Outreach - Global

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Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a small Central European country home to close to 10.5 million people (only about 2 million more people than New York City). As the capital and largest city, Prague is a popular tourist destination with incredible architecture and rich history.

The Czech Republic, formerly known as Czechoslovakia, suffered under Communist rule for a significant portion of the 1900's. In 1989, the "velvet revolution" brought an end to Communism followed by a peaceful split in 1993, leaving the two independent countries of Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

According to Operation World, the Czech Republic hasn't "been a particularly religious society for hundreds of years", but "believers suffered especially under the communist regime." This has left 71% of the population not associating with any religion and a mere 1.8% as Protestant Christians.

OUR MISSIONARIES
Church of the Saviour supports and works with missionaries Ondrej and Eva Mazany. Ondrej is a native of the Czech Republic, and Eva is from Slovakia. They have a 3 year old son and 2 year old daughter. They work with Ambassadors in Sport (AIS), which uses soccer teams, training, and camps to spread the Gospel.

SOCCER MINISTRY
The past 3 years, COS has sent a team to come alongside Ondrej and participate in camps and games through AIS. Soccer is very popular in the Czech Republic, making this sport a great avenue for interacting with non-believers.
English Camp Ministry
COS sends a team each summer to help at an English camp. Ondrej and Eva are part of a Brethren church that puts on an English camp for college age students. Since the main language is Czech, many young adults are interested in learning English. The camp has English lessons in the morning, games and activities in the afternoon and a Gospel-centered program in the evening. The students and leaders are together all day for 7 days, so it's a great time to build relationships and share your faith.
Ways to Get Involved
One of the most helpful ways you can get involved is to pray for the Czech Republic. Pray for the country as a whole and that the Holy Spirit would be moving through the people and softening their hearts. Pray for the small amount of Christians that are in this country. They are in need of support from the greater body of Christ to continue strengthening their own faith and they also need encouragement to share the Gospel and disciple new Christians. Pray specifically for our missionaries Ondrej and Eva Mazany. They are committed to spreading the Gospel, but "the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few" (Matthew 9:37). Prayerfully consider whether God is calling you to support them through one of the summer mission trip opportunities. COS is also in the process of developing other opportunities to minister to the Czech Republic, so please stay tuned for more information!

CONTACT INFORMATION
If you are interested in learning more about our ministry in the Czech Republic or would like to get involved, please email Katie Gent at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
www.aisint.org (Ambassadors in Sport)
www.operationworld.org/czec (Operation World)

REFERENCE MATERIAL
Johnstone, Patrick, Jason Mandryk. Operation World. Waynesborough, Goergia: Paternoster Lifestyle,
2001.

 

Updated October 19, 2011