Home-grown pastors to serve Albanian United Methodists

By Kathleen LaCamera*

The modern United Methodist Church in Albania, with the help of United Methodists in former East Germany, began in 1998 by repairing local schools and sharing stories of the Christian faith. A UMNS photo by Frieder Weinhold.

BRATISLAVA, Slovak Republic (UMNS) - Albanian United Methodists have never had a pastor who spoke their language or who has grown up with their culture.

This tiny mission church has always relied on outsiders to help organize and lead their congregations. But that is about to change. Within a year, 23-year-old Rigels Kasmollari will finish his pastoral training and return to Albania to help lead the country's three United Methodist congregations.

Pastors from countries with small Methodist populations - such as Albania, Macedonia and Serbia - must go outside their countries for training. Kasmollari has had a year of German language instruction in Austria, followed by three more years in an Austrian Lutheran seminary.
There, he studied not only theology but also received social work training that will support his ministry with older adults, children and marginalized people. After one further internship year at a United Methodist church in Vienna, he will return home.

A second young pastor, Englantin Lushka, also will finish his pastoral education at the same time and will join Kasmollari in working with United Methodist congregations in Albania.

Facing challenges
Kasmollari was one of more than 1,000 people from across Europe who attended this year's European Methodist Festival Aug. 1-5 in Bratislava. Like many of his eastern European counterparts at the festival, he knows his country faces the huge challenges of high unemployment, poor access to education and lagging investment from the West.

Albania's repressive Cold War dictators left Albania one of the most technologically backward, isolated and poor countries in Europe - a legacy that continues to haunt the southeastern European country. Between 1990 and 2001, 20 percent of the population left. Some estimate that up to 30 percent of Albania's national income comes from those abroad sending money back to their families. A great tension exists in Albania between staying home and making a life abroad.

Into this hugely challenging set of circumstances step Kasmollari and Lushka as pastoral leaders supported by a district superintendent based in the South-Western Balkans and a bishop based in Switzerland.

"I hope I'm going to learn a lot in the next year as an intern," Kasmollari told United Methodist News Service.

United Methodist encounters
The modern United Methodist Church in Albania began in 1998 with the help of United Methodists in the former East Germany. They brought tables and chairs for schools in Kasmollari's rural mountain village of Bishnica and other villages. Then they started repairing the school buildings themselves. When locals asked why they kept coming, they talked about their Christian faith.

At age 13, Kasmollari began coming to United Methodist children's meetings, mostly out of curiosity. "I was interested in the Bible stories. I'd never heard them before, and it was something different," he remembered.

As he got older, he began to enjoy church life in his village, including fellowship with people from Western Europe. "I wanted to practice English, too," he acknowledged. "My parents allowed me to come to take part in dramas and different activities, and eventually my parents came too."

When he finished high school, he began a university course in psychology in Bulgaria but changed direction when United Methodists asked if he would consider studying theology.

"I said I'm not quite sure and it took some months to decide, but I decided to do it because the work of a pastor combines both faith and work with people," said Kasmollari. "I also talked to my family. My mother was impressed with my reasons and said 'we're behind you.'"

He hopes that now he, too, can be a witness to others in his homeland. "Becoming a Christian did not make a better man out of me. I had ups and downs in my faith. … But I became a rebel for the rights and the dignity of every single person," he said.

'A mission situation'
Urs Schweizer is the assistant to Zurich-based United Methodist Bishop Patrick Streiff, who oversees The United Methodist Church in Albania. Schweizer describes the church there as "a mission situation," noting that one of the most pressing tasks for a tiny denomination is to obtain legal status in Albania.

"People have a suspicion of religion with ties to social and humanitarian work," explained Schweizer. "It's important for a church that looks like a church."

United Methodists in Albania still continue to work daily with older people, children and vulnerable people, said Schweizer, adding that it is important to have the clear "face of a church" so that people know who you are.

Kasmollari believes that people are wary of Pentecostals and others who rushed in to a newly opened Albania with a religious agenda behind its humanitarian work. "We Methodists have something new and different," he said.

That is part of the reason why he calls it a priority for United Methodists in Albania to have a building of their own one day. They also have no distinct Albanian United Methodist liturgy yet. "We need to build a Methodist profile," he said.

Building that profile includes establishing more of a presence in urban areas such as the capital city of Tirana.

In Albania, The United Methodist Church is mostly a church of young people, and Kasmollari is hopeful the pressure to emigrate may be beginning to diminish. "Young people want to stay in Albania," he said. "Those that are studying abroad are now coming back and trying to build something new."

Kasmollari is determined that he and The United Methodist Church will be part of "something new."