We bring you greetings from Olsztyn Poland! Thank you for your continuous prayers and support in the work. The Lord is faithful to do that which He has promised to do and do a good work in and through us all, as we stay faithful to His call.
We really don't know how to begin except to say it has been an interesting journey so far as we've simply walked in faith and allowed the Lord to lead us. Through much prayer for the first ten months of this work, to actually starting the study a few months ago, we have seen growth and spiritual fruit in us and in the ministry..... but more so in us.
From the start we knew God had called us to come to this city to plant a church. After being in Radom, Poland for more than two years and then coming to Olsztyn last year we figured hey, we know what God wants to do so let's do it! But for the first ten months we only felt led to pray for the city and the people. Later we tried to plan a few outreaches but every outreach that we have attempted to do has met with a closed door up to this point. A few months back God had stirred our hearts to actually start the church and invite people to the study. So we did. We made fliers, and handed them out everywhere and officially invited people, and no one came to the first meeting. Then by none of our efforts what's so ever God brought someone the next week, Bartek. Unbeknownst to us he belonged to another church and heard about us because he had attended a CC in England. By word of mouth he found out we were starting a new CC church in Olsztyn.
And so it begins... people are now coming that belong to other churches that are either not getting fed the word in their own churches or they just come to get the "unique" verse by verse teaching through the Bible. All to say, that was not what we wanted or expected. We wanted to reach the lost and we are getting the malnourished and theologically messed up Christians instead! Why? We don't know. But what we do know now is that we must surrender to His will and follow which ever way He is leading us. A wise sister in the Lord recently said to us, "God is working and doing a good work, but you just don't like how He chooses to do it". Amen!! We did have our plans as many of us serving in ministry usually do. We have our ideas of what a church plant is supposed to look like and after so much time this or that is "supposed" to happen. Well not in Gods eyes. His ways are not always our ways so we need to learn to discern His ways with greater skill.
Golgota Christian Fellowship (CC Olsztyn, Poland): We often laugh at how incapable we really are. We were the two least likely candidates for this job and we know it! We know where both of us have come from in our lives and marvel that we are here and are amazed at the mere mercy and grace God has shown us. The only thing we can cling to is the hope of Him and the promises that He has given Suzie and I specifically. One promise is the verse that He gave us separately, but at the same time, about 6 months back while doing our devotions. Isaiah 51:2 " Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for I have called him alone, and blessed him and increased him." We can look at our verse and say maybe God is beginning to bring this slowly to fruition. We are not sure, but He is blessing and increasing us in our faith, if nothing else.
Let us bring you to reality of this ministry and were it stands. As of now it's just me and Suzie as far as laborers to help in the work. We have a handful of faithful believers coming who are hungry for the word. They are the ones reaching the people and inviting others to come to the study. We still have no worship leader and no translator to translate the messages. What we have been doing is worshipping to cd's in Polish, PRAISE GOD He hears our hearts of worship! As for the messages Frank is getting his notes translated by a sister in another part of Poland each week to give to the people at the study so they can better understand what is being taught. Most speak English enough to understand and the notes help to make things clear. We pray this to be a temporary thing until God provides differently.
A neat thing has come from these translated notes. After every study most of the people like to take them home. As we have written before, God is using the Poles that come more than us. On one of the study nights before Bartek & his wife came in he bumped into our upstairs neighbor, Marion. I guess he had asked Bartek a few times before what we were doing here and asked if this church was a cult. Ok, for the record we have never had a conversation with him like that. We've been in their house for coffee and we've talk to him and his wife all the time and never has he asked us these questions. That night Bartek gave him the translated notes and shared with him. So now we know both Marion and Helena have read the gospel and it was given. That is just another way beyond our thinking that God is working and His ways are not our ways. Praise God for His ways.
Frank and Radek's meetings: They are continuing to meet each Monday to learn and discuss the word. God has really blessed this time and it has been another tool God has used to reach the other believers in town to get them rooted in the word. Radek recently told Frank that he has taught an entire in-depth study on the tabernacle and now has the desire to teach through a book of the Bible, verse by verse! Wow praise God!
To give you a little history on Radek if you didn't know. He is an elder with the Baptist church and co- teaches with the other elders at his church once a month. Frank and Radek became fast friends and he had asked Frank to teach him different study methods to prepare for teaching. Frank is just giving him the helpful tools that he learned through the school of ministry and when he had a chance to teach at the Bible college extension campus at CCCM for one semester on inductive Bible study. All these study methods are simple and practical tools we as believers at CC are able to receive and are use to. Now God has given us the opportunity to equip believers here who have never had the chance for this.
Digging Up the Wells: Recently we received the 2008 CC missions conference in Murrieta MP3 in the mail and the word that Brian Broderson gave really stuck out. He spoke from Genesis 26:15-22 and how Isaac went and dug up the old wells that the Philistines had filled with earth. These wells that his father Abraham had dug were once alive and working. Later it shows how Isaac then proceeded to dig new ones. This message hit home for us as it describes what God is doing here in Olsztyn through Radek and the believers coming to the church as well as Calvary Chapel in Poland. It's just like Europe and other places in the world where God had really worked but now the churches are filled with dead religion and tradition and even at a point of giving up. We think the Lord has shown us that we are in this place, to dig up those old wells that have been covered up and stopped up. We believe the Lord desires us as CC church planters and missionaries to uncover these dead churches and make them alive with His word as they were intended. We pray we would do as Isaac did and unstop the old wells as we plant new ones. May God do a mighty work in Poland and may we have the privilege of seeing it!
Speakers Week: The Bible college had a originally booked two other pastors as there main speakers from the states but they had canceled and the neat thing is, God knew ahead of time. Some of the other speakers ended up being the main speakers like Jim King the pastor from a CC church in Bradford, England, Justin Gerry from Slovenia, our buddy Kurt Kula, and the Lord blessed Frank as well and gave him the opportunity to teach a couple of times. Over all God had a hand on each message and directed it so much that each message the pastors spoke coincided and tied in with one another's message. Praise God for His faithfulness to provide who He wanted. Our friend Jeremy Foster (teacher at the bible college ) put it so eloquently after Frank spoke again at the last session on Friday , " So now that you've heard all the guys speak we ask ourselves this question, the main speakers that canceled, was it spiritual warfare or was it Gods will? If it was warfare God still accomplished His will for this conference and He knew all of this before the foundations of the earth". We amen that! Proving once again God's will is done. Over all Suzie and I both had a wonderful time of fellowship and much needed prayer time. While Frank was in Hungary Suzie went to Radom and spent time with the other ladies enjoying some rich times with Mary, Kendall, Ildi and Kasia. But they were also able to enjoy the messages from the conference as they were all webcasted live. Praise the Lord again for technology :)
English Meetings: We have been praying for opportunities other than the church meeting to reach out to the people of Olsztyn. Something that always comes back to mind is English. Well that's about all we can do with the English language is speak it....... if that is what you call it :) Anyways, we had hinted about the idea to one of the ladies in the fellowship (Malgosia). She came to us last week and asked when we were going to start. Come to learn she has a handful of people at the University as well as herself that are wanting to come. This is something we had asked her to pray for not to tell others, but apparently that was miscommunicated. Oops... she told plenty of people and it looks like we will start, Lord willing, soon. Praise God for linguistical miscommunications!
Sunday Services: We feel it is time to step out in faith as we did with the mid-week and start a Sunday morning meeting. We meet anyways and we figure God is bringing people and we want to give them every avenue possible to come and hear the word. May God bring hungry hearts as He has been so faithful to do already.
God bless... and thanks for taking the time to read and pray!
Frank & Suzie Gonzalez
Golgota Christian Fellowship
Olsztyn, Poland
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1 comment:
Thanks for the update. God bless you guys!
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