The quiet of the night was shattered. It wasn’t even 2:00 AM and for the third time that night, our one-year-old daughter’s cries jerked us away from the sleep we so desperately craved. I physically pried open my eyelids, willing my body off the bed. I had to reach her before her cries woke up our son, who was sleeping in the same small room. I was also concerned that her screaming would wake up the Czech family living upstairs. Disoriented by sleep deprivation, I was momentarily unsure of my own location and stumbled over to pick her up, console her, and hug her close. Everything around her felt different, smelled different, and looked different. She was feeling a need for comfort from those she loved. This was our first night living in the Czech Republic, a new chapter in our lives as cross-cultural missionaries. After nearly two days of relentless travel, our daughter’s raw emotions mirrored the exhaustion my wife and I felt deep within.
With a grand total of just 20 hours on Czech soil, we woke up from that fitful night of sleep and plunged into the demanding initial steps of our arrival: validating our visas by registering with the foreign police and beginning the search for an apartment. Both felt like monumental challenges, considering our unfamiliarity with the city, our illiteracy in the language, and our profound lack of sleep. We spent six hours of that first full day driving to and from Pardubice, our new home city in the Czech Republic, in which we had to register and experience our first appointment with the foreign police. We saw God provide again and again that day through the kindness of others who helped us when we felt weak and overwhelmed. Over the next few weeks, we continued to see God’s hand of grace and provision as we searched for a flat and explored our new surroundings.
My wife and I serve as church-planting missionaries in Central and Eastern Europe. While we are navigating our first year on the European mission field, our preceding five years have been dedicated to gospel labor, pioneering this field for To Every Tribe, meticulously planning our family’s relocation, and laying the groundwork for future missionaries to join this ministry. TET’s Eight Phases of Pioneer Church Planting offers a robust cross-cultural framework for ministry, constantly reminding us that Christ alone builds His church and our calling is to remain faithful in making disciples of Him. Each phase of church planting is interdependent, requiring progression from one to the next, yet always advancing at a pace dictated by the Spirit of God, fostering trust between us and the community members. Our recent focus has been on the foundational first four phases: Arrival, Trust, Spiritual Conversations, and Gospel Conversations, with a particular emphasis on the initial two phases.
Arrival is more than the moment our feet touch the tarmac of a foreign land. This crucial phase began long before we packed our belongings or booked plane tickets. As the first TET missionaries to move to Central and Eastern Europe, we invested years in charting the course to get here. This involved extensive research—delving into the region’s history—and practical exploration, including vision trips to connect with local Czech believers. It meant meticulously gathering necessary documents with appropriate certifications across multiple US states (birth certificates, marriage certificates, and diplomas with authorized government apostilles), and diligently completing and mailing visa application forms. The core purpose of the Arrival phase is not merely to reach the target country, but to arrive prepared and ready to remain there. Our aim was to ensure that our entry into the field prevented future obstacles, avoiding the need to return to the United States to fix preventable issues. This entailed securing full ministry funding, obtaining the right visas, and having a community ready to receive us. Only then could we physically arrive and begin the critical work of building trust with the local population.
Pioneering, as we have learned, differs significantly from simply joining an existing team. It demands foresight—planning not only for our own shipment of belongings, but also meticulously researching all viable options to help future missionaries. Pioneering involves thoroughly documenting every lesson we learned throughout the visa application process to ensure that future missionaries to our field are not caught off guard by the same challenges we faced. Ultimately, the Arrival phase is a conscious effort to resist the urge for hasty shortcuts, choosing a deliberate, slower pace for the initial development of this field. This intentional slowness now will allow us to accelerate later, as the Lord provides ministry opportunities and new disciples. Planning a thorough arrival lays the groundwork for cultivating Trust, which in turn opens doors for Spiritual Conversations.
Our initial arrival required complete dependence on the Lord for wisdom and upon our Czech Christian brothers and sisters for help. We relied on others for translation during government office visits, for understanding subtle social norms, and even for a place to sleep each night. During this time, our primary concern was to demonstrate our presence and genuine care for the community. Actively living in their world and serving our growing church plant in culturally appropriate ways begins to develop the first layer of trust. Our commitment to our community is evidenced through our dedicated language learning, asking probing questions to understand cultural reasoning, and actively seeking opportunities to serve.
Our hearts in the Arrival and Trust phases are anchored in the principle the apostle Paul wrote about: “to become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22). While culturally American, we strive to become Czech in our words, actions, and thoughts to the extent that we embody Christ in a truly Czech context. Our eternal citizenship is not bound to any one country, but to the Kingdom of God. Ministry can only move at the speed of trust, a profound truth that underscores the foundational, though potentially slow, process of ministry within the Czech context. Developing trust requires perseverance in faith, steadfastness in relationships, and understanding that trust is not automatically granted. Discerning when trust has genuinely developed can be difficult, especially when learning to communicate in culture steeped in an indirect communication style when true thoughts and feelings are not directly expressed. As trust is slowly built, we remain confident that the Lord will provide opportunities for Spiritual Conversations, allowing us to grasp the deeper gospel longings of the people in the Czech Republic.
Once trust begins to solidify, we gently initiate conversations aimed at understanding how people in Pardubice process God, religion, and spiritual things. Though this region boasts a rich Christian history, it has largely receded, replaced by secularism and an indifference toward God. This deeply ingrained attitude will take considerable time to address with the gospel. Discussions around topics like creation, death, sin, shame, guilt, or the spirit world within this secular environment are immensely informative, though often challenging to navigate. Many people are open to exploring abstract spiritual ideas but remain closed to the absolute truth that Jesus Christ provides the framework for understanding them all (Colossians 1:16-17). However, it is fundamentally crucial to comprehend a person’s existing spiritual worldview before sharing the gospel. Gaining insight into the local spiritual dimension, like secularism, enables us to frame the Biblical truths of grace and hope (Romans 5:2-5) more effectively and prevent potential misunderstandings. At that point, the Lord Himself will be the one to unveil their eyes to the truth of the gospel, and we will be overjoyed to welcome them into the family of God when that blessed day arrives.
Today, here in our small city of Pardubice, Czech Republic, we remain entirely devoted to Christ’s glory being revealed through us, by us, and in us, so that He is worshiped among every tongue and tribe. We are part of a small budding church, currently without a dedicated meeting space. Yet, from a missionary perspective, we have Arrived, we are building Trust, and we are engaging in Spiritual and Gospel Conversations as the Lord provides. We eagerly anticipate the day when we see the fruit of this ministry: Helping, Nurturing, Discovering, and Affirming new believers in the church. Until then, we pray that God receives all the glory as we diligently learn the language, adapt to cultural customs, and strive to point to Jesus in all that we do.
The journey of pioneering gospel work, though challenging, is one of joy as we witness God’s faithfulness in unexpected ways. This is a journey that demands faith, cultural humility, and the kind of love that only the Holy Spirit can cultivate. Our greatest desire is to see healthy, reproducing, and locally-led churches emerge across the postmodern and secularized Czech Republic and beyond—vibrant communities rooted in Christ, led by Czech believers, and passionately reaching their own people with the Good News. This vision, however, demands sustained commitment, especially through the often slow and challenging early phases of building genuine relationships and cultivating trust in a secularized land.
As we continue to lay these vital foundations in Pardubice, we invite you to partner with TET in this kingdom endeavor. We encourage you to consider joining our team by bringing your unique gifts to this field or partnering financially. Both are key to continuing this front line work of sowing the seeds of the gospel. Above all, we earnestly ask for your consistent prayers for our family, our ministry, for divine wisdom in spiritual conversations, and for the Lord to raise up and gather His beloved people in the Czech Republic. Together, let us pray for a harvest that brings immeasurable glory to God. The need is great, but our God is greater, and together, we can see His church flourish in the heart of Europe.
