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Former Muslim Who Hated Christians Plants First Church Town Has Seen in 700 Years

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A man is helping take the gospel to the four corners of the earth by planting the first church a town in Kosovo has seen in 700 years.

It's a story with an unlikely beginning.

Urim Bogaj grew up in a Muslim family that hated Christians.

But everything changed when his aunt converted to Christianity in 1999 just after a bloody war rocked the small Southeastern European country.

She shared her new faith with 15-year-old Urim, who found it hard to accept.

"It was hard to listen to her. To receive what she had to say. We always knew that Christians were serpents. Serpents were evil. I did not want to become a Christian," he told Peter Wooding from the Global News Alliance.

However, Urim continued reading the Bible and eventually gave his life to Christ.

His family was shocked by the news of his conversion. Despite this, he shared the gospel with them and his entire family renounced Islam.

Now, he has planted a church in Malisheve, the first one the majority Muslim town has seen in 700 years.

"There were challenges. There were different problems. Persecution of every kind," he said.

Urim is calling on the global community of believers to pray for the work he is doing there.

"As the first generation of Christians, we need your prayers to pray for us to be standing strong for Christ...to finish the race and go to the end."

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About The Author

Emily
Jones

Emily Jones is a multi-media journalist for CBN News in Jerusalem. Before she moved to the Middle East in 2019, she spent years regularly traveling to the region to study the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, meet with government officials, and raise awareness about Christian persecution. During her college years, Emily served as president of Regent University's Christians United for Israel chapter and spoke alongside world leaders at numerous conferences and events. She is an active member of the Philos Project, an organization that seeks to promote positive Christian engagement with the Middle