From the October-December 2009 Issue
A new ministry in "Retirement"
Zbigniew and Elzbieta Modnicki
It seems I have just started a new stage in my ministry and personal life, which is both interesting and challenging. Our church is going through a transition time, as far as pastoring is concerned. Since the very beginning, when we started this church in 2003, I have been blessed with the help of Wiesław Kamyszek, my assistant, who had studied at the Christian Theological Academy in Warsaw and the School of Biblical Studies in Welwyn. The latter gave him not only biblical knowledge but also, and I daresay first and foremost, the willingness if not zeal for regular ongoing study in order to share his biblical discoveries with the people to whom he preached. Working together we have survived as the Lord’s church until now when I have reached the age of retirement, at least according to Polish law.
Although in a way I am surprised at my age, I understand how providential is the fact that our Lord is giving me a unique opportunity to trust Him as well as my younger assistant, with respect to the future of our church. In fact, even before we started this new work, it had been in my mind and in my prayers that one day Wiesław would ‘take over’ my ministry as pastor, so I prayed and still do pray that God will prepare him for all the blessings, privileges and sufferings connected with the position of a pastor.
The current situation
We have just started the year of adjustment, which means Wiesław and I are co-pastors, with him growing in responsibilities and me gradually learning how to delegate more and more aspects of the church life to him. I have to remember that the church is neither mine nor his, but the Lord’s. As we see things which happen among us it is impossible to deny this truth. It is only God who teaches us to trust him in all our needs and weaknesses. It is only our blessed Saviour who grants us the friendly attitude of our neighbours. We had a baptismal service this spring. The lady who committed her life to Christ and was baptised is the one whose daughter had been baptised a year before! We experience such joy looking at the daughter and her mother, who is her ‘younger sister’ in Christ.
The attendance at services often comes to forty people on Sundays. On Wednesday the number is usually much smaller, but we thank God for every person who makes the effort to come in spite of their busy lives (I mean their jobs, studies, families), and sometimes in spite of health problems.
It is still our desire and goal to fulfil ‘The Great Commission’. My thoughts about the days of my retirement are these: preaching to the homeless and addicted, helping pastors around Łodz, meeting regularly with groups of neighbours, helping the society which helps disabled people and is located opposite our church building, preparing some men to start new churches in new areas, serving our congregation and respecting the new pastor. Once again, as it was many years ago, when I began my ministry, I am standing before the Lord God, saying ‘Here am I. Send me.’