On one of our first days in Split, we took a guided tour of Diocletian’s Palace. Diocletian was one of Rome’s most powerful emperors and unlike many rulers of his time, was not assassinated, but retired on his own terms. He decided to build a countryside retirement palace on the Dalmatian coast. Split is the city eventually developed around the palace. What does this have to do with church?
This was the 3rd century, and Christianity was beginning to spread through the Roman world to the consternation of Diocletian, who became famous for persecuting Christians. So much so that several hundred years after his death, when Christians moved into the area and found his palace, they ransacked it, destroying much of his pagan artwork and removing his grave. They converted his mausoleum into a cathedral and his temple to Jupiter into a baptistry, and it has been a land of Christians ever since, with Catholicism far and away the majority.
So finding a Christian church for in-person worship, even in English, was not a challenge. There were even a few Protestant options, though none were Lutheran. We settled on Anchor Baptist Church, a storefront mission congregation whose pastor and members are mostly Americans living in Split with a few Croatian families and occasional visitors like us from around the world. The pastor is relatively new there and has been studying Croatian, but still uses an interpreter for his sermons. Their goal is to reach out to members of the community without a church home and invite them to their congregation, teaching more people about Jesus.
Their services began with singing, both from a Croatian hymnal and an English one, a short prayer in Croatian, and then the sermon, which had a bible class format, with the pastor leading everyone, verse by verse, through the book of Acts, one chapter each week. This was concluded with another prayer, this time in English.
There was always fellowship time afterwards with home-baked treats and coffee where we learned about lots of great places to visit in the area during this time as well as tips for using the bus and restaurants to try. It’s a warm, welcoming congregation not far from the central attractions in Split, and while I would have preferred a Lutheran worship service and all that goes with that, I was glad to spend time in God’s word with the members of Anchor Baptist.
