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BEFORE I LEFT FOR THE STATES I was able to join with other representatives from Croatian Christian Coalition to meet with the President of the Commission for Relations With Religious Communities, Minister Jasen Mesić, in completing the process of the legal battle we won against the Republic of Croatia at the European Courts for Human Rights in Strausbourg. At the meeting it was confirmed that September 9, 2011 is the final deadline for the government to complete the final changes and draw up a plan to be sent to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. Despite the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia, which guarantees equality for all religious communities under the law, the Catholic Church continues to enjoy a privileged status due to the international contract made with the Republic of Croatia, while other religious communities illegitimately fall into other categories. Although in 2002 Croatia brought forth the Law on Religious Communities, it wasn't applicable due to several items of the law needed to make a contract with the State. The paragraph in the law that reads that the State can enter into contracts with religious communities, yet is not required to, caused discriminatory attitudes and practices by the Government of the Republic of Croatia and the Commission for Relations with Religious Communities to the detriment of the registered religious communities in the Republic of Croatia. Please continue to hold us in prayer and believe with us that we will soon see and experience the freedom that the law provides us, and that this freedom will help us in reaping an even greater harvest of souls!
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AS SUMMER IS DRAWING TO A CLOSE and people are returning from their vacations we are anticipating an exciting and fruitful time of ministry with a mission team from Mexico led by David De la Rosa. They will be here for a week ministering on the streets, in churches, and with our young people. We will be joining them, along with two other local congregations, in doing street and park evangelism. We pray that God will open up many doors for us to personally minister to those who are hungry for a true relationship with Jesus Christ. We are also looking forward to Desmond Frey who will be visiting us from Germany in October. Desmond Frey is Founder and President of Desmond Frey Ministries International-Europe, a ministry dedicated to Leadership-Focused-Mentoring of spiritual leaders in Europe. Dr. Frey's European Pastors Network provides ministry resources to several European countries. He offers a leadership seminars and a personal mentoring program for church ministries and we are looking forward to him coming to assist us in our leadership. Please keep these two projects in your prayers. It is our prayer that we continue to grow more effective in reaching the lost and discipling new believers in these final days.
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OUR SABBATICAL WILL SOON BE OVER and we will be returning to Zagreb. God has given us a wonderful time of rest and refreshment; and it has been great being able to reconnect with friends and ministries while we've been here. We have been able to both minister and be ministered to and we are grateful to those who have made this sabbatical possible for us. Please continue to hold us in your prayers, as well as our congregation in Zagreb. God has some wonderful things ahead of us for the remainder of 2011, and we depend upon your generous prayers and support to carry out those tasks God has given us to do.
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WE THANK GOD for every one of you. Your faithfulness and generosity in praying and supporting us is what enables us to do the kingdom work. May God's blessing continue to pour out in your lives each and every day.
IN HIM,
Mario Ducic
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