'We need to pray for those planting churches and working in Christ’s name'

​Earlier this month the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland the Rev Dr Richard Murray visited a small Presbyterian congregation in Kraków - Christ the Saviour, one of only four churches that make up the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Poland (EPCP).
The Rev Dr Richard Murray made a poignant journey to Auschwitz, which is not far from Kraków. With a keen personal interest in the history of the Second World War, the moderator said that nothing could really prepare one for the darkness and horror of the placeThe Rev Dr Richard Murray made a poignant journey to Auschwitz, which is not far from Kraków. With a keen personal interest in the history of the Second World War, the moderator said that nothing could really prepare one for the darkness and horror of the place
The Rev Dr Richard Murray made a poignant journey to Auschwitz, which is not far from Kraków. With a keen personal interest in the history of the Second World War, the moderator said that nothing could really prepare one for the darkness and horror of the place

​With the oldest of Irish Presbyterian congregations dating back to 1613, Dr Murray’s visit was an opportunity to offer encouragement and support of the largest Presbyterian church in Ireland, to the fledgling Polish Presbyterian denomination, whose ‘oldest’ congregation was a little more than nine years old. As the EPCP don’t have anything that resembles a traditional church building yet, on the Sunday he was there Dr Murray preached in Christ the Saviour, which worships in a former café on the outskirts of the city.

During his four-day visit, Dr Murray also made a poignant journey to Auschwitz, which is not far from Kraków. With a keen personal interest in the history of the Second World War, the moderator said that nothing could really prepare one for the darkness and horror of the place, something he reflected on in his recent Christmas message.

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His visit to Poland is thought have been the first by an Irish Presbyterian moderator. “My primary focus was to build and deepen our relationship with the EPCP, which is very much a new partnership. It was also about encouraging mutual support and learning from one another - a time of fellowship and an opportunity see and to hear first-hand the vision and the hope that this new reformed church has, especially to help people come to know the Lord Jesus personally", said Dr Murray

Its lead pastor, the Ukrainian-born minister, Rev Sashko Nezamutdinov, spoke at the Presbyterian General Assembly in Belfast last summer and Dr Murray said he had been looking forward to the Polish visit.

"As I had met Sashko in June and was encouraged by his vision for Christ the Saviour and the church in Poland, which was to be ‘a vibrant Protestant church’ serving Christ and the city’s people, in a way that was ‘culturally relevan"’, as it stated in their Sunday liturgy.

“Being culturally relevant was very apparent, especially in a city where Pope John Paul II had been archbishop for 14 years, as it would be a big leap for many to come from a Roman Catholic church to a Presbyterian one. With that in mind, to try and bridge that cultural gap, the church has communion every Sunday. The elements are familiar to those who once worshipped in a Roman Catholic setting, as they comprise a wafer and alcoholic/alcohol-free wine. It was a liturgical service, with a full liturgy that included prayers, readings and responses, so it would have a familiar feel to it, but all in a reformed theological context,” he said.

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On his last day in Poland, Dr Murray, along with an EPCP’s student minister left Kraków and travelled west for an hour to a place that has become synonymous with mans’ inhumanity to man – Auschwitz prisoner of war camp..

“Even before I visited, it was hard to get your head around the simple reality that the evil which took place there actually happened within living memory. Wrapped up against the cold, which was penetrating that day, our guide told us - , ‘You are not visiting a tourist attraction today, it is a mass grave you’ve come to’. I counted 50 coaches in the car park. The only photo I took was of the main gate,” said the moderator.

“As we were guided around Auschwitz, and the massive adjacent camp at Birkenau, the next four hours were harrowing and unforgettable. The gas chambers we stood in, the electric fences, rows of barracks, the crematoria, and the gallows that we saw, all instruments of systematic murder and unspeakable evil. You just come away stunned and numb.”

Dr Murray added: “My visit to Poland really was a visit of contrasts - of hope on the one hand, and of horror on the other. The sheer contrast of having gone from spending an uplifting few days hearing about and encouraging what is being done in Kraków, to visiting a place of such utter darkness, was so stark. While we must never forget what happened at Auschwitz, we need to give thanks and pray for those planting churches and working in Christ’s name. As the Apostle Paul reminds us in Romans 10:15: "As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

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