Dear Friends,
The title of my message I preached last Sunday at New Hope Baptist Church in Wroclaw was: Being an effective witness for Christ in the contemporary world. I liked it because we need a clear reminder in our complex world why we Christians are here. I also like the sermon title because it truly expresses the heart of our ministry to equip leaders to be disciple-makers. Here is a glimpse of the ways we put our witness into practice:
School of Biblical Discipleship: It is thrilling to invest in 20 students every week as they learn to apply discipleship principles in their lives. The students are from diverse backgrounds and professions. They represent various churches from our city, work in different places, have unique personalities and talents, yet they all have one thing in common: they want to grow deeper in their relationship with God and become disciple-makers!
School of Speakers: We are training a group of 15 leaders in the Bielawa Christian Center, equipping them in public speaking and teaching them how to share a biblical message. It is fascinating to see the response of the participants. Many of them never thought they could talk about the Gospel with others, but each one is gaining confidence and practical tools of how to speak and share.
Renewal Festival: As part of the Covenant of Pastors we are on the steering committee of the biggest evangelical event ever organized in our city! This year we have a special guest coming to speak at the Festival: Nick Vujicic (see the video clip of this inspiring man without limbs). We expect 40,000 people at the Stadium! Golden Apple‘s role is to recruit and train 500 spiritual counselors for this event. Please pray for us as we work on this huge project that takes place June 2, 2019.
Leadership Forum: We continue serving marketplace leaders through coaching and mentoring. We also organize the Leadership Forum where guest speakers are invited to share their spiritual experiences with others. We look forward to the next Forum that will be organized in the Wroclaw City Hall in conjunction with our mayor. The theme is “Power of Words” and it will take place May 31, 2019.
English Camps: Every year there are Christian language camps organized by Fala Ministry. The camps reach hundreds of young people all over the nation. We are participating in the training of 150 young leaders who will be involved in the camp ministries this summer. Please pray that the Lord will use them to reach many young people for Christ!
M4 Church Planting Initiative: We were asked by the Baptist Union of Poland to support coaches which initiated four church planting teams in different parts of Poland. We are excited to be part of this movement in our local church in Wroclaw and on a national level. If Evangelicals are to grow and to have more impact in our country, we need more churches.
Evangelical Poland: This is a long term project of the Evangelical Alliance in Poland. Golden Apple Institute plays a key role in facilitating the leadership track for this. The vision is to equip Evangelicals in our nation to work together on projects that strengthen our witness and allow us as an Evangelical community to become more visible in our nation. We are building a network of leaders connected with this vision. It’s a great encouragement to us that leaders of all Evangelical denominations joined in this incredible vision. The next leadership retreat is April 11-12, 2019.
The Billy Graham Chair of Evangelism at the Baptist Theological Seminary in Warsaw: We are excited to be invited to lead a program on evangelism and discipleship at the Seminary starting September 2019. Before the event occurs, we will also conduct two training conferences in May and September. Association with the Billy Graham organization is a great honor and a responsibility that will impact our next generation leaders.
Acts 1:8 Conference in Warsaw entitled, “Being a Witness to Christ in His Fullness”: We were privileged to be involved in the Leadership Care portion and lead the international panel on the theme of witness in Central Europe. Represented leaders were from Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Croatia and Bosnia. Each country faces different challenges and needs bold humility in our witness to the world!
In the midst of all these exciting activities, we are doing well as a family. Dawid is in the fifth grade now and is excelling in his school. He has a new passion for dance and is taking special classes and participating in competitions. He really has great rhythm! We are very proud of him!
Thank you for your love, prayers and support. You are part of all the ways we share the love of Christ in our work.
Blessings,
Wojek and Agnieszka