All articles in category Czech Republic
July 2012
Czech Republic
John Blanchard in the Czech Republic
John Blanchard in the Czech Republic When John Blanchard preached in the Czech Republic recently, exactly 30 years had passed since he last did so. He first visited the country (then part of Czechoslovakia) in 1968, when he preached at the 70th anniversary services of Brno Baptist Church. He recalls a packed church for a 9.00am prayer meeting, and a main service that lasted four hours and included five sermons, of which he preached two! His recent visit was to speak at a Shepherds’ Conference, held in Sbor Bratrské Jednoty Baptistu in Kromeriz, a town about 40 miles east of Brno. This small church (known...
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By Zdenik Karasek
December 2003
Czech Republic
Missionary Spotlight-Raised an Atheist
I was born in 1954 in communist Czechoslovakia, now divided into two countries � the Czech Republic and Slovakia. I hated the unjust, oppressive system so, in my twenties, I fled the country illegally to seek truth and freedom in the West. I settled in Germany, got a good job, and lived out the materialist philosophy I had grown up with. Raised � like most Czechs � as an atheist, I knew nothing about God. God�s calling Without me realising it, however, God was calling me to himself. I was drawn to the Holy Land and wanted to walk in the footsteps of Jesus...
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August 2003
Czech Republic
Missionary Spotlight – Fact File – The Czech Republic
Fact File – The Czech Republic Area: 30,450 square miles comprising Bohemia, Moravia and part of Silesia. Neighbours: Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Austria. Environment: The Czech Republic is landlocked. Its terrain consists of rolling plains, hills and plateaux, surrounded by low mountains. It has temperate, cool summers and cold, humid winters. There is considerable air and water pollution due its high industrial coal consumption. Population: 10.1 million. Life expectancy: 75 years. Ethnic groups: Slavic(Czech, Slovak, Polish) 96%; others, including Gypsy, 4%. Language: Czech. Literacy: 99%. Capital: Prague (1.2 million). Urbanisation: 76%. Economy: The...
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August 2003
Czech Republic
Missionary Spotlight
Reserved, polite, careful, searching — all these words could be used to describe the character of the Czech people. But as the products of a harsh, ideological, atheistic Communism that dominated the land for 40 years, they are also a misled people — deceived, lost and hardened. Real people I used to teach English to two classes in a local high school. On one occasion — after carefully explaining five different world views ranging from atheism to theism to a class of 30 students aged 16 to 18 — I asked each student which world view they held. 25 of the 30 said they were...
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By Zdenìk Karásek
August 2003
Czech Republic
Missionary Spotlight
The Czech Republic is one of the most atheistic lands in the world. Its atheism is somewhat different from the new atheism of post-Christian western democracies. Ours is not a pluralist multi-faith society with the Christian faith under sustained attack from secular humanists. Ironically, the Czech Republic, with its slightly old-fashioned post-Communist atmosphere, is more â”advancedâ” in its infidelity. Over forty years of communist indoctrination has left a monolithic, unchallenged belief system â” atheism. Its doctrines are tenaciously held to by the Czech population. The vast majority of Czechs do not believe there is a God at all. There is only a small religious minority,...
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By Andrew Holland
July 2001
Czech Republic
Missionary Spotlight-Winter in Bohemia
Visiting two schools and teaching three English lessons during a week-long Easter visit to the Czech Republic may sound like a busman’s holiday for someone who teaches for a living. But it was not really the case. I had opportunity to tell over seventy children about the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that without speaking a word of Czech! There are opportunities for witness in this country, even for monolingual Englishmen. My visit, with my family, was at the invitation of Zdenek Karasek, a native Czech and former student at the London Reformed Baptist Seminary. He and his English wife, Nicola,...
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