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Is Christ the Focus of Easter in Poland?

In this life, there should be nothing more important to us than being a part of God’s family and bringing Him glory. But how can we—mere, sinful humans—possibly be worthy of His acceptance?   

This is what Easter is all about. We pause to remember the undeserved kindness God has shown us with His unthinkable sacrifice of love—sending His own son to make a way for us. Because of this offering, we are free from the bondage of sin and have a hope for a future in the family of our Creator.   

In a country like Poland, where only 0.3% of its population follow Jesus, does the true message of sacrifice and salvation still shine through?    

Since its Christianization in the Middle Ages, Easter has been widely celebrated in this central European country. And despite being surrounded by seven countries, Poland holds its own when it comes to Easter traditions. This colourful holiday, filled with brightly painted eggs, vibrant woven branches, and flavourful dishes, makes for an occasion worth looking forward to.   

Poland’s traditions begin on Palm Sunday, when pussy willows or ‘palms’ made of dried, sometimes colourful, woven branches—symbolizing reviving life and Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem—fill the Catholic churches.   

These vibrant palms, though originally meant for holy blessings in the church, have become something of a friendly competition outside of the church. Since 1958, contests for the longest palm have taken place, with many reaching 10 meters or more.  

Easter eggs are another fun Polish tradition carried forward through the generations. According to archaeologists, Poland’s tradition of decorating eggs—pisanki—dates back to the 10th century. Though much time has passed since these findings were intricately painted, the same attention to detail lives on today.    

Whether decorated with wax, dye, paint, or even materials glued on, pisanki are beautiful; but the question remains to be asked: Why decorate eggs? Traditionally, these colourful eggs represent beauty, fertility, rebirth, and life. On Easter Sunday morning, pisanki are exchanged amongst family and friends to wish them prosperity and good health. Before being given as gifts, these eggs are first included in Easter baskets brought to the Catholic church on Saturday evening to be blessed—a practice dating back to the 7th century.  

These baskets, thoughtfully decorated with linen, ribbons, and sprigs of boxwood, are then filled with pisanki and samples of Polish foods. Each item is symbolic, including sausage (generosity and mercy), ham (abundance), salt (uphold justice while chasing prosperity), maslo or butter (goodwill in starting a new year/life), horseradish (Jesus’ passion), cake and bread (Christ as the Bread of life), a real or plastic lamb (Jesus and His self-sacrifice), and completed with a white candle (Christ as the Light of the world).  

One of Poland’s most quirky traditions, though, takes place on Easter Monday. The centuries-old tradition, Śmigus-Dyngus, can be a lot of fun—if you’re okay getting wet! Originally, this day would bring an opportunity for boys to pour water on girls. Today, water is thrown with buckets or shot through water-guns, with no preference to the targeted gender. Even strangers aren’t guaranteed to stay dry on this day.  

Though Poland has some deep-rooted, unique, and enjoyable traditions, not all point to our Saviour. The Catholic church has upheld some thoughtful symbolic practices to keep the focus on Christ, but not everyone attends these services.   

Let’s pray that as Poles prepare for and carry out their Easter traditions, they begin to question why the practices are done, and that the underlying symbolisms further stir their curiosity into discovering this holiday’s true life-changing meaning.  

  

Written by:

Leanne Monge Barrera

Leanne Monge Barrera is currently serving in central Canada as a storyteller and social media content creator with GEM Canada. She also serves at home, homeschooling her four children.

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Stories from Our Missionaries: God’s Call to Europe

How do you know what God is calling you to do?    

In a world of seemingly endless possibilities, it may feel overwhelming to find the answer. Perhaps you know you’re meant to serve missionally––but do you know how?   

Thankfully, as we spend time with God, He speaks to us. He tells us, often uniquely, what is best for us, directing our path. Greater Europe Mission’s global workers are no exception. God called each to serve in a continent that is hungry for truth, but lacking in true Gospel teachings.  

These GEM workers shared with us the unique ways God called them to serve in Europe.   

***  

DP Strellman found God directing him to great need and historic opportunity in Russia.  

In 1990, I was between jobs and spoke fluent Spanish. I thought perhaps God could use my business skills in some way in Latin America, so I loaded a backpack and travelled for four months in Mexico, Ecuador, and Chile. At the end of the trip, I realized that God had plenty of workers there. I wasn’t really needed.


When the Berlin wall fell in 1989, many countries were opened to the Gospel for the first time in years. In 1992, I headed to Moscow, not knowing a word of Russian. I served in a new bilingual church and helped in the Moscow Billy Graham crusade where 100,000 came to hear the Gospel. I ended up serving Russian evangelists for 12 years during the most open years of its history, which led to another 18 years serving in Eastern Europe where the need is still great. I am so glad I didn’t limit myself to Latin America!  

***  

Allison De La Torre’s sister lived in Europe for over 15 years and married a German, so the continent already had a big place in Allison’s heart.  

In November 2022, God clearly spoke to me that He was calling me overseas for His mission. As I pursued different options, I learned about GEM, and I had both peace and major excitement. The kind of work I’ll get to do with GEM aligns with multiple dreams of mine…God has clearly written this as the next step in my “career” journey.  

Allison’s heart goes out to those who intentionally or unintentionally keep Jesus at a far distance. She hopes as she moves from missionary appointee to cross-cultural worker, she’ll see a revival like that of the Acts Church 2000 years ago.   

***  

Dave Zehr’s obedience to God’s calling led to a successful church plant in Austria.  

When I completed my junior year at Taylor University in 1952, the quartet I was singing with was asked to go to Germany to help Youth for Christ with tent campaigns for the summer. We saw approximately 1,000 decide for Christ that summer, but then learned from some of the young people that they had no local gospel preaching church in their area. At that moment, a seed was planted in my heart.  

Four years later, after determining God was leading my wife and me to Germany, we went to a small church in Ohio for some pastoral experience. During that time, we were appointed with GEM and in April of 1962, we headed for Germany, fully supported at $435 per month.  

After leading Dave and his wife to Germany, and then to Austria––where there were no GEM missionaries––He connected them with a zealous, local Christian lady. Together, they started a home Bible study that is now currently one of the largest Evangelical churches in Austria.   

***  

“My life has been made up of God presenting me with opportunities of many types, and serving Him in Europe is no exception,” Fred Naff starts.  

I went to Florence, Italy for my last year of college, studying architecture. While I was there, I met a couple with InterVarsity (IFES) and joined a summer evangelism team in the town of Perugia after my studies were done. I ended up going back to Perugia two years later with InterVarsity to try to reach university students for Christ. While I was there, I met my wife, who is Greek, and I moved to Greece to marry her in 1988. We thought of leaving Greece for the US, but the Lord brought me an opportunity to serve Him as an architect with GEM. So, I started doing that in 1995 and have been doing it ever since with GEM Design Group.  

*** 

Kathy Stalnaker spent 34 years serving in Belgium and the Netherlands, but it all started in the US.  

Not long after we were married, Cecil and I decided to attend the Urbana Missions Conference to see what the Lord would show us. Each evening in their sports arena, we watched a multi-media presentation about a different part of the world. On the evening that they featured Europe, we were both struck by all the cathedrals there that were mostly empty.   

A few years later, at GEM’s candidate school, we learned that there was a need for professors in the French side of the Belgian Bible Institute. We also learned that in the US there was one Christian worker for every several hundred people, while in Belgium there was only one Evangelical worker for every 32,000 people.  

Through these findings, God stirred their hearts to serve, leading the Stalnakers to become full-time missionaries in Belgium and the Netherlands.    

***  

As a new believer at 21, Mo Blackmon barely understood her own faith, let alone missions.  

God brought Debbie Williams (now Deborah Bourbeau) into my life, and we quickly became close friends. Her parents––GEM missionaries in Sweden––invited us and two others to join them in the newly independent country of Latvia where GEM had just been invited to start a new work. This led to a desperate need for understanding if God Himself was calling me to Latvia or if the calling was just for my friends.  

Mo began asking others how they understood their call, looking for her own answer, but to no avail. They each gave her a unique reply, none of which resonated with her.   

At the fall conference of my final year of Bible college, Dr. Helen Roseveare spoke. She said, “I want to talk with you about how to know God’s calling on your life.” I literally sat up straight in my chair, certain that this was God responding to the question of my heart.  

I was not disappointed. She spoke from 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, saying that if you have answered God’s initial call to become a new creation in Christ, then the following Scriptures applied to you as well: God has therefore given you the ministry of reconciliation, He is entrusting to you that message of reconciliation, you are therefore an ambassador for Christ. That was it! I later left the auditorium and walked around the edge of town by the wheatfields in the cool prairie evening, praying, “Okay God, I know you are calling me to Latvia. I’ll go! Where is that again?!”  

We four college grads were invited to Latvia for an initial eight months. At last year’s Annual Conference, three of the four of us celebrated 30 years of God’s faithfulness in His call for us to serve him in Latvia.  

***  

God made the paths clear to these individuals because they were listening.  

Are you listening?    

Is God calling you to serve missionally or perhaps support those who are already serving in obedience? If you’d like to explore the options of serving in Europe, contact [email protected]. 

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Preparing for the 2024 Summer Olympics: Are Christian Workers Ready?

Welcoming a new year often brings renewed anticipation for what’s to come. For the country of France, 2024 brings its own level of anticipation, though much greater in scale and with more required preparation than our own resolutions may require. 

Since 2017, the world has known the 2024 Summer Olympics would be hosted in the vibrant city of Paris. Following the announcement of this honour, Paris, and other cities across France, began the process of preparing for the games.   

“Any major sporting event will inject a certain amount of excitement to the community,” says Tom Hawkins, a Greater Europe Mission worker in Paris.  

Hawkins partners with Go+ France, a Christian association with the goal of uniting around the passion of sport, leisure, and fitness. “In 2016, when the European football championships took place in France, churches and ministries had open doors to planning events that involved the community because of the environment that the sporting event created.”   

With only about seven months until the games, missionaries and ministers across Paris are again considering how best to utilize the unique opportunity a large influx of people coming to the city brings. It’s not every day the world comes to their doorstep! 

Ministering during the Olympic games extends far past sports ministry or ministering within a church building. Events that will take place amidst the Olympics are being thoughtfully and creatively planned and will be supported by Conseil National des Évangéliques de France (National Council of Evangelicals of France, or CNEF).  

“Under the banner of Ensemble 2024, ministries interested in doing things before, during and after the games are growing in number,” reports Hawkins. “Festivals, art exhibits, events surrounding the 100th anniversary of Eric Liddell’s story,”—the subject of the film, Chariots of Fire—” even a Christian fashion show.”  

Without a doubt, ideas and opportunities to reach people with the Gospel abound during this exciting time. However, this does not come without its challenges.   

“I imagine the biggest question we are all asking is the question of space,” says Doug Irwin, GEM missionary and church planter in the twelfth arrondissement of Paris. “Paris is already generally tight on space. Apartments are small, hotels are limited. I really don’t know where this city plans to host everyone. That can also make ministry hard.”  

In addition to the limited space, the ability to conduct outreach and evangelism efforts during a massive global event may also be limited. Heightened attention around things like protests and demonstrations, and the resulting high level of security is also a concern for missionaries in Paris.   

Despite the challenges that are brought by hosting the Olympics in a city like Paris, missionaries and ministers are hopeful. “The Olympic committee is encouraging every town, village, and city to participate in Terre de Jeux, and almost 4,000 have signed up,” notes Hawkins.  Through this “Land of the Games” program – whose goal is to have the entire country playing a part in the Olympics – local churches throughout the country will have increased opportunities for outreach efforts and hosting events for visitors and locals, alike. 

As GEM workers stationed in France prepare for the fantastic ministry opportunity that awaits them, will you consider joining us in prayer? We pray that God will open doors, give Christian workers creative ideas to participate in and serve the community, and boldness to present the Gospel in a loving way. 

If you would like more information on Ensemble 24 and other Paris ministry opportunities, contact [email protected]. 

beenhere

Originally Written by Emma Turner, GEM missionary in Paris, France.
Revised for GEM Canada by Leanne Monge Barrera

Read original article here: https://gemission.org/paris-2024-olympics-a-nation-in-preparation/ 

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Exploring the Christmas Capital of the World: Strasbourg, France

Adorned with fresh snow and charming lights, Strasbourg, France is bustling with Christmas spirit. The ‘Christmas capital of the world’, Strasbourg hosts one of Europe’s longest running Christmas markets since its inaugural start in 1570. This extravagant market, spread through thirteen separate areas within the city center, boasts more than 300 shops for all your Christmas needs!  

Let’s take a walk down the cobbled streets of the Grand Île District and explore why as many as two million tourists visit this beautiful market each year.  

Standing in any of the thirteen marketplaces is a sight to behold. Surrounded by medieval architecture carefully decorated to best showcase elaborate Christmas ornamentations, you can’t help but feel your spirits brighten. All five senses are active as you shiver from the crisp air but are warmed by a cup of mulled cider you purchased at one of the chalets; you smell the comforting smells of cinnamon and spices as you admire the colourful light and decorations. You hear familiar Christmas carols being sung from nearby church buildings.  

The songs are inviting, and you find yourself walking into a nearby church. Though many of the attractions are held outdoors, all denominations open their church’s doors for further celebration. Concerts, singalongs, and presentations are common throughout the month-long Christmas market, serving both the community and those from out-of-town.  

Next, you head to Place Kleber, one of the more popular markets in the city, and notice an enormous, beautifully decorated Christmas tree. This tree stands 30 feet tall––the standard size––and was specifically chosen for the market from the forest of Alsace. You spot a vacant bench to enjoy a purchased bredle (Christmas biscuit) and take a rest as you admire your surroundings. You take the moment to thank God for instances like this, when joy and hope fill the air. Children toddle by, holding their parents’ hands so as not to get lost in the crowds. You see teenagers and seniors alike exploring the shops in search of the perfect purchase. Everyone seems more alive than at any other time of the year.   

After a time of reflection, you decide to explore Place Broglie, the home of another large market within Strasbourg: Christkindelsmarik, or the Christ Child Market. Located in front of Hotel de Ville (City Hall), this specific market is what started it all. The sun has long set, and you notice right away an amusing sight: a festive lightshow projected on the City Hall building. With your hands feeling the weight of several gift bags, you again pause to enjoy the moment amidst the growing crowds, then carry on exploring a few more stalls as you end your visit with a warm and delicious, freshly made pretzel.  

It’s been a full, yet slightly overwhelming day, and though your hotel is fully booked and bustling with people of its own, you look forward to finding the solitude of your own quiet room for the remainder of the night. You appreciate the feelings often evoked through the Christmas season and are reminded of the hope and joy brought on by receiving the ultimate gift, Jesus Christ.  

As you experience all the Christmas preparations, markets, and festivities in your own hometown, may you not get lost in the hustle and bustle. Rather, may you be reminded of the reason for celebrating! Whether you are blessed to take part in extravagant markets like the one in Strasbourg, or choose to keep things quiet wherever you are, may you have a very blessed Christmas holiday!  

Written by:

Leanne Monge Barrera

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Inside Look: How GEM Supports Its Female Missionaries

Have you ever fallen victim to the trap of a busy lifestyle? Often, the fruit of this culturally encouraged way of living is stress, exhaustion, and missed opportunities to build relationships. If we are to be effective followers of Jesus, then we need to take care of ourselves, and make time for others. 

Dawn Sanders of GEM noticed the importance of helping women in missions find the rejuvenation and rest they need to continue serving effectively and created a ministry within the organization called Connecting Hearts. 

What began in 2012 is now an ongoing, successful ministry catering to the women of GEM. “The goal is to connect to God, connect to others, and connect to yourself, because if you don’t know yourself at all, then really, how are you connecting to God and how are you connecting to others?” Dawn puts.  

Though Connecting Hearts, under the umbrella of GEM’s wellness department, serves women throughout the year with any needed prayer or counseling, the highlight of this ministry is its annual women’s retreat. 

“Sometimes, [in the business of life], we lose sight of our first love,” Dawn explains. “These retreats are where we can kind of reconnect that relationship and be reminded of who our first love is.” These thoughtfully prepared retreats are filled with a variety of tools and activities; such as times of reflection, journaling, prayer, counseling, teaching, time spent in nature, and physical activity; these retreats are instrumental in reviving a woman’s well-being.  

Though these retreats aren’t intended to ‘fix’ problems that women may have, they create space for the Holy Spirit to move and speak to them where they’re at. “We want it to be a community where they could go deeper and really listen to God and the Holy Spirit, and share on deeper matters of the heart,” Dawn explains. 

“For me,” Emily Nichols begins, “one of the sweetest moments [at my first Connecting Hearts retreat] came when a small group of us walked a prayer labyrinth on the floor. As we slowly walked this labyrinth toward the center, ‘The Heart of God’, I heard Him say, “Panic attacks are not my will for your life.” It was exactly what I needed to hear from the Lord to know the monthly, night-long sessions of anxiety and terrible heartburn were not what the Lord intended for me. He revealed His gentleness and kindness to me in that moment, and I treasure that.” After this experience, Emily has gone on to attend these retreats regularly. 

Leslie Hall, another participant in the retreats admits: “Normally, I’m not a huge fan of ‘women’s retreats’ because nine times out of ten, the content has been disappointing and not applicable, and I just haven’t enjoyed those experiences. Connecting Hearts wasn’t anything like previous women’s retreats I had been on; the content was deep, meaningful, and applicable to anyone in any life stage, and I deeply enjoyed the connectivity with women I’d not normally get a chance to interact with in GEM.” 

Emily agrees: “Perhaps you think women’s retreats are cheesy or not your thing, but I can tell you that the team planning and putting on these retreats want you to connect with the Lord. And I think they do a stunning job of listening to the Lord to provide what women on the field need.”  

It’s wonderful to know there are resources to help strengthen missionaries as they serve the Lord… but they aren’t the only ones in need of refreshment and encouragement. Would you choose to reserve a moment today to actively step away from the hustle and bustle of life, and spend some time in nature, reading the Word, praying, or choosing to be vulnerable with a Christian friend? Every soul needs regular rest and reminders of who our first love is! 

“Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Matthew 11:28-29 (NASB)

Written by:

Leanne Monge Barrera