Before this year, all I knew about the Polish people was that they were famous for sausages and Popes, and it took seven of them to screw in a light bulb.

“Live and learn,” as they say. Last May it was my privilege to be a representative of Spiritual Overseers Service International (S.O.S.) in Poland for two weeks and, in the process, have my eyes opened to a place and people from whom I had much to learn.

On May 3-5, pastors from the Evangelical Church of Poland (with roots in the Mennonite Church and Evangelical Free Church) and the Brethren Church of Poland gathered together, for the first time in their history, to learn about church growth. I had the honor of leading these pastors through seven hours of study, questions, and application of how their churches can be more effective Christian witnesses in a country that is not particularly receptive to the message of Christ as proclaimed by the Protestant church.

For those Polishly challenged, as I was, here’s a crash course. Poland (“Polska” in their own language), is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine and Belarus to the east; and the Baltic Sea, Lithuania and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north. It also shares a maritime border with Denmark and Sweden.

The total area of Poland is (120,728 sq mi), making it the 69th largest country in the world. Poland's population is over 38.5 million people, concentrated mainly in large cities such as the historical capital Kraków and the present capital Warsaw.

Today, Poland is 90-95% Catholic (many in name only), which can be traced back to Poland's first historically documented ruler, Mieszko I, who was baptized in 966 and adopted Catholic Christianity as the nation's official religion. The bulk of the population converted in the course of the next few centuries.

Today Protestant churches struggle with how to effectively reach out and evangelize people in Poland. Nominal Catholicism is a barrier to presenting a vibrant Christian faith and relationship to Jesus Christ. Several pastors told me that the Catholic Church, itself, often undermines the ministry and message of local Protestant churches for fear of losing members and money. And, as the country becomes more independent and westernized, increasing secularization challenges the churches to creative new means of proclaiming a relevant Christian message.

In our church growth sessions together, we led pastors in a study of:

• The necessary foundations on which to build and grow a church;
• The most important church growth principle—social networks;
• How to apply the social network principle in your church;
• Welcoming new members and integrating them into the church family.

From participants’ involvement and later comments, this study of church growth was a helpful time. For example, I found many pastors trying to accomplish evangelism in their community using methods which church growth studies have long ago proven to be ineffective. And while the pastors’ own reports corroborated our findings, they said that they did not know what else to do. The ideas, research, and plans for church growth that we shared gave them both new ideas, and new hope in how to reach out into their community with the limited umber of resources, money, and people available to them.

It was also encouraging to hear the church leaders discussing the idea of our returning for a series 1-day training sessions in various cities around Poland. These events would be promoted among other Protestant church leaders in the country as a way to equip more churches to be more effective in responding to Christ’s great commission.

As I reflect on my experience with these Polish church leaders (most of whom are bi-vocational out of necessity), I am struck with the commitment they have to the pursuit of Christ’s mission in the face of daunting odds. Despite their churches’ cash limitations, small but faithful congregations and limited facilities, these men and women are giving a great deal to see the work of Christ accomplished.

I am both humbled and inspired by the dedication of these servants of Jesus Christ. And when things seem to be getting difficult in my own little world, I think about my Polish brothers and sisters with much less than I have, working much harder and sacrificing much more…and I am reminded to be about my Father’s business with a joyful heart and grateful soul.