From the May-August 2011 Issue
Change is at the Door
Krzysztof and Aneta Rutkowski
There are situations in life which we welcome wholeheartedly and those which we would like to avoid. There are also those which produce ambivalent thoughts and feelings. But whatever we think and feel, changes come. At the moment this situation applies to the Evangelical congregation in Włocławek. Readers of the Vision for Europe have occasionally had a chance to acquire some information about this congregation, because the European Missionary Fellowship has been supporting two workers in that town.
What type of change is meant here? It is a significant one, because SR, pastor of the congregation and one of the workers supported by EMF, indicated that it was time for him to retire.
Thirty years of ministry
We would rarely expect that a hardened atheist would end up preaching the Gospel and ministering to a church for thirty years, but this was the case with him. Turning from Roman Catholicism to atheism in his youth, he himself would not have believed and accepted such a possibility. It almost took the life of his wife to make him humble before God and accept the Good News. Lacking fellowship in his own town and being encouraged by other believers, he, together with two other Christian families, formed a congregation in Włocławek. A few years later he himself, after three years of being assistant pastor, became pastor of the little flock. In those days, still under a communist government, you needed fifteen people to register a new church. (By the way, now in our free and democratic state you will not be able to register a new church unless there are a hundred adults who want to form it.) That was their small beginning. God has blessed the work and today the church in Włocławek has nearly eighty people in membership. Over these years the congregation has experienced stable growth and well-balanced ministry.
What is more, this ministry has not been limited only to Włocławek and the church there, but it extended to organizing and running Christian summer camps, missionary work in Lipno and helping with the work of publishing Christian books by LEGATIO. It is always a particular joy and blessing from God to see the fruit of labour – conversions, growth in faith and understanding, new people capable of preaching, the publication of several thousands of good Christian books. All this has been possible because the Lord has been gracious and a number of people have got involved in the work – pastor, elders, Sunday school teachers, youth leaders and many other believers.
Turning a new page
Although the pastor is retiring he will certainly give whatever help and support that he can still provide, particularly in the transition period. However, the new pastor will need to take on the bulk of the work and continue the ministry. At their Annual Meeting in February the church voted to call one of their elders, Leszek Karasiewicz, to be their pastor following his retirement. Initially, this will be for a two-year trial period. It will not be surprising to hear that by some standards the work would keep two full-time pastors busy, but the reality in Poland is that the churches are just beginning to realize the need to support their ministers. So far the congregation in Włocławek has been blessed with two full-time workers, both supported through EMF. This year the involvement of one of them will gradually decrease. The other one will need to make, together with the church and EMF, decisions concerning his future. Therefore there is a great need to bring all these matters before the Head of the Church, the Lord Jesus Christ. Readers of this article may contribute by their supportive prayers.