Canada…Slovakia….Kenya

The main focus of Integra Slovakia now is outside Slovakia, in Africa and in other humanitarian projects like raising funds from Slovaks for Syrian refugeees.
Rachel Clegg is currently working in one of their initiatives in Kenya, a home for AIDS orphans – she is shocked by the poverty but in love with the kids, learning to trust God, and marvelling at seeing God at work in that place.

Allan and Caulene Bussard have been working in Integra Slovakia for all of its 20 year history. They were unable to be at the CEP Conference for the first time this year, but have sent this plea for prayer :
Last week we had a change in our plans, and would like to ask for your prayers.
We are currently on a visit to friends and family in Canada. After a few days with our family in Vancouver, I was taken to hospital with chest pains and difficulty breathing.
As it turned out, I (Allan) was diagnosed with blood clots in my lungs.
The doctors caught it in time, and I am taking medication to control and reduce the risk. There should be no long term problems, but it will need to be managed. I am feeling fine, and we plan to return to Slovakia shortly.
Additionally, Caulene is scheduled to receive a hip transplant in Bratislava around the end of October. She has increasing pain in walking, and it is time to do something about it.
We are thankful for excellent care, and that this crisis did not happen in a place where care was not available. We would like to ask for your continued prayers for health and strength over the coming weeks.
Thanks

 

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!

 

End of Year News

cep news letter Dec 2013
Thank you Magda for putting together this great Newsletter, telling us about recent and upcoming happenings within some of our Partner organisations.

 

Holistic Mission

This was the thought running through the whole of the CEP Conference last weekend. The weekend proved to be quite a holistic event for all of us attending; physical refreshment in enjoying the beauty of the Czech hills in the Autumn sunshine; social interaction in meeting with old friends and making new ones; intellectual engagement with various topics from our speakers; and spiritual nourishment from men and women of God who labour in challenging situations and who could share the ways the Lord has blessed their ministry over the past year.
Stephen Williams was our main speaker, and he led us to understand the nature of holistic mission through considering the lives of Abraham Kuyper and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He showed how the mandate for holistic mission comes from the Great Commission in Matthew 28. The pupose of mission is to make disciples, who are in essence followers of Jesus. And the essence of discipleship is to love God and love your neighbour. The classic demonstration of how to love your neighbour is found in the parable of the Good Samaritan – but what would you do if you came across a man beaten up by robbers on the same stretch of road every day?! Perhaps things such as widen the road, put police on duty, build a hospital to care for the injured…. So a real concern for one’s neighbour brings structural transformation to the whole society!
The reports from the 11 Partner organisations each contained items of encouragement and areas of challenge.
Perhaps the newest initiative is in Lutsk, Ukraine, where a Foundation called Territory 2:2 (from 2 Tim 2:2) has been started by some people from three different churches, with the support of their pastors. They have started with some clubs and camps for children and a Family Festival, but their main platform will be the English-language school which has been running for a few months now and already has 54 students and 7 teachers. As well as the formal classes, English Clubs for adults and for children provide a good platform to be able to talk openly about the gospel.
An overall encouragement was seeing how one Partner can serve and help another. For instance, the long experience of leaders of SLOT in Poland in discipling and mentoring has enabled them to help those in D3 in Slovakia, who in turn run a very influential mentoring programme for both students and teachers in the CS Lewis and Narnia schools in Bratislava. At our conference itself, a first meeting occurred between leaders of Pastors2Pastors in Poland and Parakletos in Czech Republic, with the result that they will share ideas and methods of counselling, to their mutual benefit.
Many of the challenges expressed could be eased by more financial assistance, but to find out about those needs, please go to the Contact Us page and email us with an enquiry.
Above all, please continue to pray for each of our Partners – they all expressed how very much they value our prayers and support.

 

Latest Newsletter

For news about Language Schhols in Ukraine, Volunteers in Romania, “Manifest” in Poland, two of our Partners in Bratislava, and two others in Poland, please read the latest news from the region in CEP april newsletter

 

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.

 

4th Annual CEP Conference

A note from Hannah about the excellent weekend 5th-7th October :

Last weekend, 36 people gathered for the annual CEP conference in the beautiful Beskidy Mountains in the Czech Republic. It was a time of refreshment, encouragement, and sharing knowledge. Friday evening began with an update from each Partner on their past year, challenges, and future plans. It was encouraging to hear how each Partner is working for Christ. The evening ended late into the night with good conversations around the bar and restaurant. Saturday morning began early with a time of testimony and reflection regarding keeping God the center of our busy lives. The day continued with a full schedule, and even better conversation. The morning session was spent discussing enterprises and how they are beneficial to our work as missionaries and followers of Christ. After a short coffee break, everyone filed back into the room to begin a seminar on the balance of running a christian organization in a professional, effective way. Lunch was served, and then the afternoon hours were spent relaxing and enjoying God’s beautiful creation.

Everyone was gathered together again for the evening seminar about standards, governances, and financial management of organizations. After supper, a panel discussion was held for a time of further discussion and questions on any topics discussed thus far. Saturday night also ended late with many good conversations and laughter. Sunday morning began just as Saturday morning had, but with a testimony on how to keep God fresh through the decades. After breakfast, everyone gathered back into the conference room where a workshop was held about spiritual fruit in holistic/ integrated enterprises. The group was split into smaller groups to further discuss the topic. The group was brought back together to hear testimonies from Arka schools in Poland and the navigators working in Albania. It was encouraging to see different organizations and how they holistically bring change into their communities and countries. The weekend ended with a discussion on improvement, future planning, and reflecting on the past year. Organizations were split into groups for discussion and then to share with the large group. It was a time to hear exciting future plans, frustrating current issues, and past experiences from each organization. Everyone gathered to share lunch together and then each left, to return to their homes and lives. However, each person left feeling encouraged, rejuvenated, and full of new thoughts and ideas. God was present and worked throughout the weekend. Thanks for your prayers!

 

Conference

Representatives of all 11 Partners, together with interested friends from the UK and USA, meet together this weekend at a lovely centre in the Czech hills to have fellowship, encourage one another, learn from one another and to pray and plan for the future.

 

Encouraging Conference

The weather was dreary, but the fellowship warm and stimulating, as 36 people from many nations gathered in the scenic Czech hills to report on how their various ministries are reaching people for God, and to discuss how to make them better known in order to attract support. Quite some time was spent on looking at ways to attract local funding, as all the Partners look to become more and more self-sustainable. This does not mean that funding from the UK and other countries is not needed, far from it, but in many cases it could be sought as “matched funding”, or seen as a short-term solution while local support is built up. Many of the staff workers in the Partner organisations are working very sacrificially, as they direct any monies received towards the projects, so a big need in fact is to support these faithful servants in their work.

The relatively large representation from the UK was greatly appreciated by those working in East Europe, and they are encouraged to know of our encouragement and prayerful and practical support. If you would like to join us in that support, please contact us.