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.

 

Trusting God for big needs

Can we ask you to join us in trusting the Lord for three of our integrated/holistic ministry projects:
1. In Ukraine this September 15th we are opening a learning centre including a language school, preschool, day care, youth club as an evangelistic outreach into the community. This is in an excellent location in the centre of a large city. We are employing a team of 6, renting a building at $500pm and looking for a couple of hundred students in order to break even.
2. Our primary and secondary schools which are integrated ministry projects in Poland are needing about 10 more students to break even this coming academic year…we move into the new academic year trusting on God’s provision as we have no capital reserves and a large looming deficit.
3. In faith our Ukrainian foundation has taken on 49 war widows and their children in Ukraine. We are looking to help them in their often desperate situations. One widow I visited yesterday has two small children under the age of 3, has state income of $24pm, no job, rent costs of $80pm, and no family to help.
Thank you for praying for us…

 

Ukraine – Looking Back and Forward

Territory2_2_Sep2015

As we see from the above newsletter, many children were able to benefit from the camps – some of them orphans or victims of the ongoing conflict in the country.
Let’s pray that they, and many others, as well as adults, will continue to be reached and helped through the work throughout the year, including the new ministries mentioned. The latest news is that a big building in a good area of Lutsk has been secured to rent for all their activities, which will begin from Sep 15th. Please pray for sufficient income, from fees (very low!) or support, to enable the rent to be paid each month, and that God will greatly bless this expanded work.

 

School Competition

The CS Lewis High School in Bratislava is a bi-lingual school, where all subjects are taught partly in English, with the result that the students emerge with an excellent grasp of the English language. Every year, the school organises an English creative writing competition for 12-15 year-olds. They must submit a piece of either poetry or prose with a connection to the theme chosen for the year; this year the theme is “Leaving the Door Open”. The competition is open to students at other schools in Europe whose first language is not English. The best works will be published in a book which will be presented at the award ceremony on May 13th. The students at the school are busy putting their creative ideas into words now, as the deadline is one month today!

 

A little help for Bulgaria

The PR Slaveikov Christian School in Sofia, Bulgaria, has been a beacon in the country for giving disabled children an equal opportunity to receive a high-class education in their school. For the last 6 months they have been working on an equally innovative idea to run a programme for especially gifted children, and are now ready to start it, gratefully accepting a modest grant from us in CEPUK (thanks to donations received) to buy materials. The School Principal writes:

Dear friends,
Happy new year! Thank you that you support us in one very crucial moment as friends and as a real family in Christ! Thank you for the gift – we value it; with the money we ordered some materials and we plan to start the new programme from the middle of January 2015. Send greetings to all people who pray for us.

Nadya

 

Exciting ways to learn in Bulgaria

Vania tells us a bit about life in the PR Slaveikov School in Sofia :
In our school it’s bustling with life, we have interesting and funny things going on all the time. We celebrate different holidays together, we take part in projects and campaigns, we do our best to make the learning process interesting and give the children opportunities to express themselves and develop their pioneering spirit for exploits via different practical activities.

Here are a few examples: in the pre-school group the children made a replica of an igloo, all by themselves, while learning everything, connected with the way of life of eskimos and the changes in the weather through the winter months. In a special class the 1st graders presented to their parents what they know about our city and what the rules of street traffic are. 5th and 6th grade introduced us to the world of math through art. They proved that they can solve hard math problems and at the end they quickened their solutions through funny drawings of geometrical shapes.

To become more involved in the life of this unique Christian School, there are opportunities to sponsor a child, or a teacher – for more details please email contactus@cepartners.org.uk.

 

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.

 

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.

 

Narnia branching out.

At the CS Lewis and Narnia School in Bratislava, it takes new members of staff a while to take on board and fully embrace the unique work ethic and Christian ethos prevalent throughout the school. All members of staff work extremely hard for the benefit of their students, constantly trying to improve and be innovative – let’s pray that they will not feel under too much stress and will be able to relax sometimes as well!

The school has such a great reputation that Christians in other parts of Slovakia would like to establish similar schools. In one town near Bratislava, plans are well advanced to open a new branch of the Narnia Elementary School next September. Next Monday there will be an important meeting with the local authority of the town. Much wisdom is needed for the whole team involved over the coming months.

 

School Report

The end-of-school exam results at Arka School were among the best in the whole region of Poland, which was encouraging. And the new academic year has begun with a record number of 151 students, which helps the school budget! However, there are still big headaches to solve on the financial front, with ever-changing legislation continually posing new challenges; now it is new VAT rules.

This Saturday is the School Festival Day with a couple of hundred people expected to attend, and with good weather forecast!