Church Planting in the Czech: Part 2
While the primary purpose of our trip to the Czech Republic was to meet the people that are planting the church in Olomouc and see how Providence Road could partner with them, I was also excited to visit a country with such a storied religious history. Olomouc was the historical capital of Moravia, which is where the Moravian Church started and from which the first modern-day missionaries were sent. Some of these missionaries even sold themselves into slavery for the opportunity to spread the gospel to the West Indies. Saint Wenceslas Cathedral, a beautiful 12th-century gothic cathedral dominates the city skyline, serving as a reminder of the area’s Christian past. In Prague, a memorial to Jan Hus, who preceded Martin Luther's calls for reformation by nearly 100 years and whose followers established the Moravian Church, sits prominently in Old Town Square. The Charles Bridge is lined by 30 statues and monuments to saints such as Augustine and Francis, as well as a magnificent statue of Christ on the cross. The cathedrals, monuments, and statues serve as a physical reminder of the religious history of the country.
Despite their religious heritage, the Czech Republic is the most unreligious country in eastern Europe with only 29% claiming a belief in God and only 1% identifying as evangelical. The Czech Republic is an outlier amongst its neighboring countries such as Slovakia where 69% claim a belief in God. Few are raised within a religious family and even those that are only a small percentage claim any sort of religious belief later in life. The people from which modern-day missions began are now in desperate need of healthy churches to spread the gospel.
One of Providence Road’s core values is planting healthy churches, and it was extremely encouraging to see a church in Czech, Kostel Jinak, that has a heart to do the same. As we interacted with the pastor and people of the church it was wonderful to hear their excitement for not only planting this church, but for their plans for more churches in the future. Their pastor talked about his desire to send out the best of his church to plant new churches, which is evident by the current team of individuals going to Olomouc. These individuals and families are excited to launch this new church despite having to uproot their lives from their current church and community to start fresh in a new place. As we walked around the city of Olomouc with the individual leading the church planting team, Viktor Kouřil, he talked with excitement about how they might reach the people in the city and the nearly 25,000 students that go to the university. Planting healthy churches seems to be part of the DNA of the church.
One of my primary concerns going into the trip was that we would not have a clear vision for how or if we could partner with this church. We asked you to pray for clarity of vision before we left for travel, and we were blown away by the way God answered our prayers! As we interacted with unbelievers, the church leadership, church members, and the team going to Olomouc, God made it very clear to all of us how we could partner with them in the future. We came away excited by the life-changing stories of the people of Kostel Jinak and their faithfulness in spreading the gospel.
As we roll out plans for the partnership with this future church plant, please pray for Victor, the Ehlers, and the rest of the team going to Olomouc in the Summer of 2023!
