The Albanian Encouragement Project (AEP) was founded in October 1991 by Evangelical Christian organizations and churches…
We affirm that the church’s visible unity in truth is God’s purpose. Evangelism also summons us to unity, because our oneness strengthens our witness, just as our disunity undermines our gospel of reconciliation.
Albania is mostly mountainous with coastal lowlands. The population is about 3.4 million (not including those who have emigrated) and contains a number of ethnic minorities. The largest of these minorities are the Romanies (“Gypsies”) and Greeks.
The Albanians have had a long, rich, and difficult history in the Balkan Peninsula. They are descendants of the Illyrians, an ancient Indo-European people whom Paul referred to in Romans 15:19 (“from Jerusalem and round about as far as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ’’). Over the centuries they have suffered under foreign rule as many other peoples, including Romans, Slavs, Serbs, and Turks, have invaded them.