They left Australia on December 8 and they’ll be heading for Tirana, Albania’s capital city, where they’ll learn the language in the New Year. 

“We’ll be joining the ECM team and we expect to be working alongside various churches,” says Josh. “We’ll work wherever the needs are; where we go will be decided in consultation between the local churches, ECM and us. We’re hoping to help several local churches start ministries for disabled people and subsequently network those ministries so that they can share resources and support. We want to help equip the church to love, serve and share Jesus with those who are among the most marginalised in society.”

Ali says she’d also love to be able to use her medical training in Albania, where the primary healthcare is not great. “We hope to keep that as an option for somewhere down the track.”

Assessing the success of their ministry will be a challenge. “I honestly don’t know how we’ll do that,” Josh says. “Plant the seeds and pray. If the network grows there will be something measurable. I suspect the fruit will be a long while in showing.”

The first fruit of their ministry may be evident among Albanian adults through their work in church planting, which will be carried out under the guidance of an Albanian pastor. Josh and Ali will help him disciple and teach.

Understanding a little of the history of Albania throws some light on the complexity of the project that’s ahead for Josh and Ali. Locals say that the apostle Paul planted a church at Durres and point to Romans 15:19, where Paul writes: “So from Jerusalem all the way round to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ”. “It’s possible he was there,” says Josh, adding that Christians had been in Albania as early as the 2nd century AD. But they were stamped out by invading empires which
led to 500 years’ rule by Muslims. Now the country has about 10 per cent Catholics and 7 per cent Orthodox Christians, both of whom have been opposed to any Protestant presence.

“Here’s a curious fact: we must apply to the Ministry of Cults to get permission to work and teach in Albania,” says Josh.

In the 1800s large chunks of the Bible were translated into the local language. The country gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1912 and then followed two World Wars. Next came Communism and the prohibition of the gospel until 1989 when Communism fell; Christians came the following year.

Consequently, most of the believers in Albania are first-generation Christians; they don’t know what it means to be Christian parents. “Most Christians there have no experience of raising Christian kids and how that might look different from the world,” says Josh.

The Reeves’ supporters might wonder if Josh and Ali and their three children will
be safe in Albania. “I’ve very rarely heard of missionaries getting into trouble. But it is a country where corruption is a problem,” says Josh. “By and large, if you’re not courting trouble, you’ll be left alone.”