' If you want to win this world for Christ - you are going to have to sit in the smoking section

Well..... your guest writer for the day is ..... me ....petersjohn. Steve is busy preparing his stuff for the youth meeting tonight. It promises to be a blast ..music...drama...and the gospel. I'm allowed to attend (Feta ... local oldest man in church goes..so ..why not me?)

So far I'm catching the flavour of Steve's impressions of his stay here. I have to say he's quite perceptive (but those of you who've been here will probably have gathered that from previous blogs)

The usual leadership trait when we visit is to eat, talk, drink, talk, meet, talk , walk, talk and sleep. Then on Sunday morning we are asked to talk again. But it's good to talk. So far with Steve the conversation has been about stuff here but also about incarnational church. Why? Because we are both reading books about it. Me ... 'The Shaping of Things to Come' Steve... 'Organic church.'


On the ground and in practice we went a restaurant 'Old Hani' a kind of coach house in the Old Town. We arrived to the sound of a wedding in the other half of Old Hani (Hani means 'eat'). Kosovans do like a party - a loud one. We sat down at around 7.30pm hardly anyone there. Good food and wine (Russell please note) conversed, sorted out the future for the church in Gjacove then as wewere about to go (9.30) the locals turned out in force. Life is about two /three hours later than in the UK.

We paid the bill - whilst I muttered a complaint to Steve about the guy on the next table and his smoking going, it seemed, totally in my direction. As we were about leave, his two guests arrived (wife and neice) and he proceeded to invite us over for a drink! Duly humbled (me) we accepted and I had a water (honest!) and Steve a coffee. The guy spoke a smattering of English whilst Steve took his opportunity to practice his Albanian.

At this point I have to comment that Steve does take every opportunity to practice his Albanian despite that fact that most people here want to practice their English on him!

So .... we conversed..or Steve did. With the racket from the wedding I couldn't hear the guy clearly and just nodded(an age thing) Steve charmingly engaged the two ladies who overwhelmed him with kindness about his grasp of the language (that.. I think was a motherly smotherly thing)

We got into the explanation that we were here from a church in the UK. they said 'what sort?' - locally that would usually be either Catholic or orthodox. The wife who is a hairdresser and nominal Catholic said she had a couple of saints in the shop (pictures). We are now all one - religiously of course.

At this point the conversation wrapped up as their dinner arrived and we decided to take our leave after exchanging the usual extensive farewells (and phone numbers) plus Steve invited them to a church party.

As we headed home on foot we discussed the meeting which was clearly 'incarnational' and for us 'not just hearing but doing' The title above sums it up really. Being a Christian - incarnationally speaking to quote Leonard Sweet (in Steve's book) 'If the church isn't willing to get its hands (or lungs) dirty it won't have a hearing'

Jesus came sacrificially to serve, love and win the lost through building a relationship with us.