NEWSLETTER - Winter 2009

Report on Novy Jicin, Czech Republic

Short term Mission - October, 2009

Novy Jicin, Czech Republic

In October 2009 we went back to Novy Jicin for our church mission. Our Church, Calvary Church in Kingswinford is partnering with this new church plant in Novy Jicin, working with NLI who partner with churches all over Europe to plant new churches, particularly in the former Communist countries.

We were very much looking forward to this visit and to working with church planters, Jarek and Jane after our great experience on our last trip.

There was no evangelical church in Novy Jicin, and Jarek and Jane had moved from their mother church into the town to plant a new church. They had only just moved into their new apartment and were still in the process of moving in, having only a little furniture and also in the middle of decorating.

The plan for our Mission Team was to teach English in the schools, and to invite the pupils, teachers and parents to a small cinema that Jarek had hired for the week, where we would have English conversation, music lessons and then some gospel concerts in the evenings.

We were blessed with the Team, which was brilliantly suited for what we wanted to do in the town. We had a team of nine, with three teachers and a number of musicians.

The first few days were mad! We began classes at 8am and taught in classes until 1.30pm, rushing from class to class and sometimes to different schools. We had great fun though, fitting in with the Czech curriculum, so the kids could learn about English food, culture and celebrities. We were the first English people to be invited into the schools.

We got to know the kids and teachers, and a few groups of them started to come to the English Conversation and music lessons in the afternoon at the cinema. In schools we weren't allowed to preach the gospel, but it was a great opportunity to build relationships. A couple of girls came to the first afternoon of English Conversation and they were with us at every meeting, until one went away for a holiday. The other girl continued coming and bringing others with her.

We were free to talk about Jesus in these meetings and in the concerts. Jarek and Jane have a jazz band and they also invited a group of mime artists. The little cinema was full most evenings and we had a great time. On the last evening 5 people were saved. This is the start of Jarek and Jane's church.

Jarek is hoping to get work teaching in one of the schools to maintain contact, and his son Simon is starting a drum school.

We ask for your prayers for this pioneer work and the beginnings of this new church in Novy Jicin. Jarek, Jane and Simon are wonderful people who are totally committed to this work. They have vision and energy and we know God's hand is on them for this work.

Herrnhut

Ian and I then had a couple of days in Herrnhut.

You will remember from a previous report that Novy Jicin was the birthplace of Christian David who was the leader of the Moravian brethren, who because of persecution were forced to leave Novy Jicin and travelled to Herrnhut where they were given land for their community to live by Count Zinzendorf. This small group developed 24/7 prayer and a missionary movement that influenced the whole world. John Wesley was converted when he met a group of Moravian missionaries on a ship, where he was impressed by their lack of fear during a particularly violent storm.

We put pieces of history together in Herrnhut and also from visiting the Moravian museum just outside Novy Jicin, where a wonderful elderly man shared his great knowledge of the movement, and prayed with us. The connection between moves of God in the Czech republic, we discovered went back even further to when John Huss, a Czech priest was martyred in 1415, following the teachings of Wycliffe the English Bible translator.

We are not exactly sure what all this means, but feel that God is putting pieces of a jigsaw puzzle in place, but we can't see the big picture yet. We just know that God has something amazing for us. We have had several prophetic words that God is doing something bigger than we think, and that He is taking the lid off our expectations.

We have been spurred on again to begin 24/7 prayer at the beginning of this new decade, knowing that we need an even stronger prayer foundation for what He has for us. Sorry we don't have all the answers but watch this space for the unfolding of this vision.