wfn.org | Macedonian among global delegates

[George Conklin <gconklin@igc.apc.org>]

SEARCH: United Methodist Church, General Conference,
international delegates, Macedonia, former Yugoslavia. 

003 {2867}                                   April 17, 1996

General Conference '96

Macedonian pastor among many global
delegates at General Conference

     DENVER (UMNS) -- For years, the Rev. Kitan Petreski knew
that if he preached on Sunday, he would be questioned by local
police on Monday about his sermon.

     That was a fact of life in the former Yugoslavia.

     These days, as United Methodist district superintendent for
an independent Macedonia, Petreski has much more freedom; but he
also has to deal with economic depression, ethnic clashes and
continuing political conflict.

     The 48-year-old pastor, clergy representative for the
Macedonia-Yugoslavia Annual Conference, is one of 138
international delegates participating in the United Methodist
General Conference here April 16-26.

     Representing the denomination's six Central Conferences
outside the United States, the group is the church's largest
international delegation ever.

     In addition to Central Conference delegates, there are 33
delegates from affiliated autonomous Methodist churches, 10 from
other partner denominations, and two United Methodist observers
from Russia. Translation services are being offered at the
conference in eight languages, ranging from Spanish to Swahili.

     United Methodism currently is experiencing its fastest
membership growth in the Central Conferences. By the end of 1994,
more than 1.5 million of the denomination's 10.2 million members
worldwide were from outside the United States.

     As West Ohio Bishop Judith Craig pointed out in her April 16
episcopal address, "Every day, new professions of faith are made
in chapels, house churches, cathedrals and open air meetings
around the world."

     Petreski, whose grandfather was a staunch Russian Orthodox,
made his own profession of faith as a teenager. A local Methodist
pastor was his mentor and helped him get admitted to a Baptist
theological school in northern Yugoslavia in 1964.

     He served as pastor in several churches, including a two-
point charge near his birthplace from 1975 to 1990. After the
continual government harassment of those years, Petreski said he
finds it hard to adjust to the fact that United Methodists now
can witness their faith in the streets.

     "Democracy in our situation is so new we cannot really
understand it," he explained. Macedonia became independent in
1991.

     Since being appointed district superintendent in 1993 by
Bishop Heinrich Bolleter, he has helped Macedonia add two new
congregations to its 10 existing churches. One of those
congregations is specifically for gypsies, an ethnic group that
faces widespread discrimination there.

     Petreski -- who also was a delegate at the 1988 General
Conference in St. Louis -- believes there was a period of time
when the European church "was left aside" by U.S. United
Methodists.

     But he expressed satisfaction about improved global
relationships across the church in recent years. "The connection
is returning back, which makes me joyful," he said.

                             #  #  #

                                        --Linda Bloom
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