In 2016, Dena Grillo Fortuzi began studying theology through distance learning at Moravian Theological Seminary in Bethlehem, PA, from her native Albania. She currently serves in pastoral leadership there and is a candidate for ordained ministry.
This Sunday we welcomed Dena and Vjollca Mazi, head of the Albanian Moravian Church Boards. They were in Winston-Salem to attend the 2019 Moravian Women's Conference.
Dena’s mother, Viola, and Vjollca were among a small group of women who began an evangelistic movement in Albania in 1993. In 2009, the group became members of the European Continental Province of the Moravian Church. Today there are congregations in six towns throughout Albania.
Over the years, they have begun Bible studies, held summer camps and retreats, established pre-schools, and created classes for women to learn basic education and practical skills like cooking and sewing, as well as women's emancipation classes to address the cultural problem of domestic abuse.