A New Wave of Charismatic Communities in Poland
by Rafał Szporko
Rapid secularization in Poland, particularly among the younger generation is happening at a very rapid pace. I’ve read studies that show there is nowhere else in the world with such a large disparity between religious practices among the older and younger generations. This is a significant gap in Poland.
Our community [Time for Families Community in Gdańsk] is 25 years old, and the community in Bielsko-Biała is even older. However, we are witnessing the emergence of a new wave of charismatic communities and a group of new leaders. Let me share a few words about this phenomenon.
One of the most recognizable young leaders is Marcin Zieliński, the leader of the Lord’s Voice community in a medium-sized city in central Poland. Despite his young age – he’s now 32 years old – Marcin has become a prominent figure since his conversion in 2007. Today, he is the most well-known evangelist in Poland, primarily due to the strong gift of healing that accompanies his ministry. Thousands of people, including many young individuals, attend his meetings. In my opinion, Marcin is a great gift to the Church in Poland. I don’t believe we have ever had someone in our history with as strong a gift of healing as Marcin. He and his community organize annual worship events called “Praise Him.” The most recent concert in Wrocław attracted 15,000 people. He will also be a guest at an event in Gdańsk, which our community is co-organizing with some Protestant groups in October.
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If we want to grow as a community we must ask ourselves: Do we, as community members, love non-believers? It’s easy to love a brother or sister in the community whom we know and who is like us. Leaders should demonstrate this love in everyday situations – remembering names, being available before and after meetings, paying attention to touch (like a handshake), and understanding that we can’t expect non-believers to act like believers until they become believers.
We started making changes in our community two years ago, and there were many voices of doubt: “Why change anything? It was good as it was.” When new people began to join, many of the existing members felt lost: “There are so many new people that I don’t know,” or “How will we fit in our room?” There were even expressions of dissatisfaction: “The community has forgotten about us. All the energy is directed at the newcomers.”
When we participated in the Purpose Driven Church workshops, our leadership team set a goal to double the size of our community during my term, which lasts three years. At that time, we had about 100 people in sharing groups. Today, we have over 200. We achieved this goal in less than two years.
- Read the full article by Rafał Szporko in the September 2024 Issue of Living Bulwark
Called to build a Bulwark in Lebanon
by Krikor Elmayan
“I was in my early twenties when I first heard about the call to live in a Christian covenant community. Being a fresh convert at that time, the idea was naturally appealing to me. For those of you who do not know the details, let me give you a brief background context about the Loussavorchi Gantegh [Illuminator’s Lamp] community. Our community is made of diaspora Armenians in Lebanon. Our grandparents were survivors of the Armenian genocide. 100 years ago they were deported from their Anatolian homes and brutally forced towards the Syrian Desert where tragically more than a million perished… Some of them miraculously, like our grandparents reached the safe haven of Lebanon, the country of cedars.
My parents were born there, who in turn experienced poverty, famines and world wars. We, along with them, have seen and tasted the bitterness of civil and regional wars, and have prayed for our children that they not see those same things in their day. Yet it happened again and is still happening as we speak. Although not in the same intensity but still devastating.
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“All this context in order to highlight how comforting the call has been for me and many others to live in a Christian community. The early Sword of the Spirit prophecy of the bulwark made full sense to us. Living in a protected “city” so to speak, supporting each other to grow, raising our children and doing mission together. Of course, we understood that this protection was not physical. It was spiritual. We also understood that this bulwark was not without faults. Yet we were called, not only to live in it, but also to build it with others and invite others in.
This year we celebrated our community’s 25th anniversary with great joy. As we look back and look to the present, we are grateful to have experienced years of abundance as a community… there were also years of “spiritual famines”, difficult times of course. Difficult times not only for single communities but also for the entire Sword of the Spirit. Yet the one who calls us is the Sovereign Lord. He is Holy and he is serious about our calling. I honestly believe that difficult times are a call for reflection, repentance and growth if we humble ourselves before the Lord.”
- Read the full article by Krikor Elmayan in the September 2024 Issue of Living Bulwark
Hearing God’s Call and Grace in the Midst of Lebanon’s Growing Crisis
by Mark Eid
In Lebanon, we have been going through a serious crisis since October 2019. That was a period when some riots broke out due to the economical situation in the country, and it was the onset of a series of unfortunate events – continuing with the covid pandemic and lockdowns. Then a couple of years later on August 4, Beirut Port explosion took away the lives of hundreds and devastated the lives of thousands. Some of us here were survivors of that explosion or had a brother or sister or dear friend who died or was seriously injured.
As I was preparing this testimony, the Lord reminded me of a word he had spoken to me right before the start of this crisis in Lebanon. it was from Matthew’s Gospel account in chapter 14, “Jesus walking on water” when his disciples – and that includes each one of us – were on this boat fighting the waves and the storm all night. Matthew tells us that the Lord came late just before dawn walking on the water in the storm – probably on purpose. The disciples were scared and didn’t recognize Jesus at first! What was mind-blowing to me was the reaction of Peter that I find hard to understand. He didn’t say to Jesus, “if it is really you, Lord, then tell me what did we have for dinner last night?” Peter asked him something that to me is not humanly logical. But I truly think Peter was moved by the Spirit when he said:
if it is you Lord, command me to come to you on the water.
Peter was not asking for a magic trick or a miracle, he was asking the Lord to command him to do something impossible for him to do by his own will-power. Who in their right mind would try to walk on water? It was a powerful word from the Lord – for myself and I think all of us as we are in the middle of the storm today seeking to hear and obey the Lord’s voice – “Do not look to huddle in your boat, but rather hear me calling you to step out of your comfort zone and walk on water – walk on the waves in the storm towards me.”
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The Lord has allowed these storms to strip us of many valuable things we relied on for our security and happiness. It’s as if the Lord Jesus really wants to take us back to a very personal, close, intimate relationship with him – and not just primarily a relationship that is sustained through community and church – but a relationship that is first built and strengthened on our daily personal encounter with the Lord – as we seek to personally hear his voice commanding and leading us to respond with faith and trust in his call. And just like Peter, the Lord wants us to step out of our storm-tossed boat and come to him. It is only then that we will have the courage to take on the call as good stewards, no matter the times (whether in plenty or scarcity) and bring Christ to others.
In our families, at work, in our small groups, in our service, and in our community, the Lord is saying to us, just like he did to Peter:
“Do not be afraid, it is I who is with you.”
- Read the full article by Mark Eid in the September 2024 Issue of Living Bulwark
Top image credit: Sunset over Beirut city and coast, from Bigstock.com, © by Anna Om, stock photo ID: 44443759. Used with permission.
The Sword of the Spirit is a network of charismatic and ecumenical covenant communities and movements around the World.