Emanuel Church
Emanuel Church in Tirana, Albania
University Student Ministry and the Albanian Leadership Forum
Pastor Zefjan Nikolla
Pastor Zefjan Nikolla and wife Edita of Emanuel Church in the capital city of Tirana. Zef is also the Albanian National Director of BSKSh.
The Rev. Zefjan Nikolla (ECO ordained and pastor member of our own Mission Presbytery) leads Emanuel Reformed Church in Tirana, the capital city of Albania. ERC celebrated 30 years as a church in October of 2022 and CPC has been a ministry partner for most of these years. Zef is also the General Secretary (Director) for BSKSh Albania - an outreach and discipleship ministry to university students (Part of the global IFES family of which InterVarsity Fellowship is a member). He also provides leadership to the Albania Leadership Forum which seeks to develop Christian business leaders.
Zef’s wife Edita serves as the Vice President for Administration of the Lincoln Centers of Albania. With a vision to “see the nation change [transformed] for the glory of God,” thiss organization exists to develop leaders through educational excellence for the well-being of the Albanian people.
Zef and Edita have two daughters, Greis and Emili.
Albania Ministry Update and Christmas Greetings
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Greetings from Tirana, Albania!
I pray all is well with you and your families! Let me begin this final update for this year be wishing you all a blessed Christmas season and (an early) MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Edita and I and the girls, Greis and Emili, are all doing well. I am looking forward to picking up the girls from Thessaloniki on 20th December to bring them home for Christmas and New Year. Edita and I are getting used to having an empty nest, but we do miss the girls a lot. They are both doing very well at college. Please pray that they will stay close to the Lord while they are away from home.
We had a great Thanksgiving dinner with our wider church leadership (23 of us). During dinner we went around the table sharing what we are most thankful for and we had many sweet tearful moments as we did that. God has been really good to us and the Emanuel Church in Tirana this year. We have seen church growth and we invite you to continue to pray that more people will come to know the Lord through our church's Christmas evangelistic events. We thank God that more than 30 people have become believers and joined the church since Covid when we had lost more than 30 members to immigration. Please pray that the growth continues.
Our student ministry of BSKSh is doing just fine. We continue to have the usual struggles with finances to pay our staff in the different cities. However, God has been really good to us and we have seen His faithfulness in providing for the needs of our staff often in the very last moment. We have new staff and volunteer leaders in Vlora, Gjirokaster and Korca. Please pray that our student groups in all the 6 cities where we minister will grow during the Christmas evangelistic events. Thank God for the hundreds of medical students who heard the Gospel during our evangelistic mission week in November.
I have been speaking and teaching in different events in Albania and a few other countries. Please pray for fruitfulness in the ministries God has given me. I continue to lead the Wilberforce Foundation leadership training events, the Albanian Leadership Forum team, the Tirana Book Club besides leading the BSKSH student ministry and pastoring Emanuel Church. Thank God for the great leadership teams I am a part of. And, THANK YOU so much for your partnership in the Gospel.
In Christ,
Zef
DURRES, ALBANIA
View of Durres, a beachtown on the Adriatic
TIRANA, ALBANIA
View of the City
