“The church remained stagnant in recent years; they didn’t have a pastor and lost their original passion for their mission..” We have to be so careful to keep  our passion for the Gospel first and foremost in our lives. It is easy to get caught up in the chaos of daily life and we forget the importance of who we are in Christ, and what Christ has done for us on the cross.

We can even become so busy with ministry, or “going through the motions” that we lose of track why we are doing what we do. A huge responsibility lies upon the pastor of the church to keep that passion alive, through the way he preaches and also through the way he lives his life. In the story below, you will read about an SGA-supported missionary pastor who brought life back to a church that had become stagnant. Through each generation, we need to pass down our joy and the hope of salvation. Please pray for this small church that is becoming revitalized, and for the people who are coming to the saving knowledge of Christ.    

SGA Storyteller Dominika shares . . .

I want to tell you today about how one of the pastors supported by SGA in Poland has become involved in revitalizing a small church, through simple preaching of the Gospel and cooperation with foster families.

Nakło is a small town in northern Poland, with a population of about 15,000 people. There is only one evangelical church there, which currently consists of 15 people and a few small children. This church was founded about 15 years ago, after several people came to faith at a Christian family camp, which they were invited to by relatives living in another city. Later, a few believers from nearby villages joined them. Through their evangelistic involvement, more people came to faith, but over the years, the oldest members of the church passed away, and the younger generation moved to bigger cities. The church remained stagnant in recent years; they didn’t have a pastor and lost their original passion. They even considered closing the church and transferring completely to a church in another city.

At that point, Henryk, a pastor supported by SGA, became involved part-time to help them. Pastor Henryk, together with his wife, runs a children’s home for foster families in Chojnice, a city 50 miles from Nakło. He began visiting this declining church twice a month for services and Bible study groups. He started motivating people to believe that since God had placed them in this town, they should not give up, but faithfully speak about God in their surroundings.

Last fall, Henryk organized a service with prayer for foster and adoptive families. He invited the director of the regional center supporting foster and adoptive families, as well as families he had met a few years ago. This was their first time at a Baptist service. They listened to a sermon pointing to God as the one who has a heart for orphans and troubled children, and then the church prayed for parenting work. After this event, a few people started visiting the church. Its members, who had been lethargic, began inviting their friends. In a short time, the number of people attending the services doubled. This trend has continued until today.

The church, which had been discouraged until recently, is going through an extraordinary revitalization due to the simple preaching of the Gospel and the reminder that through it, people come to faith. A simple encouragement and a breath of fresh air can change a lot.

Please pray for the upcoming evangelistic event, pray for continued evangelistic zeal for the members of the church in Nakło, wisdom for Pastor Henryk, and that the light of Christ will continue to shine brightly in the Nakło area.