Can I get that in Polish?

I had lunch at Staropolska today with Nate Berry and Pastor Mirek (Miroslaw) Muszczynski.  Mirek has pastored in Chicago for 17 years.  The church, Polish Christian Center is (as far as I know) the only Polish language Evangelical Christian church in the city of Chicago.  (Please correct me if I'm wrong--and I would like to be wrong about this.)

Nate attends our Lincoln Park location with his Polish-born wife Ola and hopes to move to Poland in the next couple years to serve the church there with ProEcclesia ministry.  In the meantime he's seeking to help us move toward Polish connections.

My reason for wanting to meet was simple--Polish people are a huge immigrant population in Chicago (some estimate 2 million) and Luis Palau labeled it the least evangelized group in Chicagoland.  So, as a church with a vision to be all over the city for the good of the city, we have to be asking ourselves, "how can we reach Polish people with the gospel?"

Mirek, as a longtime pastor, had insight into the community and into the American church's history in pursuing Polish people.  He shared some of the barriers to reaching Poles--distrust of anything non-Catholic, an anti-establishment mentality, a strong skepticism bred from years under Communism and a very secular young generation. 

We talked about ways we could make steps toward the Polish community and here are the two that we identified for exploration:

• Mobilize New Life members to serve Polish children who come to Chicago for surgery at Shriner's Hospital (they are here for as long as 6 months).  The children need housing and someone to relationship with people.  There is an existing Polish non-profit that facilitates this and Mirek wants us to connect with them.
• Pursue international internships for Polish men who are pursuing pastoral ministry through ProEcclesia.  What if a couple seminary interns came to Chicago for 1 year to pursue studies, intern at New Life and do outreach and small groups with Polish speaking people on the North side? 

Having lived near the large Polish community on the North side for over 10 years, I am excited to have a couple tangible steps we can pursue toward connecting with this valuable Chicago community.

Comments

[JS]

finally someone reaching out to MY PEOPLE!!!!!!
ha ha
very cool..

[Kevin]

pray it in with us Smuda! peace to your peeps in NY.

[jeffrey Winkowski]

I'm a Christian personal trainer working on Pulaski and Belmont and was/ am hoping to reach some of the younger men and women in the area. I pray that the Catholic church and those of us who identify ourselves a born-again can work together.

The Polish good i totally DIY; lots of indie businesses (including bookstores and health food stores), some punk rock kids, and an overall good vibe. Rock over Polish Village.

PEACE,
JW

[Kevin]

Thanks for the connect/comment, Jeffrey. Hope to dialogue further with you via email.