wfn.org | Methodists make for small but visible group in Macedonia

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

July 8, 2002        News media contact: Linda Bloom7(212) 870-38037New York
10-21-71B{287}

NOTE: This report is a sidebar to UMNS story #286.

By United Methodist News Service

Statistically, United Methodists comprise a tiny percentage of a Macedonian
population where the majority is Orthodox, followed by a strong Muslim
minority.

Through 13 churches and a charge conference, the denomination serves a
constituency of about 6,000 people. But the church's social service work and
most prominent layman, Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski, make it known
outside its membership. 

Because the churches are not in the northern section of the country, where
last year's conflict with Albanian rebels took place, they were not in the
line of fire, according to the Rev. Peter Siegfried, an executive with the
United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, who most recently visited
Macedonia in May. "But they welcomed a number of refugees and also Albanians
who had to flee the area," he said.

The center of Methodism in Macedonia, according to Siegfried, is in
Strumica. One of the church's few ordained elders, the Rev. Milhail Cekov,
is based there, and his wife, Christina, is the national leader for United
Methodist women's work. The new building for the United Methodist Church in
Strumica, built in the 1980s, draws 100 to 150 people to worship each Sunday
and serves a constituency of more than 1,000 people.

When Macedonia gained its independence in 1991, the Strumica church was able
to renew its social and humanitarian work. After three years of negotiations
with the local government over the return of property, the church received a
piece of land. A social center, financed by the Austrian government, was
completed on that land in 2000 to house the church's various activities. The
newest programs include a "Meals on Wheels" service, delivering a hot meal
to 50 elderly and poor people five days a week, and a ministry with disabled
children and their parents. 

The new social center is named after Ellen Stone, a former missionary in the
area. She was part of a group of women referred to as "Bible Women,"
Siegfried explained, because they distributed Bibles. But the women also
were involved in social work, particularly in literacy programs for
Macedonian women who did not attend school. 

A missionary from the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, Carol
Partridge, also is based in Strumica. A former Peace Corps volunteer in
Macedonia, she now is involved in leadership development and activities for
women, children and youth, including camps and language training for women.

In the nearby village of Murtino, one-third of the population - 167
households, representing roughly 1,000 people - is affiliated with the
United Methodist congregation. The church building, in the center of the
village next to the Orthodox church, was constructed during the communist
regime. The Rev. Salvco Asmanov told Siegfried that many of those who join
the church are children and young people.

As in other villages and cities, the congregation has its own cemetery
because the Orthodox did not allow "heretics" to be buried in its
graveyards.

A young couple, Uliana and Georgi Mileski, serve as lay preachers for the
United Methodist Church in Monospitova, which draws about 100 on Sunday
mornings. Siegfried said their goal is to reach out to neighboring villages
as well.

The United Methodist congregation in Kolecino, which averages a weekly
worship attendance of 120 to 150 people, is unusual in that most of the
worshippers are men, he added. In the Orthodox Church, for example, women
make up the majority of congregants. 

United Methodists also have two churches in Skopje, the capital.

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United Methodist News Service
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