I just finished breakfast with some church planters here in Denver, Colorado. As always, I am blessed by their commitment and their sacrifice.

Just after I finished breakfast and came back to my hotel room, I received notice that I had a new video to share with you about church planting.

I had the privilege to meet another sharp church planter, Steve Brown, in Krakow last week. Steve is working to plant churches in a place that might surprise you. If you have heard of the Moravians, then you have heard of Moravia. And, regrettably, Moravia is no longer a place that sends many missionaries-- it is in need of many more.

The Moravian Missions movement was one of the great mission movements in history. Wikipedia explains:

The Moravian missionaries were the first large scale Protestant missionary movement. The first missionaries were sent out when there were only 300 inhabitants in Herrnhut. Within 30 years of their beginning the church sent hundreds of Christian missionaries to many parts of the world including the Caribbean, North and South America, the Arctic, Africa, and the Far East. They were also the first to send unordained "lay" people (rather than trained professional clergymen), the first Protestant denomination to go to slaves, and the first in many countries of the world.

The nation has a fascinating history:

Great Moravia was an independent kingdom in the 9th century, comprising Bohemia and other territories in Central Europe. It was conquered by the Magyars in 893, reconquered by Bohemia in 1029. In 1849 it became a separate crown land of Austria with capital at Brno, and in 1918 organized as a province of Czechoslovakia. United with Silesia 1927 forming province of Moravia and Silesia. All of Silesia and some areas in north and south Moravia became part of German Sudetenland in 1938. The remainder of Moravia joined with Bohemia as German protectorate (1939-45) of Bohemia-Moravia. Restored to Czechoslovakia in 1945 and since 1990 part of the Czech Republic. (source)

Today Moravia makes up 1/3 of the Czech Republic and is inhabited by 3.6 million people. Of 3.6 million people only 6,000 attend an evangelical church. Moravia has a strong Christian heritage, but today the church is seen as a place for the weak, uneducated, and is viewed as out of touch by the general population.

The Czech Republic is notoriously known as an atheistic country, but Steve Brown has found that this is not the case. While there are certainly atheists in this country, most use atheism as a tool to shutdown any conversation in the spiritual realm. Moravians are "somethingists." If you ask a Moravian what they believe they will tell you "something." With each person it varies as to who or what that something is, but it's something, and for them that is good enough. This is a quintessential postmodern Europen, post-communist culture.

Steve and his team are seeking to reach people with the gospel and plant churches for Christ's glory by meeting people where they are at in life, building community, and asking God to birth churches out of that. Their team's motto is "Show and Share." They live and interact with others in such a way that allows them to show them Christ and then tell them about Him when appropriate. Steve explains that "sharing the gospel is an art, and is most effective in the context of a conversation that lasts 2 hours over sitting in a pub or coffee shop. Moravians can see a sales pitch coming a kilometer away, but if they have the opportunity to dialogue about their beliefs, then we can share what we believe as well."

Listen as Steve explains the challenges of planting in Moravia, and invites you to come along and help. The video is raw, but you can get a feel for his passion and plan:

Steve and his team are investing their lives and church planting in 3 strategic areas of Moravia:

• Olomouc (105,000) is in central Moravia and the home of 15,000-20,000 university students,


• Ostrava (315,000) is an industrial city on the Czech-Polish border where we are working through a local Baptist church to reach this unreached city, and


• Bruntal (17,000) where they are praying and preparing to reach this city.

Steve explains, "We are looking for partnering churches and people who want to use their skills and talents in order to engage Godless cultures with the Gospel."

Great stuff...