Kosovo Protestant Evangelical Church

The KPEC General Assembly is the highest decision-making body in KPEC. The KPEC General Assembly, which gathers once a year, is represented by representatives of all KPEC members. Each Evangelical entity – respectively local churches and organisations of Kosovo – that are KPEC members, are represented by the Legal Representative and in his/her absence by the Authorised Person. A KPEC member can be represented in the KPEC General Assembly by one vote only.

The KPEC General Assembly gathers once a year in its Annual Regular General Assembly or more often in Irregular Assemblies. During the plenary sessions, which are chaired by the KPEC General Secretary, amongst other things Assembly brings decisions for the interest of the KPEC, such as acceptance and/or dismissing of KPEC members; possible statutory amendments; approves annual expenses and budget etc. The Assembly also elects with secret ballot the Council of Ministers (CM) and the President. CM and the Chairperson are elected with a simple majority.

The Council of Minister (CM) is KPEC’s executive body which comes from the Assembly. The CM has nine members and they can only be members if they are serving in a position of a spiritual leader in a local church. Assembly mandates the CM with a three-year mandate but every year two members are added and two removed.

Assembly itself maintains the election of CM members. Based on merits of the works of the individuals, participants in the Assembly nominate potential candidates who may serve in such post. Supon completion, a list of nine persons is brought for secret ballot. CM members can only be candidates and can only be elected for two consecutive mandates. CM meets once a month in regular CM meeting and more often if required.

After CM members have been elected, the Assembly selects the potential candidates for KPEC President (KPEC President is also the Chairperson of the CM). After presenting candidatures, based on merits and the best program presented, Assembly administers an election of the President. The ballot is direct and secret. A simple majority is required for election of the President for the next four-year mandate.

The KPEC President can only be a candidate and be elected for two consecutive mandates. The KPEC President represents the institution of the KPEC before KPEC members and before other state and international institutions. The President together with the General Secretary prepares the agenda for CM meetings and together with the Treasurer prepares and manages the annual budget, which is brought before the Assembly for approval. The current KPEC President is Pastor Femi Cakolli.

The Kosovo Protestants have been in conflict with the ethnic Albanian Muslims that live in Kosovo. In Prizren, a Muslim extremist beat a Kosovo Protestant Besim Ajeti, a tax collector who was handing out bibles on March 24, 1999. Six people were arrested, but were released due to a lack of evidence.[8][9][10] The leader, Krasniqi, even stated that the Muslims said that the Protestants would eventually have to "come to them to the end" because they have no land to "bury their people on".

In what the Protestants say was another example of intimidation, the Islamic community in Gjakova decided to post a list of Protestant missionaries and leaders, together with their addresses, on a website. The information was taken down after complaints to authorities. The Protestants face legal obstacles when they seek to build churches and, in some cases, do not even have the right to bury their dead. Instead, they must ask Islamic imams to perform the burial and pay a fee to the Islamic Community for this service. The community has challenged what it says are onerous restrictions and is presenting its case before the Supreme Court. A particular concern, Krasniqi says, is the current law on religious freedom. Similarly, the KPEC plans to challenge the education ministry’s financing of an Islamic madrasa in the capital. They are calling for clear separation of religion and state, they say the government should not be in the business of funding religious communities. The Protestants fear such plans are part of a growing Islamisation of Kosovo sponsored from outside. "We are alarmed that there are now an excess of mosques in proportion to the amount of Muslims that actually attend them, and these mosques are found in central, visible places," the report notes. "These mosques have been built by Islamic groups that are in Kosova as humanitarian organisations and this causes us concern." Local Muslims have already complained that damaged mosques were restored under Arab direction in Saudi undecorated style, in contrast to the decorated style traditional in Kosovo. [11]

The latest draft of Kosovo's religion law favoured the five major groups in Kosovo: the Catholics, Muslims, and Serbian Orthodox, and the Kosovar Protestants. Artur Krasniqi stated that Protestants 'do not agree in any way with any discrimination whatsoever towards any religious group'. He was also concerned by the majority Muslim community's attitude to minorities. Chief Imam of Kosovo Sabri Bajgora stated recently that 'Muslims will not be responsible for any consequences whatsoever to Protestants if they do not stop their activity in this country.' [12]

On June 12, 2012, the liberation day of Kosovo, the government of Kosovo dedicated a monument to dozens of internationals and organizations which have contributed to the peace and prosperity of the nation. The Kosovo Government also thanked Protestant Evangelical believers for all their help given to the Kosova population between 1999-2012. The motto behind this event was the Albanian old saying: “The good friend is shown in difficult days”.

The KPEC President, Secretary and the Office staff were present for the dedication of the historic monument, and on behalf of the Kosova Protestant Evangelical Church, KPEC Secretary Brian Gibson had accepted the certificate of gratitude issued by The Office of the Prime Minister. In the absence of the Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi, the Minister of Culture Memli Krasniqi awarded Certificates.[13]

On April 24, 2009, the World Evangelical Alliance met and accepted the Kosovo Protestant Evangelical Church as a member. The church is also a member of the more regional European Evangelical Alliance.[14] Before the Kosovo War in 1998, the KPEC launched the International Day of Prayer, which also involved fasting, which influenced the rest of the World Evangelical Alliance.On January 31, all the evangelical countries join in prayer for Kosovo and how it suffered through the war. A message is also sent to the politicians in Kosovo to help pray for Kosovo. Ever since 1999 and the breakup of the Kosovo War, the World Evangelical Alliance joins in prayer on every January 31 for Kosovo.[1][15]