Filip Sylwestrowicz is a church planter and seminary teacher in Poland.
When did you trust Christ?
I grew up in a Christian family, and I do not think there was just one moment when I decided to trust Christ. Rather, I progressed from a more child-like faith in Christ to a more mature one. Even as a child, I understood that I needed the Saviour and that the Lord died on my behalf. However, there was certainly a time when I began to take my faith more seriously.
What have been the defining moments of your Christian walk?
A defining time in my Christian life was in late high school when I began to read the Bible daily. That had a tremendous impact on my spiritual life and roused in me a passion to learn more about God and to share Him with others. Another thing important for my Christian growth was leading the Bible study on my university campus for two and a half years. Preparing and leading the Bible study every other week helped me to grow in my ability to study the Bible and to communicate it to others. It also further developed my desire to share the Gospel with other people and to help my fellow believers grow in their understanding of Scripture and theology.
What do you hope to gain from participating?
I attended the Theology Network in the past (the last time in 2019). I primarily benefited from fellowship, encouragement, and networking. At that time, I was just beginning graduate school, and it was very helpful to receive encouragement and mentorship from more experienced theologians and theological educators. This next year, I would love to network with more experienced theological educators and learn from their experiences. While in grad school, I had a robust academic community (I studied at Cambridge and Oxford), but now, back in Poland, I am more isolated and would love to have fellowship with other Evangelical scholars.
What is your ministry?
I am in a transitional phase, having just finished grad school—I defended my PhD in July 2024—and recently started my new roles as a church planter and seminary teacher. My primary ministry is serving as a church planter and pastoring a small Presbyterian church in Warsaw, Poland. Additionally, I am involved in theological education and teach New Testament classes at the Warsaw Baptist Theological Seminary. I also speak at various evangelical conferences on apologetic and theological topics.
What is your leadership role or what were your past leadership roles?
I have taught a class on 1 Corinthians during the academic year of 2023/2024, and I will be teaching Pauline Letters and Greek in the New Testament in 2024/2025. Before this, I led the Bible study on campus for university students every other week during my undergraduate education. I was also involved in youth ministry in my church as a volunteer leader and preached from time to time. Besides that, I was an active blogger writing about theology and the church on a couple of different platforms.
Why should someone invest in your ministry?
Part of what I perceive to be my calling is to contribute as much as possible to the theological education of students and lay people. I also feel called to pastoral ministry. To fulfil both of these roles well, I need training and vision, and I would be grateful for any help in that respect.
