Welcome Pëllumb Ranxha!

Pëllumb Ranxha and his family

One of the great answers to prayer this year has been the coming of Pëllumb Ranxha as our first teacher trainee. Pëllumb has served for many years as pastor and assistant pastor in the Gramsh Christian Church. He and his wife, Manjola, arrived with their two sons, Andrea and Ildi, in late August to begin this new ministry with us. Pëllumb is a 2001 graduate of Albanian Bible Institute and knows first-hand the benefits of the training our school offers Albanian church leaders. We would like for you to hear his story.

I started to be involved in ministry soon after I came to know the Lord in April of 1995. My first ministry was teaching children and doing evangelism in the villages of Gramsh. This was a launching point for ministry as I began to see that the Lord called me to a life of ministry.

After fulfilling my military duties in 1998, I came back to Gramsh to begin ministering in the church. It was then that I began studying at Albanian Bible Institute. I learned a lot that was helpful to me like how to preach, how to study the Bible, and how to have a healthy family life. The courses on pastoral issues, church history and Biblical studies were a great help to me as they helped me know better how to deal with conflicts in the church. My faith in the Lord grew a lot during my time at ABI.

Throughout the years I continued serving in Gramsh, doing all the duties that pastors fulfill like teaching, preaching, counseling, organizing meetings, and directing special services like weddings and baptism. For the last twelve years I have served as a church leader in one capacity or another.

Pëllumb ABI Graduation 2001

The choice to come to ABI as a teacher trainee was made easier because there was good leadership in the church that could continue the work without me. I believe the Lord has called me in the ministry to make disciples in the Albanian church. ABI is a very good place to carry out this ministry of discipleship as we expect many students and future leaders to come here over the years. Before Manjola and I decided to come, we prayed and fasted. We shared with our former pastor, church leaders, and parents the opportunity we were being offered at ABI. Everyone had peace that we were to take this job. Their peace gave us great assurance and increased our desire to begin this ministry at ABI.

I believe that ABI will continue to effectively train church leaders for the Albanian church now and in the future. The need for training will continue to be great. ABI will continue to equip them better for the ministries of discipleship, teaching, preaching, and counseling, with the intent that they in turn will raise up new leaders for future generations. I have heard pastors and church leaders share about how differently they think their lives and ministries would have been if they had not come to study at ABI. The training our school offers makes a great difference!

Having Pellumb on our staff is one of the early steps toward full indigenization of the teaching staff. It is our goal that one day the entire staff of ABI will be made up of well-trained and experienced Albanian teachers. We who now serve on the staff of ABI are looking forward to the day when we will no longer be needed because there is a staff of godly Albanian teachers who can do the jobs we now do.