Poland Update #11

One of the wonderful gifts God has given to the work of the Church of the Nazarene in Poland is its dedicated corps of volunteers who have given their time and talent. Volunteers have served with distinction. They have been supported by a whole host of people who believed in them and gave the necessary resources to enable the volunteers to spend time living and working in ministry in the Sweet Surrender Coffee Houses. They have lived a life of Christian commitment in community together with our growing number of Polish nationals who love the Lord and His work in their homeland. Our work in Poland owes a huge debt of gratitude to this talented group of volunteers.

As we look to the future, we are anxious for potential volunteers to know that we need them to keep answering God’s call to raise their support and join us in this unique adventure in coffee house ministry. As you are praying for our work in Poland, let me help us focus on some future volunteer needs that we see will be needed in the not-too-distant future:

                We continue to need a “flow” of qualified and committed people to come and live with us for periods of time from several months to a year or two. These volunteers are our frontline missionaries who share not only their work, but the love of Christ with people who are drawn to the coffee houses. Most often it is through their friendship and care that people are finding a new and exciting personal relationship with Christ to be possible in their lives. We will continue to need a series of these crucial volunteers for years to come. We cannot achieve our long range goals without them.

                We have been so grateful for the six month commitment made by Dr. Dennis and Jamie Johnson, former pastors and District Superintendent, to come and live with our developing ministers in Krakow this year. Our Polish national leaders in Krakow have experienced rapid growth in their understanding of the Nazarene Church and of holiness ministry through the faithful mentoring that Dennis and Jamie have given. We believe that God will call other experienced ministry couples who would be willing to raise their support, as the Johnsons have done, and come to live with those whom God calls into vocational ministry service in Poland. Our prayer is that other couples who may have recently retired from full time active ministry will heed God’s call to give several months of their time to mentor our new Christians and new Nazarenes.

                God has been blessing our work in Poland with growing numbers of Christians, growing coffee shops, and a growing need for more professional help in some specific administrative areas. We know that as God blesses His work in Poland, the need for those with special skills will continue to increase. We need to keep our missionaries and our missionary volunteers on the “front lines” with our people rather than to burden them more and more with administrative work that puts them in “back rooms” where accounting and reporting, etc., must be cared for. Our prayer is that God will call and once again volunteers will answer the call to help with this need.

                An area of developing need among those reached is to create the beginnings of social service ministry among people with a variety of needs. These specialized skills would help us develop another outreach arm for our ministry among those who come into our sphere of ministry who are in need social service ministry. This would be a new area of ministry that God would open up, we believe, if we had the human resources and expertise to do it.

                Thank you for joining us in prayer. More than anything, we want to discover what God is already doing in the hearts of the people of Poland and join Him in bringing the joy of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ to everyone He leads to our ministry.

*Pray for future financial resources for outreach events and Krakow building payments.