Monday, May 24, 2010

Czech Missionaries sent to Nebraska



America is a needy mission field. Just ask any of the 5 Czech mission team members of the CB church in Horní Počernice (a section of Prague). Last night, the team had a presentation about their mission trip to Holdredge, Nebraska where they served in schools, retirement homes, and churches. They visited with families and were able to find out about life in the heart of America. (They reminded people of the interesting parallel that they live in the heart of Europe).

This mission trip was conceived two years ago when a team from Trinity Church in Holdredge came to serve in the Czech Republic. Cooperating with ReachGlobal missionary Sheryll Barker and Pastor Kloubek, they arranged visits in local schools and even got to talk with the mayor of Horní Počernice. At least one member of the Czech church was against this "American tourist trip". (Sadly, it is true that American mission teams often come and act like they are the ones who have something to teach the poor, unequipped Czechs.) In discussion with the pastor, he said that he doubted the Americans would invite Czechs to teach them something. Well, he was wrong! Trinity Church invited the HP Church to send a team to Holdredge and serve in the schools, retirement homes, and churches.

Other ReachGlobal team members and I had the privilege of joining with ZMA (the Foreign Mission Agency of the Církev bratrská) to help train the 5 members of this team for the trip. The team got to spend an evening at our house wearing shoes in the house, eating chicken with their hands, drinking with glasses full of ice, and watching a lot of kids running around in the house...all meant to produce a little culture shock. Reports are that that evening did, in fact, help them to prepare for American visits.

In the process of training the team, we are working on a printed manual for short term mission trips that the mission agency can use to prepare any teams. The rough draft should be finished by the end of this week. Another team of seminary students is being prepared to serve at the Czech Summit in Houston, Texas at the end of June. Please pray for the ZMA mission agency and Dan Hejzlar the head of ZMA as he encourages the Czech churches to become involved in missions. (ZMA doesn't only prepare teams to go to America. They also organize trips to Africa, Italy, and Ukraine.)

One of the most exciting things about the trip is the followup. The HP church is connecting with local schools in the area and getting them connected with American pen pals in Nebraska. One of the local principals was dead set against having a church group come into the school earlier. Now he has said that anyone who is studying English should connect with one of the Nebraska Christians and start a pen pal relationship. The HP Church also wants to think more strategically about ReachGlobal missionary Sheryll Barker's English classes.

Could a Czech team help you to accomplish your church outreach goals?

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