Czech This Out

Dave Fielder | 16:21, 16th August 2014

Perhaps ten minutes had passed. Sara had been hovering in the dark with a card in her hand. Standing by the last of a series of stations prompting the young people to reflect on what Jesus had done on the cross, Sara had written on the card things that she wanted Jesus to forgive. The next stage was a choice. Go to the campfire to talk further with a leader, or turn away. Other students made their choice and quietly moved past her one way or the other, but Sara didn't move. Sara's brother is the only Christian in their family.

Four days earlier she'd said Christianity seemed attractive, but she wasn't sure about it. An hour earlier she'd sat through possibly the first gospel talk she'd ever heard. Now, it was clear she wanted to go to the campfire, but lacked the courage. Beth Jenkins had struck up a friendship with Sara, so approached her and offered to go to the campfire with her. It was all she needed. For 45 minutes Beth sat with her in silence as she talked and prayed with one of the local leaders. The conversation was all in Czech, highlighting what a small part we had to play in this process, but also the wonder of a God who meets everyone where they are.

Beth was one of five from The Gen youth group (also Nathan Tram, Matt Leaman, Ivan Westley & Dave Fielder) who joined a team from Scottsdale Bible Church in Phoenix, USA to run an English Camp in the Czech Republic. There were English lessons in the morning, team activities in the afternoon (you know the kind of thing – random sports you love on summer camp, but never play any other time!), then Bible talks & discussions in the evenings. There were 66 of us altogether with around 30 non-Christian youth.

Campers sign up primarily to improve their English, but the organisers are clear that this is a Christian run camp. Czechs are even more sceptical of religious things than Brits (less than 30% believe in any kind of god), and are very reserved as a culture - many will never have had a spiritual conversation with anyone, let alone with strangers in a foreign language.

In a country where less than 1% believe in Jesus, Czech young people see Christians as old, boring and weird. Part of our role was to help break that stereotype, while moving people through to conversations of faith. Ivan brought professional language teaching expertise. He also invented bird calls to inspire his team from across the site. Nath took a commanding role in his team and set a trend with new ways of going down the waterslide. Matt was bonkers throughout, never stopped mingling, and lead worship one morning. Beth threw herself into everything with a huge smile on her face and had been praying for Sara since the first day of camp. To be part of the story above, was a very special moment.

God kept us completely safe, interactions between 3 different cultures (Wales, US & Czech) were remarkably smooth, and if I'm really honest, we had a great time!

The biggest impact for me was how young the local leadership is. The camp leader is 22, the local area co-ordinator is 25. I was humbled by a young team with a clear vision, strategic thinking and a real gospel heart. And it's bearing fruit. Two campers made commitments, and two others went to church on Sunday for the first time in their lives.

Thanks for your partnership & prayers!