The Balkan Call is a regional ministry of prayer and reconciliation that began in 2016. It gathers Christians united in prayer for peace, forgiveness, freedom and love in the Balkan region…
1. What is the vision of the Balkan Call? Since when does it exist?
The vision for the Balkan Call was given by God as part of the answer to this question: “Lord, what will it take to see complete transformation and change in the Balkan region?” The first answer was: “The key to breakthrough is prayer.” Then about 2012 God said: “Balkan Call - prepare for a call that I am going to release to the Church in the Balkans.” In 2016 the Lord said that now was the time for the Balkan Call. He gave us a picture and a scripture. The picture is One Holy Temple of the Lord rising up from the Balkans and Turkey. The scripture is Ephesians 2.
He said to call the church from across the Balkan nations to come together for 3 days to seek Him, to worship Him, to sit at His feet, and He will teach us, speak to us, and work in us. From the first Balkan Call he said that the church and believers must stop cursing one another and instead should humble themselves, repent and forgive one another thereby practicing the ministry of reconciliation within the household of God and we should bless and love one another. We did not know how to do any of this but God began to teach us.
FOTO: balkancall.org
2. How did everything start and why? How many of you are in the team?
This started like many things do in our walk with God while living our lives on this earth. A group of people became desperate and started praying and crying out to God. It goes as far back to the Balkan wars that happened in 1998/99 in Kosovo and Serbia and then in Macedonia in 2001. God – how can we see an end to these wars, for healing to come, and for lives and nations to be changed? God said it must begin with my Church, the body of Christ. There can be no division and no unforgiveness in my family and in my house of prayer. My people are hurt and they feel pain from their losses and I know that, but if they come to me I will take their pain and heal them. (Isaiah 53:4) Then they must also repent of their sin and be willing to forgive their neighbour even as I have forgiven them. (Forgive one another: Ephesians 4:32, Matthew 6:9-15, Colossians 3:13, Mark 11:25)
The Balkan Call is more of a family than a team. Everything in the Balkan Call ministry happens organically. The members of this family are anybody in the body of Christ in the Balkan region who is desperate for the presence of God, who hears His voice of repentance and forgiveness, who is willing to cross the border of their country to reach out and reconcile with their brother and sister on the other side, and who is hungry for revival.
We do have a group of servant leaders who are national believers from different Balkan nations and lead in different ways. They meet for prayer regularly to hear from God and move according to His commands.
3. How many Balkan Call meetings have there been so far and in which countries?
There have been 6 Balkan Call’s so far. As well there have been multiple “Prayer on the Borders” events and the Via Egnatia prayer walk.
2016: Balkan Call #1: Skopje, N. Macedonia
2017: Balkan Call #2: Tirana, Albania
2018: Balkan Call #3: Pristina, Kosovo
2018: Prayer on the Borders (Lake Prespa) - 3 day prayer gathering with Greece, N. Macedonia, Albania (March)
2019: Balkan Call #4: Thessaloniki, Greece
2020: Balkan Call #5: Sofia, Bulgaria
2021: Via Egnatia - prayer walking from the coast of Albania to N. Macedonia border (200km) to 2022 from N. Macedonia to the Greek border (100Km), 2023 from Greek border to Thessaloniki (200km)
2022: Prayer on the Borders - 1 day gathering Albania and North Macedonia (Albanian: Qafë Thanë; Macedonian: Ќафасан)
2022: Balkan Call #6: Istanbul, Turkey
2023: Prayer on the Borders - on border of Greece and N. Macedonia at Gevgelija (April)
2023: Prayer on the Borders – N. Macedonia and Bulgaria (Sept. 30)
FOTO: balkancall.org
4. What made each individual event special?
We asked God how is that going to happen and he gave us the instructions which make the Balkan Call something special from the Lord and for the Lord: 1. Call believers from every Balkan nation to attend. 2. Organize extended time of worship with teams from many Balkan nations and languages and take time to wait for me. 3. Invite me to heal people's hearts and give their pain to me. 4. Invite people to repent, ask forgiveness, and be reconciled to me and one another. 5. Have time of encouragement, fellowship, and biblical exhortation. 6. Have time of all the nations blessing one another. 7. Set up a 24/7 prayer room for 4 days when the fire on my altar will not go out.
5. Could you list some fruits of the events so far?
In every Balkan Call we have seen the fruits of reconciliation. The biggest witness of that is people get set free from their pain and unforgiveness in their heart. One year we had a group of sisters from Bulgaria who attended the Balkan Call in Albania. The Lord delivered them from fear from Albanians and bad attitude towards them. They told us the Lord told them to go to Albania but they were afraid to go. But the Lord persevered and they finally came. They said that after being in the place of worship with all the Albanians that the Lord delivered them of their fear and bad attitudes and now they have love in their hearts for Albanians. Another year we had a brother from Germany join us who was kicked out of Turkey after serving there for many years. He was heart-broken. He testified that after being at the Balkan Call the Lord totally healed him and restored his heart. He said God now gave him a new heart for both the Balkans and Turkey like never before! Another fruit of the Balkan Call is the “prayer on the borders”. We know that there is tension on every border in the Balkans. So now the Lord is leading the believers in neighbouring nations to meet at the border for united worship, prayer, repentance, communion, and even washing feet of one another. With this we see the curse between the nations overcome by blessing released from the believers in each nation. Between the nations of Greece and N. Macedonia we have seen profound changes that even affected the politicians! We can recommend this video about “Prayer on the Borders 2018”
FOTO: balkancall.org
6. Why Croatia and the main goals of the event in Croatia?
The main goals are the same for every Balkan Call. This is quite simply that the Church would come together in repentance, forgiveness, and unity to release a blessing over one another. By doing this we break the curse of war, fighting, and unforgiveness that is over every Balkan nation, even Croatia, because of all that has happened in the past. We invite believers from every Christian background to come together at the foot of the cross and humble ourselves
before Jesus. It is there we find mercy, forgiveness, and healing that only comes from Him. The Church in the Balkans needs Croatia and Croatia needs the family of God in all the other Balkan nations. The only way to make this happen is to invite the Church in the Balkans to come to Croatia so together we can be reconciled and reunited as one family in Christ.
7. What are the reactions so far? Have you encountered support in Croatia?
Since February of this year, 2023, we started reaching out to pastors, leaders, and churches around the nation. The invitation of the Balkan Call is from the spirit of God Himself. Some pastors told us that there is a lot of division in the Church in Croatia and between believers. They said unity is needed but many admitted they were tired or didn’t know how to achieve it. But the more we shared the testimonies of what God has done through the Balkan Call we began to see more and more people get interested to attend the Balkan Call. So we are very hopeful that God will impress many believers from around Croatia to come and take part in this very historic gathering.
FOTO: balkancall.org
8. Are you planning to come to Croatia before the event? What is the regular course of preparations?
The Balkan Call is like an offering to the Lord. We take very serious all of the preparations. We have been coming with teams of different Balkan believers to Croatia since February. We travelled around and prayed with many people. We will come 3 days before the event to pray and prepare spiritually. Many from our team will be fasting for many days in advance. Then we will set up a 24/7 prayer room at the main venue which will start 24hours before the Balkan Call and run for almost 75 hours continuously. This is to raise a banner of prayer over the Balkan Call gathering. All of these things are what the Lord instructed us to do.
9. What is your main inspiration? Is the victory of ‘good’ possible?
There is only one inspiration and that is to please, to honour, and obey Jesus. He came to reconcile man to God and in 2 Corinthians 5 we are now ministers of reconciliation and we must be reconciled and carry this message:
18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
We must exhort the Church to obey these commands of Jesus so that we can be a witnesses to the world:
Love One Another – John 13:34-35
34“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Forgive One Another – Matthew 6:12
12 Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
The 'victory' will be when we see ourselves as God says He wants to make us in Ephesians 2:21-22. Here God says that He is building us into ONE HOLY TEMPLE where He can dwell. If we can see that happen then we have done something that will give great joy to the heart of God.
FOTO: balkancall.org
10. What would you say to the Croats and everyone who will come to Balkan Call 2023 in Croatia?
We would say that we, the Church in the Balkans love and need you in order us to be healthy and whole. You, as a people and a culture carry something unique and special! And you, Croatia, need the rest of the Church in the Balkans because we also have something special that will make you healthy and whole.
We would say to you, COME and receive the healing that Jesus wants to give you and the blessing that the Church in the Balkans wants to give you.
We would say to you, COME, and you will experience the love and presence of God as you have never experienced it before.
11. Where one can apply and register for the event?
Anyone can apply at the Balkan Call website: www.balkancall.org
Or go directly to the registration link: www.balkancall.org/event/balkan-call-2023/
If you have a financial need you can request scholarship up to 50%. We want everyone who wants to come to be there. If you have any questions you can send email to: friends@balkancall.org
Thank you and see you at the 7th Balkan Call, November 24-26 2023 in Zagreb, Croatia!