Project CR: Trinec Outreach Center

Future Trinec Outreach Center

It had been a while since I was in snow that deep. The sun was out, and it was beautiful there in the Czech Republic. We had spent some time meeting with the elders of the Trinec Church, hearing about their vision to create a community outreach center to reach their community. We were now taking a break to see where their vision might one day become reality. Our first stop was the school building they were leasing. It was already too small and had very little parking, but they were making do as best they could.

Our next stop was a preschool building that had not been used for over 10 years. The elders were not even sure who owned it or what the condition was inside. But the location near the heart of the residential district was perfect, surrounded by flats on every side. It was easily accessible by foot or public transportation. The church had a vision to use the facility to host English clubs, sports activities, business workshops, and a computer lab to train the many who are unemployed.

As we returned to Jaroslav’s house, the building seemed little more than a dream. They did not know if the owner would be willing to sell, and the price would probably be far more than they could hope to raise. They had faith God could provide, but it would be a year or two before it was even an option.

God had other plans. Five months later, the Trinec church lost their lease. At almost the same time, they discovered the abandoned school’s owner was an old friend of one of the elders. The owner was interested in selling, and at a price 25% lower than they anticipated.

Today the church has raised or borrowed 75% of the cost of purchasing the facility. We have the opportunity to help make up the difference. On Sunday, September 18, we will be taking a special offering to send $30,000 to help the Trinec Church take the next step in reaching their community for Christ. (See the Task@Hand on the NCBC website for more information about our partnership with the Trinec Church and our plans to send them a financial gift: www.newcovenantbible.org )

Project CR Agreement

After months of discussions, phone calls, emails, and a trip to Trinec, it was time to draft a “Project CR Agreement.” It was submitted to and approved by the elders of both churches to be in effect from June 2005 through May 2008 and reviewed on an annual basis. Here are some highlights from the agreement:

New Covenant Bible Church in Cedar Rapids and the Brethren Church in Trinec –Terasa share the mutual purpose of growing great lives that are on mission for Christ. It is our desire to see people get saved and grow in their walk with Christ in both Cedar Rapids and in Trinec. The purpose of Project CR is to assist each other in accomplishing our shared goal of evangelism and discipleship.

New Covenant Bible Church agrees to: pray regularly for the Trinec Church; send individuals and teams to assist in evangelism outreaches, leadership training, and spiritual development; and consider helping with work teams and financial aid to assist the Trinec Church’s move to a larger facility.

The Brethren Church in Trinec – Terasa agrees to: pray regularly for New Covenant; play an active role in any evangelism outreaches, leadership training, and spiritual development that New Covenant sends teams to assist; possibly come to Cedar Rapids to assist in similar endeavors; try to assist any New Covenant Missionary who comes to stay for a few months or longer.

The Fingerprints of God

I am always cautious in saying I know what God is doing. I am not worried about sounding arrogant, but about being presumptuous. So I look for the “fingerprints of God” to help me discern where God is at work. The “fingerprints of God” are circumstances that cannot be a coincidence but rather are a sign that God is up to something.

While we were on our partnership exploratory trip to the Trinec Church in the Czech Republic last January, I began to clearly see the “fingerprints of God.” In fact, they were all over the place! It started with hearing about the core values of Pastor Marek and the elders. It continued with hearing the vision they had to reach their community. It crystallized as we listened to the needs they have, needs that we seem uniquely prepared to partner with them to fill.

One need they have is for servant leadership training. God has blessed New Covenant with individuals who are strategic thinkers and who model servant leadership. For over 5 years, God has allowed us to strategically plan and to implement those plans. While things are different culturally in the Czech Republic, there are many principles we can share with them and help them to explore how the principles would apply in their setting. After hearing about our process of strategic planning, they asked for us to come back and teach them. We are currently making plans for a small team to return in October to meet with their leadership, as well as leadership from other churches in the region, and teach a weekend seminar on strategic planning.

The Trinec Church has a strong commitment to reach the children in their community. This is somewhat unusual to find in other countries. As we talked about their goals, Pastor Kim realized that they were describing the ministry of Cindy Howard, one of our very own missionaries! God had closed the doors for Cindy to return to Moscow, and Kim had just talked to her right before our trip to Trinec. She was looking for a new location where she could come alongside a church or group of churches and help them grow their ministry to children. We joked that we would come back to Iowa and tell Cindy, “God loves you, and we have a wonderful plan for your life!” When we did first tell Cindy about the opportunity, it did not seem like it was the right option. But over the next few months we watched as God closed doors to other options and threw open the doors for her moving to the Czech Republic. Looking back seven months later, it is absolutely clear that God’s hand was preparing the way for Cindy to have an open door of ministry in Trinec and the surrounding region.

God’s hand was clearly at work. His fingerprints could be seen everywhere we turned. The next step was to put a partnership agreement in place.

One principle I really appreciate from Henry Blackaby’s Experiencing God study is that I should look for where God is already at work and join in. When I returned from the Czech Republic in June 2004, it was clear that God was at work. For four years New Covenant had been a part of the Business English Camps and had seen God touch the lives of many of the students. But just seeing them for one week a year was clearly not enough. We had a growing desire to find a way to continue our ministry to the students after we had returned to America. At the same time, we were developing a relationship with the Brethren Church in Trinec-Terasa where Bronek Lipus, the Czech national who led the camps, was an elder. When we learned of the Trinec Church’s desire to reach their community, it seemed like God was providing us with a strategic partnership to accomplish both of our goals.

A few months after I returned, I began exploring the possibility of us working together with the Trinec Church. In order to evaluate the possibility of us entering into a partnership, I helped create the “Project CR Team” which consists of Pastor Bob, Pastor Kim, Ed Luebe, Doug Forret, and me. Together, we began thinking through the issues we were facing.

A partnership can be defined as a relationship that shares complementary strengths and resources to reach a mutual goal. A partnership is a lot like a marriage. It should only be entered into after carefully considering whether you share similar passions and values. For the next few months we traded emails with Bronek to share our expectations and to explore the heart of the Trinec Church leadership. When it became clear that there was a solid foundation, we knew the next step was a trip so that we could meet face to face. It was also important for Pastor Kim and Pastor Bob, who had never been to a camp or to the Trinec Church, to meet the pastor and elders to talk with them directly. So in January 2005, Pastor Bob, Pastor Kim, Ed and I traveled during the middle of winter to the Czech Republic.

The trip was an important confirmation that we were headed in the right direction. After 2 days of meeting with their leadership, it was clear that we were very similar in our doctrine, passions, and values. In fact, I was amazed at how well our visions fit together. Next week I will share more about that vision and the steps that followed after our January trip.