Moderator visits Poland to encourage fledgling Presbyterian denomination there
The Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI), Rt Rev Dr Richard Murray visits Poland for a four-day visit to Kraków to give encouragement and support to a fledgling Presbyterian denomination with just four congregations – the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Poland (EPCP). During his time there, on Monday Dr Murray will also make a poignant journey to Auschwitz.
During their one year in office, Presbyterian Moderators make an overseas visit to continue to build relationships, and strengthen ties with PCI’s global partner churches and mission organisations. In recent years they have spent time in Kenya, Hungary and Ukraine, Jordan and Malawi.
During his visit, Dr Murray will be hosted by Rev Sashko Nezamutdinov, the lead pastor of Christ the Saviour in Kraków, one of the four Presbyterian churches that form the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Poland. The other churches are in the capital, Warsaw, where there are two, with another in Gdansk in the north of the country on the Baltic coast.
While Dr Murray’s visit to Poland is thought to be the first by an Irish Presbyterian Moderator, a number of PCI congregations have established close links with the EPCP , especially the County Armagh congregation in Richhill. It was here in 2015 that Mr Nezamutdinov spent a three-month internship. Ordained in 2023, the Ukrainian born minister was also a delegate at this year’s General Assembly, where he addressed the session ‘Listening to the Global Church’.
Speaking before he left, Dr Murray said, “The primary focus for my visit is to build and deepen our relationship with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Poland, which is very much a new partnership. It is also about encouraging mutual support and learning from one another. I am excited to be meeting Sashko again and hearing the vision that he has for helping people come to know the Lord.
“While they are a fledgling denomination with only four congregations in a country with a population of around 40 million people, they have a big vision for church planting. With six student ministers in training and, as of yet, no congregations for them, this is surely a mark of their passion for the Gospel and intent to build Christ’s Kingdom. At the same time, they don’t have anything that resembles a traditional church building, instead they meet in shops and other vacant buildings,” Dr Murray said.
The Moderator continued, “Listening to Sashko at the General Assembly, I remember him saying that there was a spiritual hunger in Poland and a real need for evangelical churches, and what we would call ‘a reformed witness’, in a country where most people were ‘culturally’ or ‘nominally’ religious. He also said that his congregation has gone from four people to between 40/50 worshipping on a Sunday, with most people coming to faith being in their 20s and 30s. With abundant opportunities for church-planting, something we have become more strategically engaged in in recent years, he is also building a denomination. I want to encourage him that PCI was just a few congregations once.”
Since 2017, EPCP has also developed a fast-growing publishing ministry that has translated over 70 different texts into Polish, including Bibles, devotionals and other Christian material, which it distributes. The Moderator will visit this enterprise and will also hear about their ministry to Ukrainian refugees since the start of the war. The Polish/Ukraine border is only three hours from Kraków to the east.
Looking forward to the visit, Mr Nezamutdinov said, “It was a true blessing to attend the General Assembly in June, where I experienced first-hand the warmth and fellowship of our Presbyterian brothers and sisters in Ireland. I am delighted to welcoming Dr Murray to Poland, especially as this visit strengthens the meaningful partnership between our two churches.
“During his time with us, the Moderator will meet with our kirk session and see for himself our ministry work with Ukrainian refugees. Christ the Saviour Presbyterian Church is also looking forward to hearing him preach on Sunday. This visit is particularly significant as it demonstrates our shared commitment to serving those in need, and spreading God’s word in Central Europe. The ongoing support and friendship of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland has been invaluable to our work and spiritual growth,” he said.
Looking ahead to his visit to Auschwitz on Monday, which will commemorate the 80th anniversary of its liberation next month, Dr Murray said, “This can’t be anything but a poignant moment that I approach with deep trepidation.
“To go from having spent an uplifting few days hearing about and encouraging what is being done in Kraków to bring the very light and life of Christ for the spiritual good and salvation of people; to a place of such utter darkness and death, the epitome of man’s inhumanity to man, which all happened within in living memory, will I’m sure be a seminal moment, and one that I will never forget.”
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