| United Methodist Worship Begins in Kosice, Slovakia | |||||||||||
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Greensboro, NC, October 23, 2009--In early October, regular Sunday worship services were started at the United Methodist mission in Kosice, the second largest city in Slovakia. The worship is an outgrowth of a ministry with children and youth begun four years ago. The original mission work was based in the Tahanovce neighborhood, an urban area built in the late 1980s, but the space rented for worship is in the neighborhood of Nad Jazerom, which expands ministry opportunities. Pastors from congregations in the area are taking turns leading worship. Tahanovce has 23,000 people, 30 percent of them under the age of 18. Stories of successful mission activity such as that in Kosice will abound at a November 5-7 consultation on United Methodist work in Eastern Europe and the Balkans, ministry linked to the In Mission Together program of the General Board of Global Ministries. The West Market Street United Methodist Church, Greensboro, NC, is hosting the meeting, which will draw together church leaders from Eastern Europe and the Balkans and mission leaders from partner congregations and annual conferences in the United States. The event will also include worship and workshops on ways to establish partnerships. Information on the consultation is online at wmsumc.org/inmissiontogether.html. The new ministry in Kosice is one example of how United Methodists in Eastern European and Balkan countries are reaching out in mission, supported by prayer and, in some cases, financial assistance from the US and Western Europe. In Mission Together features a dynamic partnership approach to mission around the world. In Kosice, Maria Skrivankova is employed to work with children and young people on a more or less full-time basis. She sponsors events, including Bible study, three or four times a week. She has organized a monthly Girls Club. Everything is planned to direct the youth to Jesus and the Christian Gospel. Ms. Skrivankova takes groups into the woods to learn about nature and the care of the environment, and joins them in recreational events, such as building and flying kites. Outreach to adults is also planned, especially now that worship can be held at a regular location. Kosice is part of the Czech and Slovakia Republics Annual Conference, which has a community of some 1,000 persons. The conference is part of the Central Conference of Central and Southern Europe, led by Bishop Patrick Streiff.
Date posted: Oct 23, 2009 |
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