“Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” (John 13:35, NLT)
In the years since Croatia’s break from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, evangelical Christians in the country have both enjoyed and endured a burgeoning of religious expression. And with this newfound freedom, the question has now become how to sincerely pursue and promote a belief in Jesus while living in a culture where a saving relationship with Christ is largely perceived as a betrayal of the identity that roughly 20,000 Croat soldiers bravely sacrificed their lives to create.
Prior to the Croatian War of Independence (1991-1995), religious expression for many Croats mirrored the lives of the many other cultures and ethnicities of Yugoslavia—there wasn’t any personal expression. Individuality was a casualty of the socialist communist ideology that ruled the region, and when Yugoslavia’s six republics splintered into six independent states, religious, cultural and ethnic identities became unifying factors in creating new nations freed from communist fetters. In Croatia then, it soon became cemented that to be Croatian was to be Roman Catholic. And while the country’s new constitution protects religious freedoms, it isn’t unusual to face public or familial scorn for professing a differing belief. In extreme cases, it could lead to beatings or being disowned.
The country’s Catholic identity (roughly 80 percent) is so central to the nation that even some of its economic veins run to and from the Vatican. Roman Catholicism is viewed as the one true church that alone offers salvation through the mediation of the saints. The adulation of the Virgin Mary is similarly emphasized. Evangelical Christianity is seen as a foreign import—one that, again, challenges an identity and expression the country has been built upon.
“Evangelical Christianity is seen as a foreign import—one that challenges an identity and expression the country has been built upon.”
Despite some of those hostilities and significant theological differences, evangelical Christians in Croatia have a heart for their people. Instead of attacking the differences, the core message evangelicals share is simply an invitation to know Jesus, the sole mediator for man before God.
To date, the two most effective means of sharing that invitation have been through the translation of the Bible into the contemporary Croatian language and through a building up of church groups who are bound by a commitment to love one another as Jesus commanded.
It was that genuine love and community that sparked a change in the heart of a young Croatian atheist back in the late 1980s.
Goran Medved spent the first 17 years of his life in Yugoslavia where his faith, or lack thereof, was hardly unusual. It wasn’t that his family and friends were opposed to religion—it just wasn’t important; it wasn’t talked about.
Throughout his teenage years, Medved became captivated with American movies and music, and by his junior year of high school, he’d determined that he’d spend his senior year as a foreign exchange student in the United States. To prepare for this adventure, he began taking English lessons at a Church of Christ ministry in Zagreb. American missionaries there used the Bible as a tool to help interested participants learn conversational English, and it was there that Medved became acquainted with one particular missionary who hailed from the small town (pop. 18,000) of Brownwood in Central Texas.
“It was that genuine love and community that sparked a change in the heart of a young Croatian atheist back in the late 1980s.”
In what felt like an extraordinary coincidence, Medved learned a few months later that his senior year of high school would be spent at a school in a small town in Central Texas: Brownwood.
When Medved arrived in Brownwood, religious sentiment still hadn’t quite found its way into his heart, and the missionary who’d shared the gospel with him had remained in Zagreb. The young Croatian teenager spent the next few months doing his best to adjust to living in the U.S.—no easy task as he found out. But a couple months later, he was reacquainted with a familiar face when the missionary returned from Zagreb and started bringing Medved to Sunday services at Austin Avenue Church of Christ.
It was there that Medved first started noticing that this small community of believers had something that he’d never experienced before. Over the next few months, he braved what he perceived to be the awkward singing and reading portions of service to become an integral member of the congregation’s youth group, and he heard for the first time “God speaking directly to [him].” Shortly after, he responded to the call to be baptized.
It was amazing for Medved to hear about a God who created him and sacrificed his Son for him; it was amazing to be part of a group of people who embraced him and loved him as though he were family.
“It was amazing to be part of a group of people who embraced him and loved him as though he were family.”
The words of Jesus raised the standards that Medved held himself to—and in word, thought, and deed he found himself wanting to be more and more like Christ.
After graduating from high school, Medved spent the next two years attending Central Christian College (in McPherson, KS) before transferring to Southern Nazarene University (Bethany, OK) to finish up his education. At both schools, he competed on the soccer teams and developed a strong desire to remain in the United States. But by the time he graduated, he felt God had placed a burden on his heart for the people back home in Eastern Europe.
When first returning to Croatia during summer breaks from school, Medved’s newfound spiritual fervor had been met with only light derision. His parents referred to him as their “Little Pope,” and he had an aunt who was firmly against his new beliefs.
But in the subsequent years after fully returning to Croatia in 1996, Medved was blessed to see his whole family start serving at the same small Church of Christ where he’d first been exposed to the gospel way back in high school. The vibrancy and sincerity of the evangelical faith was something that his family hadn’t seen before, and it struck a chord in their hearts as it had with Medved.
“The vibrancy and sincerity of the evangelical faith was something that his family hadn’t seen before.”
Even Medved’s own goal of serving in Croatia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also took a backseat as he joined the congregation’s staff as an assistant/youth minister. It was during this tenure that Medved first perceived the largest difference between church in America versus Croatia.
Such was the social/cultural toll on Croats who professed a Christian faith that church leaders were ecstatic to find and equip anyone who proclaimed Jesus to be his/her savior. The church in Croatia didn’t have the self-sufficiency of many of its American counterparts. The small Croat congregations truly needed and rejoiced at the involvement of each and every member.
Differences of opinion and expression were set aside for the greater goal of bringing people to the foot of the cross to meet Jesus. “Christ taught us to love each other,” Medved explained.
In 2012, Medved joined the team that translated the Bible into contemporary Croatian over the course of eight years through a partnership with Bible League International (Crete, IL). That Bible has been an integral part of the evangelical effort—a way for people to encounter the story of the Risen Christ for themselves.
“Differences of opinion and expression were set aside for the greater goal of bringing people to the foot of the cross to meet Jesus.”
In the years since completing his work on the translation team, Medved has partnered with the Bible Institute in Zagreb to produce faith-based content for local churches and individuals. Currently he’s working on a project that’s core question revolves around discipleship: How can the church better raise up workers for the harvest?
As he’s pondered this question, he’s fallen on a simple answer and a simple encouragement for the global church: to be obedient in following Jesus, especially when it comes to loving one another.
“I’ve noticed that when there is a fellowship of love in the church, there is an atmosphere where people can discuss their journey, express their doubts and have accountability. Loving relationships make for a good and healthy church.”
“Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.” (Ephesians 4:15-16, NLT)
“We will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ.”
Medved’s journey and encouragement speak to the transcendence of the Christian faith—the reality that the story and reflection of Christ’s love continue to penetrate hearts in every culture across any time. And while nations and people might have their differences, they all recognize a life that has been changed, a life that is called to serve more than itself and a life that challenges others to do the same.
All that to say that spreading the gospel in Croatia sounds basic; truthfully, it sounds biblical, coming as Paul did to the Corinthians with full reliance on the Spirit’s power rather than the speaker’s and focusing firmly on Christ himself (1 Corinthians 2:1-5).
In a similar fashion to Medved’s experience with believers, New Testament letters often, if not always, urged the church to display the bond of love in Christ with true and enduring sincerity.
Put simply, sharing the gospel has been and always will be about sharing and showing the love of Jesus.
This is not to say that the church in America doesn’t know this, nor that many faithful people don’t humbly live this out in the United States—but Scripture regularly calls us to remember because all too often we forget.
So, let each member of the body continue to humbly live out the Christian ethic, resting in the power and promises of the Risen King to grow his church and glorify his name.
