This spring I’m traveling to the Czech Republic with one of our seminary graduates. I’ll be teaching on biblical practices of corporate worship in several churches throughout the country. Our trip is being planned and led by Lance Roberts, a missionary sent by Grace Community Church to the Czech Republic in 2001.
The Czech Republic is a country of profound spiritual darkness. It has a total population of nearly eleven million, less than one percent of which are evangelical. By contrast, nearly forty percent of Czech citizens identify themselves as atheists. Statistically, the Czech Republic is one of the least religious countries in the world. Gospel-preaching churches are few and far between. And yet, Christ has promised that He would build His church, and the gates of hell would not be able to stand against it!
I’m writing to ask you to pray for the continued spread of the Gospel in the Czech Republic. Pray for our trip to be an encouragement and a help to churches that often have little or no biblical framework for their corporate worship practices. And pray for Lance and others who faithfully serve there, that they would be “steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.”
Secondly, I’m writing to ask for help. There are few worship resources available in the Czech language — either substantive, rich hymns or books on biblical worship practices. Many hymns are translated from English, and the results are sometimes awkward and ineffective. And to my knowledge, the new English hymnody of the past decade (Gettys, Sovereign Grace, etc.) is still unavailable to the Czech people.
My desire for this trip is not only to teach principles from God’s Word, but also to equip the body of Christ — through songs and other resources — to worship together “in Spirit and in truth.” If you know of any such resources in the Czech language, please contact me. And remember to pray for your brothers and sisters in the Czech Republic and around the world who are “fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel” (Eph. 3:6)!
–Dan