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Epiphany 2001
Dear Family and Friends,
On Sunday, November 19, Rastislav Navratil, the lay leader of
the Trencin congregation of the Brethren Church of Slovakia, made
an important announcement. At the beginning of the Sunday morning
service, he announced that the Trencin church was no longer merely
a preaching station, but was now formally a full congregation.
The announcement was not unexpected. In fact, the "church"
in Trencin had been working toward this moment for quite awhile.
While I have been involved in the life of this congregation for
the past eight years, the group actually began its existence some
50 years ago. It was, for a long time, just a small group meeting
in a home in a village on the edge of Trencin. In recent years,
a lay leader, Juraj Ciesar, had provided leadership, and slowly
the congregation had begun to grow. In recent times, many people
had prayed that the group in Trencin would develop and become
a congregation. And, in fact, the leadership of the denomination
felt that, of all the preaching stations under its care, the Trencin
station held the most hope of making the transition from station
to full congregation. This assessment was based on many factors,
including my presence and work here during the last eight years.
When Mr. Navratil made the announcement, many in the congregation
were clearly moved. There followed expressions of praise and prayers
of thanksgiving. (Perhaps it was appropriate that the American
holiday of Thanksgiving would occur only a few days later.) That
announcement means that the Trencin church is now officially an
entity—both in the eyes of the denomination and in the eyes
of the state. That means that it can do certain practical things,
like have a bank account or buy property.
It also means that the church will now have its own pastor. In
fact, the handsome, young pastor and his wife were present as
Rastislav made his announcement. Rev. Jaroslav Tomasovsky began
his work that Sunday in November, by preaching from I Timothy
2:1-7. He spoke of the important tasks facing the congregation.
Evangelism continues to be one of those tasks, but there are others
as well. He cited the importance of prayer and said that our prayers
must not only be for ourselves. They must be for all people, including
government officials, as mentioned in the passage from Timothy.
Jaroslav said that he trusted that this new congregation would
not build a wall around itself but would reach out to the community.
These were important words for an important occasion!
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has helped the Trencin congregation
reach this goal in several ways. First, the PC(USA) has made it
possible for me to serve here and contribute to the life of the
congregation during the course of these eight years.
More recently, the PC(USA) has made direct financial contributions
to help with Trencin’s transition from preaching station
to congregation. And, as you might imagine, there are many expenses
involved in such a transition. In fact, with the high cost of
housing, it was feared that purchasing a housing unit (for use
as a parsonage and office space) would be out of reach of the
congregation. But, with monies contributed through the Outreach
Foundation and through the International Evangelism and Church
Development Office of the PC(USA)’s Worldwide Ministries
Division, a sizable grant was given to the Brethren Church for
use in Trencin. This grant made the crucial difference. In fact,
these funds made it possible to call a pastor. Without funds to
purchase a housing unit, it would not have been possible for the
pastor to accept a call to serve in Trencin.
There is also a third way that U.S. Presbyterians have helped.
My Presbytery, Redstone Presbytery, has twice sent a group of
about eight people to help the Brethren Church congregations in
Trencin and nearby Stara Tura do an English Bible camp. As you
know—if you have been following my work here—this is
one of the key ways these congregations reach out to others. Camps
typically include about 60 people. By intention, about half of
the campers are Christians and half not. As you might imagine,
having lived for many years under communism, the camps provide
a great opportunity for our partner church to be more visible
and reach out to the community. The camps have, in fact, been
the occasion for some campers to receive Christ and begin to change
their lives.
In short, the Trencin church becoming a full congregation is
a very important step in the life and witness of this group of
committed Christians. And the ways the PC(USA) is helping this
partner church are making a crucial difference.
Following that announcement in November, as the service continued,
we came to the prayer time. I could feel that the congregation
was praying together with a deep sense of gratitude and commitment,
a sense that we will be a church, that we will make this become
a reality, and that we depend on God’s strength to be his
witnesses here. I could feel an enthusiasm tempered by a sense
of responsibility. And, seemingly most heart-felt of all, were
the expressions of thanks given to God for this new opportunity
of service and witness as a full congregation.
With gratitude,
John Michael, Jr.
The 2001 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 90
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