Dear Sisters and Brothers interested in the Reformed Church in Croatia,

It is great to finally have some pics to share with you from the new congregation we are planting in Osijek. We are off to a great start. The team we have is functioning as well as I have seen any team in ministry. They have complimentary gifts, and they have the will and commitment to use them to the fullest. Primarily there are Boris and Lidija Gunjevic and Paul Drogowski. Boris and Lidija are both ministers (a clergy couple) and Paul is our English teacher. (He's an American, though his name may lead you to assume he is from the general region, though no Croatian name ends in -ski so far as I know.)

We are thrilled to be in this new place. It has an excellent location, just two short blocks from the center of town, within sight of the cathedral. It’s a newly restored building with lots of “cool” features. I think this picture makes it look smaller than it is. It’s not big, but we can comfortably seat 30 people. Last Sunday we had about 25 in the worship service. There are about 20 people attending the English class now, and another class will begin soon. This weekend, Boris and Lidija are participating in a “Jesus Party”—a festival of music and drama that always attracts a large number of young people. We decided to wait until the autumn to run the Alpha course, since it needs 10 weeks, and we are too close to summer.

Many many thanks to all of you how have made this important venture possible. May God bless you as you have blessed us! We will try to keep you up to date about our progress. Please keep us in your prayers.

Grace and Peace,

Steven Kurtz

PC(USA) mission co-worker, Osijek, Croatia

The 2002 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 79