Preparing for Our Trip
There are two distinct parts of the upcoming trip to explore a possible new Village. The first is in Prague, Czech Republic. About 14% of the population of the Czech Republic identify as Christian. The vast majority of the country either doesn't identify with a religion at all, or is undeclared. Our faith, shown through words and actions, has great potential here! We will be visiting the English Speaking United Methodist Church in Prague and seeing first-hand the ministries there.
The second part of our trip will be spent in the 11 churches in Latvia. Methodism in Latvia is struggling to reemerge after the 51 years of occupation by Soviets and Nazis. The Latvian culture itself is being re-expressed after this time of oppression.
Latvia is a more religious country than the Czech Republic, reporting the majority of the population is either Lutheran, Catholic or Russian Orthodox. I've asked myself, "What do we have to offer that the Latvian people might not get from orthodox denominations?" In answer, I must look to our Wesleyan roots and remember that our focus must be on being humble servants to those in need, sharing our faith from scripture, reason, tradition and personal experience.
The Methodist churches are small, and many struggle to maintain the basic structures of the church that we take for granted. Several of the churches are currently sponsored by partner congregations through the General Board of Global Ministries (GBGM). Unlike our Villages in Kenya, Costa Rica and Grapevine (where we were starting from scratch), a possible Village in Latvia would benefit from the covenant structure that is already set in place by the GBGM.
We look forward to reporting back on the ministries that we find in these European nations. We invite you to lift up our team in prayer, as well as the decisions to be made regarding expanding our Village Ministries.
The team members are: Rev. John Mollet, Walt Milner, Rev. Jesse Sowell, Judy Brown, Mark Croft, Julie Croft, Richard Payne, Julie Payne, Connor Payne, Madeline Payne and Melissia Mason. The group departs on September 12, and returns September 23.
The second part of our trip will be spent in the 11 churches in Latvia. Methodism in Latvia is struggling to reemerge after the 51 years of occupation by Soviets and Nazis. The Latvian culture itself is being re-expressed after this time of oppression.
Latvia is a more religious country than the Czech Republic, reporting the majority of the population is either Lutheran, Catholic or Russian Orthodox. I've asked myself, "What do we have to offer that the Latvian people might not get from orthodox denominations?" In answer, I must look to our Wesleyan roots and remember that our focus must be on being humble servants to those in need, sharing our faith from scripture, reason, tradition and personal experience.
The Methodist churches are small, and many struggle to maintain the basic structures of the church that we take for granted. Several of the churches are currently sponsored by partner congregations through the General Board of Global Ministries (GBGM). Unlike our Villages in Kenya, Costa Rica and Grapevine (where we were starting from scratch), a possible Village in Latvia would benefit from the covenant structure that is already set in place by the GBGM.
We look forward to reporting back on the ministries that we find in these European nations. We invite you to lift up our team in prayer, as well as the decisions to be made regarding expanding our Village Ministries.
The team members are: Rev. John Mollet, Walt Milner, Rev. Jesse Sowell, Judy Brown, Mark Croft, Julie Croft, Richard Payne, Julie Payne, Connor Payne, Madeline Payne and Melissia Mason. The group departs on September 12, and returns September 23.
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