‘Are you Santa?’ child asked missionary_122203

Posted: 12/19/03

'Are you Santa?' child asked missionary

By Melanie Kieve

CBF Communications

SKOPJE, Macedonia–“Are you Santa Claus?”

That's what Serxhane, an 11-year-old Albanian orphan, asked Cooperative Baptist Fellowship missionary Rick Shaw, after receiving textbooks from CBF volunteers.

But according to Shaw, it wasn't the gift as much as God's love demonstrated through giving that created the mistaken identity.

“I told the young Albanian that like (Santa), we love people–especially the children of the world,” he said.

Serxhane was one of 500 children who received textbooks, along with backpacks and school supplies. The textbook project was part of the Shaws' ongoing ministry among orphan and indigent children in Skopje and surrounding villages, made possible by the Fellowship's 2003-04 Global Missions Offering.

The children who received textbooks are either orphaned or have only one parent who is employed. Most are ethnic Albanians who face discrimination and lack of educational and employment opportunities in Macedonia.

“Many of the children are very bright and … dream of a better life,” but they face obstacles to learning such as having to provide their own books, said Shaw's wife, Martha. “You can imagine what a challenge this is when no one in the home is working.”

When Highland Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky., learned of the textbook shortage, members quickly responded. They spread the word to other CBF churches, while the Shaws contacted churches in the Balkan region. In all, more than $40,000 was raised.

Two Texas churches participated in the project–Trinity Baptist Church of Harker Heights and Memorial Drive Baptist Church of Houston.

In August, three Highland members and one member of Calvary Baptist Church in Lexington, Ky., traveled to Skopje, where they distributed textbooks and visited in schools and orphans' homes. They were joined by several local Albanian and Macedonian church members.

Since the volunteers' return, Highland Baptist has discovered many Albanians live in Louisville. The church hosted a Thanksgiving meal for local Albanians as part of an emerging cultural exchange-oriented ministry, said team member Phil Collier, an attorney and lay leader.

“Our church has been energized by this project,” Collier said. “We have become more missions-oriented, with a large percentage of our members becoming involved in missions work and justice issues.”

The CBF Global Missions Offering, with the theme “Everyone Everywhere, Being the Presence of Christ,” encourages this kind of personal missions involvement, along with prayer and financial support.

The offering's importance to ministries among Albanians cannot be underestimated, Martha Shaw said. It “provides funding for us to be here, to establish ministries among orphans and widows, and to communicate with CBF constituency churches and other churches the Albanian story. The offering is the financial foundation of our presence in the Balkans among Albanians. Without it, we could not be here.”

In addition to the textbook project, the Shaws have developed other holistic, transformational ministries alongside Albanians, including English as a Second Language classes; clothing, food, medicine, firewood and heater distribution; medical care arrangement and financing; church starting and discipling; human rights advocacy; sewage system installation in villages; and prison ministries.

“Our goal is to guide Albanians to see the gospel as powerful, real and relevant to their lives and culture,” Mrs. Shaw said.