Reported in early October, a ministry giving people the chance to sing to God in their heart language has been beneficial to Christians in Albania.
In 2017, Vincent and Priscilla (names changed), began a new ministry focused on recording worship music in the Albanian language for the Albanian-speaking world. For several years they had perceived the need for songs born from Albanian worshippers themselves. These songs would speak to other Albanians in their heart language, rather than just being translated from English. The couple had noticed how Kosovar believers related differently to the few locally-written songs which then existed.
Few Kosovar believers
Several songs were translated, recorded and shared online through various forms of social media. However, more were needed, but with the total number of Kosovar believers at less than 2,000, there was very limited access to song-writing training and recording facilities.
OM teams in Kosovo and Albania worked together to host five people from Heart Sounds International for three days in each of their countries, giving a total of six days of training on worship music and song-writing. Heart Sounds International encourages song-writing in the heart language of the nations.
The training had 11 participants who came from different cities and churches around the country. During the training, the topics taught and discussed included brokenness, hope in the Lord, deep roots and deep trust. Participants formed groups and, in limited time, attempted to write songs and make music inspired from the accompanying topics and Bible passages. Though they came from different backgrounds, ministries and places, the participants united in their purpose to create songs encouraging worship in the Albanian language. From the three days of training, the participants were able to write nine new original Albanian worship songs.
