Marking Three Years of Broadcasting the Gospel in Albania

Three years ago this month, we began sharing the Good News of Christ with listeners in Albania and neighboring Kosovo.

“Imagine living in an environment where steps had been taken to attempt to remove any sense of spirituality from the culture,” said Director Don Shenk. “A place where church buildings, temples, mosques or any other type of religious structure was either destroyed or renovated for other use. For almost 30 years, Albania was such a place. Under the communist regime, the authorities in Albania went so far as to remove the word ‘God’ from their dictionaries. But this all changed during the 1990s, and today Albania is open to missionaries and allows total religious freedom.”

However, Shenk added, less than 1 percent of the entire population of Albania embraces evangelical Christianity. The Tide broadcasts through the ministry partner Radio 7 are making inroads with potential and new believers in this predominantly Muslim nation.

In January 2015, we began producing and airing Christians radio programs in the Albanian language through the Radio 7 partnership and local pastors. These programs, titled “Sipas Fjales,” meaning “According to the Word,” are being used as a church planting tool as pastors make disciples of listeners who respond to the Gospel.

“I listen to Radio 7 every day and it is a big blessing for me,” said Djana, who lives in the capital city of Tirana. “My favorite program is ‘Sipas Fjales’ with Pastor K. It is simple to understand and it helps my faith to grow. I often listen to the program on our lunch break with my colleagues. None of them are believers but since listening to the program began to have an interest on spiritual life. Thank you for this tool to reach many people with the Gospel. Our city needs this radio program.”

Last year, The Tide ministry began offering programming in its 25th heart language—Isaan, spoken by 19 million people in Thailand. This initiative allows Thailand to join multiple regions of Albania, Bhutan, India, Kosovo, Nepal, Nigeria and Zimbabwe, where The Tideministry is already active in broadcasting gospel radio programming—in the languages people were born to speak.

See what else we’re doing in Albania.

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