Albania

WELS missionaries served the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Church of Albania for about 13 years between 1995 and 2008. Sometimes missionaries were able to live and work on field continually, and other times unrest forced evacuations and missionaries were only able to make brief visits to the field. Since the last WELS missionary withdrawal in 2008, the Europe Administrative Committee, Missionary Luke Wolfgramm (Russia), and the Pastoral Studies Institute (PSI) have been making periodic training visits to Albania and offer support and encouragement from a distance. Learn more about WELS mission history in Albania.

Currently three national pastors serve the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Church of Albania: Agron Mece (pictured middle), Mikel Bishka (pictured right) and Mikel’s son, Nikolla Bishka (pictured left). The Albanian church has two congregations, one in the capital city of Tirana and another in the port city of Durres. The three pastors work together to serve the 80 members and reach out with the gospel.

Fast Facts

• Congregations: 2
• Baptized members: 80
• National pastors: 3
• Albania is mentioned in the Bible in Romans 15:19, when Paul speaks of preaching everywhere from Jerusalem to Illyricum (modern day Albania).
• In 1967 Albania was declared the first and only officially atheist country in the world. Freedom to worship was restored in 1990.
• Albania is only about 210 miles long and 95 miles wide. Three-fourths of the land is covered with hills or mountains. Albania boasts a beautiful coastline along the Adriatic Sea.