Pawel, like many people in Poland, had never seen an evangelical church. He was a Christian for four years before he saw one or found Christian fellowship.
We were introduced to Pawel by Jacek Duda from Lublin. Jacek is the national president of a denomination with whom SGA works and he took us an hour’s journey to Pulawy, a town of over 40,000 people. Pawel, like almost 70% of Poles, lives in a small apartment in a communist era block of flats. Karolina, his wife, was with him.
You are privileged” Jacek told us, “because you are their first visitors”. It was Monday afternoon and Pawel and Karolina had married the previous Saturday! Jacek asked Pawel to share his story.
Immediately we were struck by Pawel’s grasp of English and even more by the reality of his faith in Christ. Determination and diligence clearly marked the young man, barely into his twenties. He explained that since his mid teens he had been on a quest for spiritual peace. He had begun by researching eastern religions, expecting to find help. Pawel’s conclusion however, was that he felt more unsettled at the end of his thorough investigation than he had at the start.
Eventually he turned to the Catholic edition of the Bible on his shelf. As he read of the Prince of Peace, he was led to trust in Christ as his Saviour - the One Who brings us peace with God, having made peace through the blood of His cross. Pawel is sure that knowing Christ is the answer to his quest for peace. No contact with Christians was involved, apart from twice meeting people in a local park who testified of Christ but remain unknown to him. For Pawel, it has been a very direct and personal encounter with Jesus Christ through His Word alone.
Pawel and Karolina from Pulawy.
There is no doubt that Pawel has grown as a Christian over the last four years. This is purely through his own study of the Word, and through sharing with Karolina, his soul-mate and now his wife.
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Jacek and Izabela Duda.
He soon concluded that he could not find fellowship in the Catholic system because of its departure from scripture. He explained that, as he read the accounts in Acts of the “New Testament believers”, he wondered whether such people even existed in the world today. Jacek confirmed that there was no known evangelical witness in Pulawy.
It was not until July this year that, four years after trusting Christ, Pawel saw a notice in a paper about Christians meeting in Lublin. He and Karolina travelled there one Sunday only to find the place deserted at the advertised time. Lublin is a large city, but they decided to have a good look around. They were weary and on the point of giving up when they finally saw Lublin Evangelical Church tucked away down a side street, amongst houses and blocks of flats.
Since then, Pawel and Karolina have not missed a Sunday or midweek meeting despite the distance they have to travel. They have been baptised and Pawel is enrolled as a Bible School student. Every month he will travel half way across the country for four days of intensive study at Bydgoszcz. SGA has had links with the work there for many years and it is of national importance in Polish evangelical terms. This year over thirty other new students are joining Pawel.
Pawel and Karolina were clearly rejoicing in their new-found fellowship. Jacek and the church in Lublin have been greatly encouraged. Now there is another Polish town with a new mission station and the seeds of a Christian testimony, where none had been known for so long. God has been at work in His way, which always reaches to the transformation of individual lives.
Please pray that God will build on this work, so that the people of Pulawy and many more Polish towns, will have the opportunity, not only to see an evangelical church, but to meet with Christians and encounter Christ for themselves.
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