Albania, under the tyrannical dictatorship of Enver Hoxha, was considered to be one of the three most closed countries in the world to the gospel, along with North Korea and Mongolia. Hoxha had declared Albania the world’s first atheist state in 1967, and his enforcers murdered, tortured and imprisoned any who would not renounce their faith. Hoxha controlled the media, and ensured that anti-religious propaganda was all that could be heard. Spies were everywhere. Foreign missionaries wouldn’t be allowed back for another 50 years.

In 1991, when the communist government began to crumble, it was though that there were around 16 evangelical Christians in the country, and most of them didn't know of each other's presence.

But as the country opened up to missionaries, there was a great hunger for the gospel, amidst a wave of interest in religion more generally. Now, only a small percentage of the population consider themselves to be atheists, and the dominant religion is Sunni Islam (around 60%), and Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christians numbering each around 10%.

But the number of evangelical Christians is now estimated to be around 17,000 believers. Even though this is a small percentage of the population, there is a real hunger for spiritual and theological growth among the thousands of first-generation Albanian Christians, and a passion to share the gospel of Christ to their neighbours.

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