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The Church of God in PolandLast year was a great year of development and recognition as a national movement for the Polish Church of God.Representative Wojtek Wloch worked actively in representing the Church of God with major interdenominational conferences this past year.The Global Leadership Summit was hosted by the Krakow church and had over 400 pastors and church leaders present from across Poland, representing the full spectrum of the Evangelical Christian community.The Krakow church also hosted its third annual conference on the family, which has grown to well over 300 participants.The national church movement shows great unity and the ministers regularly meet for dialogue and decision making.We are blessed with a great leader in Representative Wloch, who shows both compassionate understanding and bold vision.He is actively mentoring at least four younger pastors and meets with them regularly for discipleship.
Christmas Outreach in Ruda Slanska
One of these pastors is Pastor Arek Biczak in Ruda Slanska. Each year, pastor Arek has led his church to host a Christmas outreach.This year, among the hundreds of people who were blessed by the packages from SamariterDienst and the carp donated by local businesses, the mayor of the city was in attendance and addressed the crowd.The mayor stated in his speech that he is watching over the Ruda Slanska Church of God and if Pastor Arek feels the church is being threatened or has a problem, he should go directly to the mayor or vice mayor. It is difficult to state how important this "covering" is in Poland, where the Catholic church exerts tremendous influence, even control over local and national government. When the mayor saw that our church needed a second entrance for handicapped people, he didn't issue an edict to close the church; he actually sent builders and built the ramp and entrance for the church within a week!
A Great Miracle
The Central European churches financially helped Pastor Arek to renovate the old cinema hall the mayor has allowed him to rent for $1 a year for 10 years. Due to this outpouring of support and the humanitarian aid which the Ruda church gives to the community, the mayor has now agreed to sell the building to the Church of God in Poland. This in itself is a great miracle, but it is only the beginning. The city of Ruda is paying $80,000 to renovate the building, and then will sell it to Arek for 10 percent of the value.
Jonathan Augustine, Regional Superintendent
A Great Miracle
The Central European churches financially helped Pastor Arek to renovate the old cinema hall the mayor has allowed him to rent for $1 a year for 10 years. Due to this outpouring of support and the humanitarian aid which the Ruda church gives to the community, the mayor has now agreed to sell the building to the Church of God in Poland. This in itself is a great miracle, but it is only the beginning. The city of Ruda is paying $80,000 to renovate the building, and then will sell it to Arek for 10 percent of the value.
Jonathan Augustine, Regional Superintendent
As in the days of Noah....
