Macedonia Update December 2025

Hi everyone, here is our latest update from Macedonia

Prayer

In November, we took part in a 20-hour prayer meeting organised by the Skopje Prayer House. Different churches and ministries were invited to lead 2-hour slots. Our session was 2am-4am - there is something wonderful about getting up in the middle of the night to pray with our community. A group of around 8-10 of us gathered to seek God and pray for Macedonia.

Shortly before the meeting, we came across this quote from Tim Alford, National Director of Limitless, Elim’s youth ministry:

“I don't think God acts in the same way, whether we pray or not. I do think God responds to the prayers of his people, and when we seek him, and when we pray, and when we fast, and when we intercede, he moves”

This is an important reminder that engaging with God in prayer is not an extra thing to do, but an essential foundation to all that we do. It really is worth getting up in the middle of the night to take the time to seek God. This prayer meeting both Kristen and Josiah had a strong desire to come with us to pray in the middle of the night, so they came along with us too.

We believe that one of the themes that emerged from our prayer session was of God’s desire to be the shepherd of his people, and that the young people of Macedonia would be shepherded by Jesus in their daily lives and follow him wholeheartedly. We also spent some time praying that people in the country would be set free from burdens and addictions. It was good to be able to both lift up to God what was on our hearts and to hear God’s heart for Macedonia and to pray about those things.

In our bible study groups we are beginning a new series based on sharing the gospel with others, to support people in sharing their faith. Our most recent scripture was Acts 4:23-31, which ends with,

After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

Acts 4:23-31

This is a further reminder to us of the essential nature of prayer, that we need to hunger after God and seek him in all his ways. We are still continuing the daily prayer walk in the community and we are looking forward to further sessions with the Skopje Prayer House in 2026.

News in Brief:

• Ian has been working with Scott to support a local church with a community litter pick, where we clean up and connect with members of the community.
• Our Children’s Bible class has just completed a four week study of the book of Jonah, we went slowly through the book to illustrate that there is much more to Jonah than just the big fish! We focused on how scripture reveals to us things about God, about ourselves, and invites us to live differently. We also said goodbye to a family who have been visiting Macedonia for two months and have been contributing to the group.

We can’t show you photos that include children but here is one of Ian reading to the children from our ‘Giant book of Jonah’. 

Prayer:

Thank you for your prayers, please could you pray for the following:

• Please pray that the young people of Macedonia would see that Jesus is the Good Shepherd and join the flock.
• In December we will be holding a Carol Service at our home. We will be inviting our bible study groups, neighbours and others from our church to sing some traditional carols. Please pray that it will be a fruitful time. 
• The building that we use for our church service has suffered from repeated flooding, damaging the Sunday School rooms and resources. The flooding comes from overflowing drains when we get heavy rain. We sub-let the building from another church that uses it in the mornings. Please pray for repairs, for good flood prevention and for favour with the landlord.

Thank you for reading our update. 

Ian, Katie, Kristen and Josiah.