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CroatiaAlthough Croatia is one of the most recent countries to join the world community, its history reaches back to the sixth century when a group of ethnic Slavs known as Croats first settled in the lower Danube Valley. About a century after becoming an independent kingdom, Croatia was subjected to Hungary from 1102 to 1918. With the end of the First World War, what eventually became known as Yugoslavia was created by joining the Croats, Serbs, and Slovenes under one government. The chaos of World War II brought out the worst in ethnic brutality, further deepening the hatred between the groups. However, the communist dictator Tito was able to re-unite the country. This unity lasted until eleven years after his death, when Slovenia and Croatia declared their independence after a period of rising nationalism. A bloody and vicious war ensued as Serbs living in Croatia annexed much of the territory. However, an offensive by the Croats in August 1995 ended with the return of this land to Croatia. Tourism, petroleum, industry, and fertile farmland had made Croatia the economic backbone of Yugoslavia. The war that followed independence greatly damaged the economy; many manufacturing plants were totally destroyed, and the lucrative tourist industry was virtually strangled. Rebuilding is underway, and prosperity is slowly returning to the nation. Over eighty-five percent of Croatia's four-and-a-half million people are Roman Catholics, and fewer than one percent are Protestant of any stripe. The prevailing view of most Croats is that "to be Croatian is to be Catholic." Although there is religious freedom, the people are rather cold and closed to those who are not Catholic. Croatia is in dire need of fundamental Christian missionaries. At this time the spiritual heart of Croatia is as rocky as the country's southern land. Workers are needed to "plow the soil." Kornel & Tanja CrnkovićKornel was born into a Christian home in northeastern Croatia. In 1987 he trusted Christ as his Lord and Savior. During the most recent war in Croatia, Kornel's village was surrounded by Serbs, and Kornel became a part of the Croatian army defending his city. He was wounded during the siege and was discharged from the military because of a permanent injury to his foot. Tanja's parents were Croatian missionaries to the Croats living in Austria. Saved at the age of seven, Tanja eventually attended Bob Jones University to pursue a music degree. During that time her parents moved back to Croatia to establish a church. Following graduation she returned to Croatia to help her parents. Kornel and Tanja, both in charge of youth groups of separate churches, met at a youth rally. They married a little over a year later. They felt the Lord's call for them to begin a church in Split, a city of about 200,000 people along the Dalmatian Coast. They started a church in Split and ministered there for fifteen years. In 2011 the Lord called them to help in a church in Koprivnica, in Croatia's far north. Kornel is the co-pastor of Koprivnica Baptist Church, along with his brother-in-law. The Crnkovićs have four children, Andrea, Kristina, Marko, and Natanael.
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Harbor in Split, Croatia 
Castle in Croatia 
Kornel & Tanja Crnković family |
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