09 June
2023

perry@bizg.hr

March is the beginning of a new semester for us. We start this semester with news that we think will bring a smile to your face. You have sown faithfully with us, now we want to share a harvest of joy with you. BIZG lost its accreditation in 2014, through no fault of our own. Since that time, we have worked hard and steadily to earn accreditation again. And, as you may recall, we finally achieved that goal last ummer. Now it is time to reap the fruit of that new status. Accreditation from the Croatian Ministry of Science helps us connect with individuals and institutions in our field, religious studies and practical ministries. By giving us accreditation, the Ministry is assuring potential partners that we have the expertise to do serious work together with them. And it has already opened doors for us to have productive partnerships in the following areas:
FIRST, we have partnered with the protestant faculty “Matthias Flacius Illyricus” (MVI) of the University of Zagreb in publishing a translation of Thomas Long’s The Witness of Preaching (Svedočanstvo propoviedanja). (Matthias Flacius Illyricus was an early protestant reformer, a Lutheran theologian, and a Croat.) Svedočanstvo propoviedanja is a translation of the newest edition of the most popular preaching textbook in the world. Tens of thousands of seminary students have learned to preach from this book, and your support has made it available to the preachers of Croatia. We would not have been able to partner in this project without accreditation.
SECOND, accreditation has enabled us to organize and host an international conference of scholars this summer (16-17 June) to discuss and plan three five-year projects. The projects focus on the following topics:

• An update on a study of evangelical churches in Croatia, first published in 1990,
  before the wars.
• A study of how Croatian churches disciple their members, and how BIZG can
  produce better materials for disciple-making in the churches.
  Scholars from nearly a dozen countries and two continents will participate in these
  conferences. We could not have organized and held this conference without
  accreditation.

THIRD, we are opening the Archive and Research Center for Protestant-Evangelical History, again in partnership with faculty MVI. The Center will house and publish materials relating to the history of Bible-believing Christianity in central and eastern Europe. Among the materials we will house will be “oral history” audio recordings of the missionary pioneers who worked in our region decades ago. And again, our accreditation has been pivotal in this partnership.

We are happy to report that your gifts and prayers have borne fruit. You made good things happen! Celebrate this significant harvest with us! It will continue to benefit the churches here for decades to come.