What is your ministry?
I pastor a small Baptist church in Sopot. I preach, teach, disciple, coordinate various church ministries, and handle the administrative work. I am currently involved in planting a Ukrainian-speaking church in Gdynia volunteering at the local Educational Care Centre in Sopot. I am working on a book about the life of the apostle Paul and trying to launch a Polish learning community for MTh studies with the Union School of Theology.
When did you trust Christ?
I first heard about Jesus in September 2010 at the age of 20. In high school, I had some Christian friends from the Baptist Church in Borne Sulinowo, 15 miles from my home city. A friend invited me to the church's youth meetings, and I started to attend regularly. I heard the Gospel many times, and I thought it would be great to become a Christian, but I had some arguments against the existence of God. I had declared myself an unbeliever and needed proof or rational arguments to change my mind. Later, I started my philosophy studies in Poznan. Two of my friends from Borne left a book for me. It was Lee Strobel's "The Case of Christ," but I did not read it. Sometime later, I met with them and felt guilty that I had not read the book yet, and I finished it in one night. It was just for me! Lee Strobel did an excellent investigation into Jesus Christ, and under the weight of evidence he put into his book, I admitted that it must be true. That night I believed in Christ, repented, and gave my life to God.
What have been the defining moments of your Christian walk?
From the beginning, God surrounded me with godly, wise Christians. I learned a lot from them. He put me in a healthy church in Borne Sulinowo and an excellent student community in Poznan. I grew up substantially during our Bible study groups. God gave me a passion for studying the Bible and reading it significantly impacted my life. During my first Christian conference, one New Year's Eve, God powerfully touched my heart again, and I felt a great love for Him, which I had never felt before. It had an impact on my whole Christian life. Soon after, I decided I wanted to spend my life in ministry as a pastor, and I started preparing for that.
What do you hope to gain from participating?
I want to impact how the entire church in Poland looks. I want to train leaders and encourage people to preach sound doctrine in obedience to the Word. I want to continue to participate in the Forum because of this calling. The Forum is a huge blessing to me and my ministry. I want to learn more at the Forum and deliver it to others. I want to participate again because of my life plans and desire to learn anything that will help me in my current and future ministry. I also want to know what challenges people from other countries. I want to contact people we could cooperate with now or in the future and see things from a more European or global perspective.
What is your leadership role or what were your past leadership roles?
As a pastor, my responsibilities include preaching and teaching, discipleship, and administration. I am the only vocational worker in this church. I also oversee a Ukrainian church plant in neighboring Gdynia. My involvement there includes helping with paperwork and disciplinary issues, occasional visits with preaching, and working with a Ukrainian missionary preparing to become a pastor. I write articles for our Baptist Union's monthly journal in my spare time. The articles are about the life of Apostle Paul and his coworkers, and I hope to publish them as a book one day. I am involved in multiple programs and events on a national level.
Why should someone invest in your ministry?
God is powerfully working in my life. He has given me a dynamically growing ministry and is using me in many people's lives. He has given me a heart and desire for ministry. I would be honored and greatly appreciate financial help so that I might participate in European Leadership Forum. I will do my best to take all I can from the Forum and use it in my ministry.
