If there is one thing I have learned during my years as a missionary, it is that you need to stay flexible. Every time you think you have it all figured out, it seems like God already has something new going on. If you get to ridged, you will soon find yourself missing what God is doing.
Here in Poland the last months have certainly been this kind of times. Many things have been going simultaneously, but when you feel God is backing up what you are doing – well, then you’re too blessed to be stressed.
Humanitarian aid and Street Church
It has been twice the last months that we have had to arrange humanitarian aid on a short notice. The first time it was a friend of ours from Lyngdal that was originally going to Ukraine, but then they got in trouble on the border from Poland to Ukraine and had to turn back. Lublin is only a few hours away from the border and when they realised that they needed to turn back, they decided to call me and ask if I knew someone to whom some gifts from Norway could be useful.
I knew some friends of mine were doing charity among children so I quickly called them and the same evening we were able to give them the gifts.
Some weeks later I received another call from friends in Denmark. They had got a lot of cakes from Danish shops and wondered if I knew someone who could use them. I knew that one of the churches here in Lublin was often out in the street giving out food to the poor and homeless. Me and Kasia have often helped them in this work so I called the pastor and he was very happy for the news.
Some days later a big van full of cakes arrived in Lublin and the next week we had street church, where the people got both dinner and a good dessert.
While the needy are getting the food, there are people singing worship songs, giving testimonies and having a short gospel preaching that most of the guests listen to, and usually some of them ask for prayer.
Me and Kasia have been involved in the Street Church, both on Saturdays, when they distribute food, and on Fridays, when they have a special church meeting for those people. It’s been wonderful to see that several of them are really receiving the Gospel and a few of them have also been baptised now.
The new weekend Bible school has finally started
The last months there has been a lot of preparation for the new Bible school project we are working on, and in October we finally started with almost 20 students attending.
Fredrik Skoglund was with us at the opening weekend and it was awesome. We received several testimonies from students who had been deeply touched by God, and we believe He will continue to do His work in all the students’ lives.
New church plant
For some time we had known that some friends of ours had been thinking about starting a new church in Lublin and right before our trip to Denmark they asked if I would like to be the pastor of the new fellowship.
Church planting is absolutely something that is on our hearts and that we have been involved in for several years. We knew, therefore, that church planting can often mean a lot of work and when you do something good you can be sure that the devil will protest. However, we still felt the peace of God and we knew that this was actually something He wanted us to do.
So this September we started the new church and there have been both battles and victories – because these things usually go together. Just some weeks after we started, someone made a fake Instagram account with the logo and the name of the church. On that account they posted gay-pride propaganda, pictures of the Pope, Mary and other saints.
We’ve been able to get Instagram to remove the account and even though such childish behaviour can be quite irritating, we take it as a sign that the devil is not happy for what we are doing – which is a good thing.
New trip to Hungary
At the beginning of December I will have a new trip to Hungary again. For some years I have been teaching at a Bible school for Gypsies there and we have received many good reports. During the other trips people were both baptised in the Holy Spirit, healed and set free from demons.
I recently read an article in a Christian newspaper saying that there is actually a revival going on among many of the Gypsies in Europe. If I remember correctly, the article said that now every fifth Pentecostal in Europe had a Gypsy background.
That is why I have great expectations when it comes to this trip. I believe God will do great things and this time some young people from Lublin will also go with me.
Thank you for prayer and support
We are VERY thankful for all of those that are praying and supporting the work we are doing. If it was not for the prayer and support from our friends, we would not be able to do what we are doing. So thank you VERY MUCH!!
If you want some prayer points you can pray for the following:
Pray for God’s wisdom in building the new church
Pray for a spiritual breakthrough in the lives of the students at the new Bible school
Pray that God will sustain us financially
Pray for God’s protection and blessing over us as a family