News

Article

Meet our Pastors - Ivan Petrovski

Meet our Pastors - Ivan Petrovski

As I look back over my life, I see how God helped me make some good decisions. I’m so glad I went with my mother to attend the NET 1996 evangelistic series, presented by Pastor Mark Finley. It changed my life...

I grew up in a small mining town in eastern part of Serbia, called Bor. This place is tucked in the mountains and has one of the biggest copper mines in Europe. My family was a traditional Orthodox Christian family. Although we considered ourselves being Christians, we rarely spoke about religion and almost never went to church except sometimes for Christmas.

However, in 1996 this all changed. My mother’s colleague invited her to attend some interesting presentations about faith in the public hall in my hometown. It was the NET 1996 evangelism satellite series broadcasted around the world, and my country was included. The speaker was Pr. Mark Finley. Each evening we were thrilled with the Biblical message we heard. At the end, my mother, my brother and myself, started attending the local Seventh-day Adventist church. Three years later, on the 27th March 1999 I was baptized and became a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Our small Christian community intentionally nurtured me spiritually. I was personally experiencing God through His Word and prayer. During my teenage years, despite the many challenges as a young person can face, my appetite for knowing God kept growing. This desire to know more about God helped me to decide to study theology after I finished secondary school.

After four years of studying at Belgrade Theological Seminary, Serbia, I began my pastoral ministry in the Podgorica district, Montenegro. I worked there for 6 years. During the last summer of my ministry in Montenegro, Anita and I got married (8th June 2014).  That same year we moved to Newbold College, UK so I could do a MA in theology. I graduated after 2 years and we moved back to Serbia, where I worked as a pastor for 3 years in central Belgrade church and teaching two modules at the Belgrade Theological Seminary: Historical Theology I and II. During that period, our two children were born: David is now 3 and a half, and Doris is 1.

Two years ago, I received a call to continue working as a pastor in the Irish Mission. We arrived in September 2019. We have been truly blessed by coming here and joining the IM team. We are grateful for the opportunity to serve God and other people in the Irish Mission. I am the Pastor of Ballinacrow, Drumcondra and Portlaoise SDA Churches.

My deepest passion is to see people come to know Christ as their Lord and Saviour, teach them the Word of God, and then see the discipleship process progress to where, as spiritually mature believers, they arise to impact the world for God. I am also very passionate about diligently studying the Word of God, Bible, in small groups. I am impressed by the content of the Bible message, but also by the change its message can create in one’s life. 

As I look back over my life, I see how God helped me make some good decisions. I’m so glad I went with my mother to attended the NET 1996 evangelistic series. I am so glad I choose to be baptized as a young person. I was at a crossroad after secondary school. Should I study Electronic Engineering? Is it the best career for me? The following quotation from Ellen White helped me make a decision. For me, it was a very good decision and I am so blessed to work for God as a Pastor.

As a means of intellectual training, the Bible is more effective than any other book, or all other books combined. The greatness of its themes, the dignified simplicity of its utterances, the beauty of its imagery, quicken and uplift the thoughts as nothing else can. No other study can impart such mental power as does the effort to grasp the stupendous truths of revelation. The mind thus brought in contact with the thoughts of the Infinite cannot but expand and strengthen.” (Ellen White, Education, p. 124)

Trust God and ask Him to help you make good decisions. You will be blessed as you follow where God leads you.

My favourite Bible verse is a text from my baptism: 1 Tim 4:12: “Let no one despise your youth [though I am not that young anymore :-)], but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.” My favourite Bible character is David. My favourite song is: “When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder.” (216). I am currently reading the book “The Love Dare”, but also several Bible commentaries. My favourite authors are Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Ellen White, and Dale Ralph Davis.