Croatian Evangelical Alliance Held its 7th General Assembly in Zagreb

The Croatian Evangelical Alliance held its 7th General Assembly in Zagreb on Saturday, September 15. Representatives from all over Croatia came to this important event in the life of the Alliance that is constituted by Baptist Union of Croatia, Evangelical-Pentecostal Churches of Croatia, Churches of Christ and God’s Churches. The Croatian Evangelical Alliance (PEV) was established in 1992, after the proclamation of independence of Croatia from Yugoslavia.

This year’s assembly had several items on the agenda. The Promotion of the final Cape Town 2010 document, translated into Croatian and distributed among delegates and their local churches. The proclamation of the new statutes of the Alliance; and thanking Josip Jendricko, the Bishop of God’s Church, who retired after serving as the President of the Alliance for eight years and inauguring the new President, Giorgio Grlj, the pastor of the Rijeka Baptist Church.

The assembly was led by the Alliance General Secretary, Mladen Jovanovic, who introduced several speakers:

• Peter Kuzmic, one of the founders of the Lausanne Movement, spoke about importance of Cape Town Commitment in light of almost 40 years of the Movement.
• Mladen Jovanovic, Secretary General of the Alliance spoke on the history and achievements of the Alliance in these past 20 years in bringing Christians from different churches into unity in Christ and the recognition Croatian churches have attained with the government of Croatia. The Croatian Alliance is open toward all Christian constituencies which are willing to work together toward unity of the Body of Christ in Croatia.
• Giorgio Grlj spoke about the Cape Town Commitment as the document consisted of two parts: ‘belief and action, framed in language of love, appealing to proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in effective and practical way, considering all aspects of human life.’
• Kresimir Simic and Danijel Berkovic presented the Commitment as a practical and usable tool, and ‘a prophet voice to (Croatian) church movements that should recognize it as the platform for their actions” (KS) and which ‘every (Croatian) reader should apply in his/hers immediate context’ (DB)

Several future events were announced, such as Nick Vujicic’s upcoming visit to Zagreb and Rijeka in September. Philip Yancey’s visit to Zagreb in October; and the Global Leadership Summit in November also in Zagreb  

The Association of Croatian Christian Veterans was presented, with the purpose to serve those who suffer from depression. The Student Evangelical Movement (STEP) had their presentation too.

The new President of the Croatian Evangelical Alliance, Giorgio Grlj, awarded recognition to the former President, Bishop Josip Jendricko for his eight years of service.

This event was covered by Croatian National Television, Channel 1 on the same day, and the special report will be broadacast on the same channel this Saturday, September 22. Several daily papers published PEV’s press release, and Giorgio Grlj has been interviewed by the Croatian Public Radio.

Mladen Jovanovic
Secretary General
Croatian Evangelical Alliance (PEV)
 

Mladen Jovanovic speaks at the 7th General Assembly of the Croation Evangelical Alliance.

The new president Giorgio Grlj (left) honors Josip Jendricko who served as president for the past eight years.