The Evangelical Fellowship of Congregational Churches’ Missionary Advisory Council

The Missionary Advisory Council promotes overseas mission within

‘The Evangelical Fellowship of Congregational Churches’ in the United Kingdom.

EFCC INTERNATIONAL SUMMER TEAMS REPORT 08

Date of Trip:  6 – 17 August 2008

Place:     Czech Republic

Partners:  TEAM missionary, Jeff Griffith and Cirkev Bratrska

                (ie Brethren Church but that means Congregational!)

Simeon, Val and I were picked up from the airport on Wednesday and taken to our pension house in Prague. The accommodation was of a very high standard but still relatively cheap. Thursday and Friday were spent in orientation to Czech culture, sight-seeing, Jeff’s current ministry and the camp. On Saturday we took the train (better than ours!) to Kralupy, a preaching point 20 miles north of Prague. Jeff took us round the town and showed us the meeting place for their church. After that we boarded a coach with the young people which took us to Sklarna, an outdoor training centre in the middle of large forests! The accommodation was basic but adequate along one corridor of a large block.

We had initially anticipated being involved in a family camp hoping to work with adults. In the event we were linked up with a youth camp. Previous camps have been based on the churches in Prague but this camp was a departure from the norm as Jeff Griffith will be moving to Kralupy. He had canvassed the local High School and got a good response. The church in Kralupy is relatively small but some of the leaders were involved in the camp. A single professional lady, Radka, was the Camp Director with responsibility for the programme. Another young couple came with responsibility for the afternoon activities & games in the evening meeting. A second couple came with no overall responsibilities. Most of the 19 young people came from Kralupy but some were previous contacts from Prague. Two of the young people were Christians and one was instrumental in inviting a number of his friends. The camp was unusual in having 13 boys & 6 girls!

The theme of the camp was ‘Creation’, a topic chosen by the young people themselves (interesting considering the communist background). Each day followed the themes of the days of creation. After breakfast two students read verses from Genesis for that day in English & Czech. They asked three questions related to the topic before we split into 3 groups under Simeon, Val and myself. The rest of the morning was given to two sessions of English divided by a short break and a secular song. In all, three hours of English. The afternoons were set aside for various activities – crafts, laser quest, soccer, cricket, rope climbing at 20ft, hikes and land art (making things in the forest!).  

The evening meetings were started with games and singing before Jeff spoke in English about the day’s theme (eg light). He broke his talk up with discussion groups which we facilitated. We had a film (Evan Almighty) one evening which was very relevant. Another evening was conducted by a Czech evangelist who spoke on Sex, AIDS & relationships. He was very good from what we could pick up from the power point and comments afterwards. One lad from an Armenian Orthodox background prayed to receive Christ. Another asked for prayer. Val and I had good conversations with one girl who was really interested to know about creation/evolution and about a relationship with Christ. Simeon was able to encourage the girl Christian who is the only Christian in her school. The last night took the form of a Talent Show.

On the Saturday we cleared up and the coach arrived to take us all back to Kralupy.  From there we caught the train back to Prague where we stayed overnight and caught the flight next morning.

Jeff’s hope is to set up a programme in the UK where the Czech students could be put up by church members and have English classes with those who would be able to teach. That means fewer costs for us in this country and more exposure to English for the students. Some sight-seeing for cultural input would also be included. Perhaps a pilot programme in liaison with Jeff could be done by one of our churches with a small number of students before developing this further. We are probably looking at three years to plan and prepare.

It was good to learn what is going on in the Czech Republic as far as the church is concerned and to see some growth in these youngsters lives. We hope others will be able to take up the challenge of helping in these camps.

It was good to learn what is going on in the Czech Republic as far as the church is concerned and to see some growth in these youngsters lives.

We hope that others will be able to take up the challenge of helping in these camps.