Challenges and Opportunities in the New Year

A lot of things were happening in Wroclaw over the Christmas and New Year period. The YFC-organised New Year conference “The Beginning” saw 700 young people see the New Year in in worship and dedication to the Lord for the year ahead. Let’s pray for them all as they now face the daily challenges of life in the world.

The whole Christian community was shocked by the murder of a young family whom many had known closely and ministered with. This, and other more personal tragedies and concerns, have led to a huge need for counselling and help – pray particularly for Adam and Mira, for Marek and Ania, for Andrzej and others, as people seek their help and support.

Praise God for a very useful and timely visit to Central Asia by “B” in December, where many Christians are feeling confused by the proliferation of occult practices in the whole of society and there is a very apparent spiritual battle going on.

Janusz and Asia from Mission2East attended a New Year Missions conference in Germany where they shared a stand with Interserve and met Swiss, German, Dutch and Hungarian Interserve staff. Pray for this collaboration as it develops during the year ahead, that it may lead to Poles being called to the Mission Field.

 

2015 CEP Conference

Beautiful weather made the weekend at Malenovice in the Czech hills a very enjoyable experience – but even more special was the fellowship among people from many of the Partner organisations and other people who had come to find out what CEP is all about; from UK, US, and even from India!
In our talks we heard lots about God being at work in us and through us, often in indirect ways (“Obliquity”), and also about not being “single-issue” Christians – even though we may work in one sphere, we must support and pray for those at work in other ways; Wilberforce is well known for having brought about the abolition of the slave trade, but he worked and campaigned tirelessly on all the big social issues of his day. We were reminded that we should USE THINGS AND LOVE PEOPLE, not the other way around!
More detailed news will follow, but when each of the 9 Partners represented there was asked for just one prayer request, these were their requests :

Arka – God’s provision for current financial needs.

CS Lewis Schools – Effective management of the new building set-up and increased student numbers. Plus finances to complete the refurbishment.

Daybreak – Real communication at a deep spiritual level between Adam & Mira and those they minister to.

Parakletos – To find God’s way forward a) in ministry, in response to current changes in society,
b) in Pavel and Julia’s own future with possible changes for them.

Slot – Current planning for next year, especially with people in connection to Wroclaw being the 2016 European City of Culture, and the opportunities there.

Mission to the East – Pray for the Lord to call new people in Poland to the mission field, and for the new partnership with Interserve to be effective.

Territory 2:2 – For unity and effectiveness together for Christ as the whole team now works together in the one new building.

Realis – For continued and increasing influence on society in Ukraine, especially in these times.

Youth for Christ – The small team sometimes feel very alone – pray for new people to join them, but only those with a true passion for the Lord and for the youth.

 

CEP Conference 2014

From 3-5 October, people from a wide area of East Europe gathered at the beautiful centre in Malenowice, Czech Republic – as well as a few from US and UK!
A few reflections from some of them :
– We had a great time catching up with everyone. Good time of fellowship, hearing from all the Partners, and quite a lot of new faces.
– The main sessions were based on Paul’s time at Ephesus. Paul and Relationships, Paul and Business, Paul and Education. Marek Marcus was really good with the talks. Everyone seems to have enjoyed and learnt from these.
– The panel discussion on Ukraine situation was really good with contributions from people from Ukraine as well as Russia. It was a very open discussion with quite a detailed feedback from Sergiy who is quite involved in supporting people who are affected in the area. Churches in the area are quite involved in support, and some money was donated at the conference and taken back to Ukraine – Slava writes ” I’m writing to tell you that I gave your money to the guy from the church who goes to the war zones with help gathered from churches, volunteers and NGOs. He is going there tonight. He bought thermal underpants to our soldiers to keep them warm in the coming cold weather on the money you kindly gave. Pray for his trip. He shared in church last Sunday how dangerous it is there but how much he grows in trust to God through that. He is only 20-something but very committed to help soldiers while our government is not.” They would welcome any support in this area and requested prayers mainly for Russians as the media in Russia is not really showing the truth.
– One significant outcome was that those Partners who are more involved in education decided to start a partnership to learn from and support each other; this was initially Nadya’s idea.

Some needs which the Partners expressed :

CS Lewis – Looking for Partnerships with UK schools, Sponsorship for students

YFC – The next main activity is New Year “The Beginning” conference. They have decided to invite Reinhard Hirtler to speak and need about £1800 for his travel and accommodation.

M2E – Two of the women from Poland really hope to visit Kazakhstan again soon, where the women are longing for their help and encouragement.

M2E – Slava – Next event is the Winter camp, and Slava will let us know what practical needs she has soon.

M2E – Bartek & Zhanna – Bartek said they are ready for their big change in few weeks time – with their baby due they really need a car for travels which probably will cost around £2500. Bartek would also like to raise funds to be able to take the young people to town every few months; each trip costs about £100.

SLOT – Andrzej said they will let us know the needs after their board meeting soon.

Parakletos – Pavel said they have about 7 conferences to lead this Autumn. A wireless headset would improve the quality of their recordings – costs about £300.

Daybreak – Adam not too well and couldn’t come to the conference. Wojtek said they are looking for general funds which will equip them to conduct more training.

All our Partners really value your prayers for them, and if you would like to help any of them financially, please get in touch!

 

CEP Prayer Letter

Our thanks to Hannah in Poland, who has put together some lovely photos and information from some of our Partners to create this Prayer Letter CEP feb. newsletter Read about, and pray for, the Otrembas in Daybreak, a new helper for Youth for Christ, and other news too – please pray for all our Partners.

 

“Daybreak” in Poland

Adam and Mira Otemba, who lead the Daybreak counselling ministry in Poland, have had some difficult times in recent years, with Adam’s serious illness leading to them establishing a home-based ministry, for which they have adapted their own home to create a space for people to come on mini-retreat. They have sent us a letter with some news:

Our dear Friends..

We are happy that God has allowed us to enter the New Year with the hope that what our Father according to his plan started, he will continue for us, in us and through us – in spite of all the bad news in the world.

Beloved, it is a long time since we shared with you our life and ministry:

This last few years has not been an easy time when, as you know, in the face of changes in the circumstances of our lives, we had to rethink our ministry a lot.

Our “Touch Point”  house ( converted garage) , serves as “Daybreak”- a great place for retreats and support ministry ( for those who  have got tired and lost their way in life and ministry).

“Only in silence can we start listening. Without many words, you can begin to see”

Maybe the above is not always true, but especially in today’s world and its chaos, such periods of silence in God’s presence, are not only helpful but necessary.

Thank you dear ones for sowing your heart, money, prayer in this work ! Our prayer is that God blesses you  with his rich grace and love.

We wanted to share with you a joy of God’s care in a matter of repayment of the loan for remodeling “Touch Point” and thus also give glory to our Father. Thank you dear ones, who help us, for every one of your gifts. God has put also, on the heart of our “old” friends to bless us and they have  donated money, which covers for the most part our debt. !!!

What a beautiful gift is the church, as the Body of Christ, which in so many ways expresses the presence of God.

Thank you dear friends for your partnership, for your seeds which are sown in so many ways and in such different “soils”, because of the richess of Christ in you.

Please, remember us in your prayers, our physical and spiritual condition, in our personal daily lives and all ministry in “Touch Point” house.

May you experience the power of His resurrection life !!  On the good days and the grey days too!

Yours,  Adam & Mira Otremba

 

New Year Support

As a new year gets underway, here’s a reminder of all our Partners, so that we can give them our support in prayer this year :

Parakletos: Pavel and Julia working in Counselling in the Czech Republic

Daybreak: Adam and Mira, and Wojtek and Agnieszka, counselling pastors and leaders in Poland

SLOT: Andrzej and Marzena, and Krzysiek and others, working with young people in Poland throughout the year; the emphasis on the annual festival in July, but many other smaller events and training courses run at various times and in various cities.

ARKA Foundation: Many evangelistic opportunities through the schools, language school, other classes and courses, the Summer camps – pray for all the staff and everyone involved!

Youth for Christ: Bartek and Agnieszka, Wiola, Marcela, Ewa and others working in many ways with children, many of them from deprived backgrounds.

Mission 2 East: Andrzej and Basia supporting believers in Central Asia from home in Poland, and with visits as funds allow. Bartek and Zhanna and others in Ukraine, working with youth, and in the process of setting up language schools as evangelistic platforms.

D3 Generations: Saskia and Laurentiu and Carmen working with students in Romania, helping them through a volunteering programme.

PR Slaveikov School: Unique Christian school in Bulgaria with many needs; how to attract more students, training teachers to teach children with disabilities. Pray for Nadya, Vania, Evelina and all others involved.

CS Lewis and Narnia Schools: Christian school in Bratislava with many staff and students and a great sphere of influence; pray for all the staff and students.

Integra Slovakia: Allan and Caulene, teaching Slovaks to become active in compassionate mission in Africa through child-sponsorship and fair-trade initiatives.

 

They can seem very far removed from us, but in prayer we can truly be a part of their work. If you would like to know more detail about any of them, please get in touch.

 

Polish Partners

Tomorrow, Saturday September 24th, about 30 people from all five of the Partner Organisations in Poland (ARKA, Youth for Christ, Mission to the East, Daybreak and SLOT) are coming together for a fellowship meeting in Wroclaw. Although there are differences in the forms of outreach and the platforms they use, they are all united in purpose, that is in seeking to reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We pray that they will be greatly encouraged as they hear how the Lord is at work in their different ministries.

 

Great Blessings!

Wojtek, the leader of the Pastors 2 Pastors ministry in Poland, asked an experienced pastor and his wife how this ministry is helpful :

What does P2P ministry mean to you?

The P2P ministry allows me to answer contemporary challenges in the more adequate way. We find in the P2P a great opportunity to get involved in the very inspiring dialogue with people who are in ministry for long time and with those who just start it. So the P2P opens a new stream of activity in our life and ministry.

How does it affect your life?

It gave us new possibility to minister. We find this way which is based on dialogue much more contemporary and adequate for young people. It gave us tools which we needed very much. The conferences of P2P are most inspiring.

In what practical ways does it serve your ministry?

We are involved with a group of the pastors, which gives a lot of possibility to help others. Leading this group with Wojtek and Agnieszka allows us to practice a new dimension of leadership, based on friendship. It makes us more busy, but also more joyful.”

 

In July, Wojtek coordinated a team at the SLOT Arts Festival. Let’s rejoice with him as he explains how God was at work:

Thank you so much for your prayers for our ministry at the Slot Art Festival. It was an amazing experience. We looked after a team of about 60 people representing various churches (including several pastors) at the biggest Christian outreach festival in Central Europe. The were over 100
workshops, concerts, seminars and many other activities provided for about 5000 participants! Our team’s task was to focus on evangelistic outreach and pastoral care. The name of our team was “Road help” and we ministered to many people in that 7 days, over 150 people came to know Christ for the first time in their lives!

Also we provided a space where people could come a share their issues and our team ministered to them. We also ran Metanoia Café at the festival which was a place to meet and talk with people – it was always busy as people came from all over Poland, many of them would be ‘unchurched’ and had nothing to do with faith. 

As team leaders it was also our responsibility to minister to our  leadership team and it was a great privilege to see how God was moving in this time, touching many lives and raising hope and resolving some issues that were in their lives for quite a long time. We also got opportunity to meet some church leaders we didn’t know before and are now connected with them. Praise the Lord for this wonderful opportunity He provided us with to minister there! If you want to see pictures from the festival check our Facebook – Agnieszka created a whole album of pictures there!

 

 

 

Pastors 2 Pastors

The need for this recently-formed and developing ministry in the Polish Church is becoming ever more apparent, and it is being appreciated by a growing number of pastors in Poland. Click here to read the latest report from Wojtek, who heads up this work.

 

Pastors 2 Pastors

This new branch of the Daybreak counselling ministry in Poland is proving to be of great value to pastors there. Click here to read Wojtek’s report on recent events and developments.