From the July-September 2009 Issue
Winds of change
Dawid and Agnieska Koziol
Town Square ZywiecMany among the readers of Vision of Europe will remember that the church in which I am working at the present time is my first full-time pastoral work. Before I went to study at the EMF School of Biblical Studies, I had been in Jastrzebie Zdroj where I worked with the small church for two years. Most of that time was actually focused on mission work and struggles to form a solid group on which one could build a firm church. My work in Jastrzebie was not long enough to see some of the stages in the life of the church, which now are quite easy to see in the church in Zywiec. In one sense I see myself and my ministry as ‘growing up’ together with the fellowship I am a part of. I need to say that sometimes there have been surprising and challenging lessons and changes.
It seems to me that the winds of change are blowing this year quite strongly, and we as the church already have and will experience quite big changes. Some of them are already challenging us. I am writing mainly in the context of our young people. When in the year 2000 I started work with the church in Zywiec I had a group of teenagers, some of them too young to participate in the youth camps. Now most of them feel too old to go to youth conferences and camps, and say that they do not fit among this young generation now coming for youth events.
Growing up
It was and still is a privilege to share in their spiritual journey; very often to be with them in difficult moments, sometimes spending hours in discussing their questions and problems. Most of them were typical teenage problems, questions about faith, relationships and limits. Sometimes we discussed questions raised by their teachers or friends in schools; often it was only challenging them and encouraging them to walk with the Lord. How good it is to see them growing up both physically and in faith.
Empty places
Changes in that group of young people are not only a matter for the future, but also the present. Most of them are studying at universities and colleges; only three full-time, but six doing part-time study. That has changed our Sunday worship. Very often all of them need to go away for their studies and then automatically nine people out of our membership are missing. It is quite a big proportion, as for Sunday morning we may expect approximately thirty people, and it looks rather empty sometimes. If we add to this that these young people were very actively involved in various responsibilities in the church, we realise that they are not just missing for services, but also in various ministries.
It is quite a new situation both for me and for the church. Of course we support them and pray for them, that they may make wise and profitable choices. We are still with them and for them, but at the same time we feel it won’t be the same. Nevertheless, it is encouraging to see them strong and fighting for their faith, often in a totally new environment. Of course not all of them are at the same level and have the same challenges, but it seems to me that they are influencing others with their faith, rather than the opposite. We pray for them that they may be witnesses in the place God has put them.
Our unchanging God
It reminds me also how important it is to invest wisely in the young generation. They still may benefit our church and, if not ours, they may be a blessing for other churches. This is because the winds of change are not uncontrolled, blind luck. The changes are not just happening in the life of our fellowship and ourselves. If that were true there would be no confidence, just confusion and lack of peace. How good it is to know and remember that all ‘winds of change’ are in the hand of a sovereign God. What a confidence and peace that assurance brings into our life and the life of every fellowship of the Lord’s people. Yes, it is true that we sometimes do not understand those changes, we do not know why they happen, but He knows, and sometimes it is enough to remember that. May God help us to trust Him when all is changing around us. He changes not and He is still accomplishing His purposes, even in the life of our congregation.