflected in the congregation of the church. The United Methodist Church in Macedonia has a long history of challenging the widespread discrimination and deeply held prejudice to Roma people, the majority of whom live in the poorest part of Macedonian towns and cities. The Church in Kocani has spent 20 difficult years fighting the consequence of this prejudice and only in the last 5 years has it had the security of their own building.
With the support of an ecumenical collection in Austria, the church has recently been extensively expanded and can now offer accommodation to the young minister Marjan Dimov, his wife Verica and their daughter as well as meeting rooms for other activities. I was able to preach and bring greetings from the Methodist Church in Britain. We were then invited to the home of one of the oldest members of the congregation who told us more about the difficulties the church had faced over the last 2 decades.
On our final day we visited the church in Skopje. This was built following a major earthquake in 1963, and again a similar story of the difficulties of building a church in a communist country could be told, this time directly involving an intervention by former Yugoslav President Tito. Now they have a modern and earthquake-proof church that will also be the home for Wilfried and Jean Nauser as they start to work with a church that has had no ordained minister for the last 9 years.
We encountered a small church that has overcome many challenges, remained faithful to a calling to work alongside the marginalised and vulnerable and become stronger as a result. In a country where many of the previous barriers to development have been removed, it has great hope for the future.
Richard Vautrey
5.5.09