God Is Alive and Active In Albania
The Church is getting stronger in this formerly communist country.
(Tirana, Albania)—God is no longer "dead" in Albania, and with this news come heartening information that lots of its people are now making decisions there on a daily basis for a new life in Christ. So says a Mission Insider Report from Christian Aid Mission. The report recounted that shortly after World War II, Albania was officially declared to be the world's first atheistic state and that the Marxist dictator, Enver Hoxha, had claimed to murder God, which he called his greatest achievement.
The report says that by mid-1967, all religious institutions had relinquished their churches, mosques, cloisters, and shrines to the government, as Article 37 of the Albanian Constitution, 1967, stated, "The State recognizes no religion, and supports and carries out atheistic propaganda in order to implant a scientific materialistic world outlook in people."
But after the death of Hoxha in 1985, the reverse became the case and by1992 new churches were planted and new ministries were started.
"In view of the fact that the Albanian church is now 18 years old and acknowledging that we have some 'milk' books, but no 'meat' ones, our aim is to translate great books from our long heritage of Christian literature. This will give a stronger foundation to mature Christians—especially in church leadership," says an Albanian Translation Ministries (ATM) leader.
