ATLANTA – When the Albania House in Athens opens in June, it will be the culmination of joint efforts between Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Global Missions field personnel, churches and individuals.
Global Missions field personnel Bob and Janice Newell have relied on financial, volunteer and prayer support from many Fellowship Baptists in order to launch a new ministry to more than 500,000 Albanians living in Athens, where Albanian immigrants are often oppressed or ignored members of society.
The Albania House in Athens will be known as PORTA, which means "door" in Albanian and Greek. In the spirit of opening doors of opportunity and hospitality, Porta will be a culture and reconciliation center for Albanian immigrants in Greece, where many Albanians fled following the collapse of communism in the early 1990s. The mass immigrant influx prompted a backlash of denying many Albanians access to Greek social services. Consequently, many Albanians living in Greece are an oppressed minority. In contrast, AHA will be a welcoming environment where relationships can form between Albanians and Greeks.
"Consistent with the Albanian tradition of trust and the pervasive influence of hospitality among Albanian people, PORTA’s facilities and programs will welcome Albanian immigrants, affirm their ethnic identity, provide a trustworthy setting where they can learn about Christ and his church, receive practical care, build respectful relationships with Greeks, as well as network to enhance their experiences in a new setting," Bob said.
One PORTA hospitality touch is a cross stitch project, for which more than 60 Fellowship churches and individuals have produced handmade cross stitch gifts that read "Welcome" or "Jesus Loves You." The Newells hope to collect more than 500 of these gifts, which will be given to Albanians who visit PORTA. This summer, members of a senior adult group from First Baptist Church of College Station, Texas, hand-delivered 50 cross stitch gifts with promises to mail more by the April 2007 deadline.
Bob and Ann Peck of Houston, Texas, are two volunteers who will travel to Athens in May to help frame the cross stitch gifts. Through their church, the Pecks have helped Albanian immigrants beginning in the late 1990s as many Albanians fled from war in Kosovo. Their support of "AHA is another manifestation of a continuing commitment to these people," Bob Peck said.
Also with a history of concern for Balkan peoples, Cindy and Ric Stewart of Biloxi, Miss., support the Newells’ ministry "to express the love of Jesus to the displaced Albanians in Athens in a way in which we strongly believe Jesus intends," Ric said.
Launching in June with a prayer emphasis, PORTA will be busy with activity. There will be scrap-booking classes for women, watercolor classes, a reconciliation conference, hand bell concerts, emphases on marriage enrichment and parenting, English classes, Vacation Bible Schools and sports camps, and a six-week art exhibition highlighting Albanian artists. Many of these activities will be led by volunteers from Fellowship partner churches, local missionaries or other CBF Global Missions field personnel.
"PORTA will come to symbolize a movement which serves as a hospitality, community social service and reconciliation resource for Albanian immigrants in Athens," Janice said.
Support PORTA and the Newells' ministry by contributing to the CBF Offering for Global Missions. To give, go to www.thefellowship.info/involved/give/ogm.icm. To learn about other ways to be involved in the Newells' work, contact Matt Norman at (770) 220-1609 or mnorman@thefellowship.info.
CBF is a fellowship of Baptist Christians and churches who share a passion for the Great Commission and a commitment to Baptist principles of faith and practice. The Fellowship’s mission is to serve Christians and churches as they discover and fulfill their God-given mission.