Croatia
Date Entered: 2001
Major Ministries: Youth Ministry, Church Planting
Country Profile
Population: 4,489,409 (July 2009 est.)
Peoples: Croat 89.6%, Serb 4.5%, other 5.9% (including Bosniak, Hungarian, Slovene, Czech, and Roma) (2001 census)
Economy: Once one of the wealthiest of the Yugoslav republics, Croatia's economy suffered badly during the 1991-1995 war. Since 2000, Croatia's economic fortunes have begun to improve slowly, through GDP growth, tourism and consumer spending, tame inflation, and stable currency. Difficult problems remain and the state retains a large role in the economy. However, the EU accession process should accelerate fiscal and structural reform.
Politics: Presidential/Parliamentary Democracy based in the capital city, Zagreb. Governed by a president, prime minister, and the unicameral Assembly.
Religion: Roman Catholic 87.8%, None 5.2%, Orthodox 4.4%, Muslim 1.3%, other and unspecified 0.9%, other Christian 0.4% (2001 census)
Croatia is a Central European country at the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain, Southeast Europe, and the Mediterranean Sea. Its capital (and largest city) is Zagreb. Croatia borders Slovenia, Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. Its southern and western flanks border the Adriatic Sea, and it also shares a sea border with Italy in the Gulf of Trieste. Its terrain is diverse, including plains, lakes and rolling hills in the continental north and northeast; densely wooded mountains in Lika and Gorski Kotar, part of the Dinaric Alps; and rocky coastlines on the Adriatic Sea.
The Croats arrived in the seventh century in what is today Croatia. They organized the state into two dukedoms. The first king, Tomislav I was crowned in 925 and Croatia was elevated into the Kingdom of Croatia, which retained its sovereignty for almost two centuries. Via Pacta conventa, Croatia entered a personal union with Hungary in 1102. In 1526, the Croatian Parliament elected Ferdinand from the House of Habsburg to the Croatian throne. In 1918 Croatia declared independence from Austria-Hungary and joined the Kingdom of Yugoslavia as co-founder. During World War II, Nazis occupied Croatian territory and created a puppet state, the Independent State of Croatia. After the war, Croatia became a founding member of Second Yugoslavia. On June 25, 1991, Croatia declared independence and became a sovereign state.
Since the adoption of the 1990 Constitution, Croatia has been a democracy. Between 1990 and 2000 it had a semi-presidential system, and since 2000 it has had a parliamentary system.
The President of the Republic (Predsjednik) is the head of state, directly elected to a five-year term with a maximum of two terms. The Croatian Parliament (Sabor) is a unicameral legislative body. The number of the Sabor’s members can vary from 100 to 160; they are all elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms. The Croatian Government (Vlada) is headed by the Prime minister.
Religion
In the former Yugoslavia, the dictator Tito discouraged outward displays of religion as part of his effort to meld the ethnic identities. As a deeply religious people, Croatians smoldered under the restrictions and lost no time publicly celebrating their Catholic faith when the country declared independence.
The Croatian independence drive was, in turn, strongly supported by the Vatican and the country was treated to a stream of visits by Pope Jean Paul II. The Pope’s visit to Zagreb in 1998 to beatify cardinal Stepinac was greeted with wild celebrations.
The church is a highly respected institution in present-day Croatia, enough to encourage many young Croats to enter convents or the priesthood which further endears the country to the Vatican. Church services are strongly attended (30% of Croats claim to attend mass weekly) and some 76% of Croats answering a recent poll described themselves as religious.
There are an estimated 3.8 million baptized Roman Catholics in Croatia, roughly 85% of the population. The national sanctuary of Croatia is in Marija Bistrica. The patron of Croatia is Saint Joseph since the Croatian Parliament declared him to be in 1687.
Religion goes a long way toward explaining the bitter differences between the Catholic Croats and the Orthodox Serbs as well as the relatively traditional values that prevail in Croatia. During the 1990s, conflict between the Eastern Orthodox Serbs, the Roman Catholic Croats, and the Muslim Bosniaks caused a massive civil war in Bosnia.
The constitution now provides for freedom of religion. Approximately 5.5% of Croats self-identify as non-religious. Although the Croatian government requires religious teaching in public schools, attendance is not mandated. There is no state religion, although the Catholic Church receives public funding and other benefits.
ABWE & Croatia
ABWE missionaries from Hungary (Larry Haag & Mark*) built a relationship with Pastor Nenad Kovačević in the late 1990’s. They started teaching ministries in Nenad’s church, in Mackovec, Croatia.
In June, 2000, Mark invited Boris Lesar (a Croation national) and his wife Wendy to join ABWE’s team in Croatia. They began their ministry in 2001, under ABWE’s AMP progam, serving in Boris’s home church in Cakovec, working with youth ministry, music ministry, and serving in a variety of ministries and evangelistic outreaches within the church and the surrounding area.
After serving two terms under the AMP program, they made the transition to become ABWE career missionaries. Upon completing this process in 2007, Boris and Wendy returned to their work in Croatia, and Boris was appointed the Croatia team leader in 2008. Their desire, passion, and dream is to begin church planting in Croatia, starting with Rovinj (a small town on the Croatian coast). In order to do so they need teammates to join them in Croatia.
(*name withheld for security reasons)
Sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatia
http://www.croatiatraveller.com/Religion.htm
http://www.nationmaster.com/country/hr-croatia/rel-religion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Croatia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Catholicism_in_Croatia
Other good links with Croatia info:
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3166.htm
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/hr.html
http://worldinfozone.com/country.php?country=Croatia
Croatian Tourist Info Site:
http://www.croatia.hr/English/Home/Naslovna.aspx