Polish Lutheran Bible School

“Szkoła Biblijna” in Poland

By Pastor Tim Hinrich


Lutherans in Poland? Yes! Believe it or not! And seeking to encourage renewal in the Lutheran church of Poland is one of the main goals of the Bible School located in the southern border village of Dzięgielów, southwest of Bielsko-Biała.




Since 1998 the Bible school has been discipling students and has grown from 11 students the first year to over 60 this fall. The school is directed by EEMN Career Missionaries Tim and Renata Hinrichs as part of the Center of Missions and Evangelism of the Lutheran Church of Poland. They lead a small full-time student body (usually around 6-8 students) for a one-year program of Bible teaching and practical training in ministry. Students usually go on to further studies and about half to seminary.

A second program the school offers is a two-year program operating on Saturdays. Students come from all ages and backgrounds to attend classes from morning until night. Also offered is a third year of practical studies.

This year, they opened up their first branch of the Bible school in Mrągowo at the other end of the country.

There, seven students gather to watch a live broadcast of classes held at the same time in Dzięgielow on Saturdays. Plans are already drawn up for another broadcast location next year in central Poland. The school exists today based on the prayers of leaders going back as far as 50 years ago. Today 12 volunteer faculty are planting seeds in those who can be used by God to bring renewal within the Lutheran church and in Poland. Thank you for your prayers for this open door!

Total Student Body Passes 60!

It’s been an amazing start to the school year. First, we spent half of September reparing the Bible school building for the new school year. We’re thankful to the Lord that CME acquired a large amount of new carpeting in which all of the facilities have been now carpeted including our Bible school building (“Syloe”). That and a new coat of paint make a huge difference in our classrooms and in the 3 rooms we have for dorms. We also were able to get an extra room to use as a student lounge so our students aren’t suffering as bad as we thought they might.

We also interviewed and received a record amount of new students in our two Bible school programs. The daily Bible school now has six students and the weekend program has a whopping 27 new students to add to the 2nd and 3rd year! It’s an amazing blessing and we are really excited for what the Lord has in store for this year. Altogether, our student body is now over 60 if you can believe that!

You might remember that the AFLC Bible school choir was on tour here in the spring and how much of a blessing they were through that ministry. The amazing thing is that two of our weekend students signed up for Bible school as a direct result of the choir concert in their congregation in Skoczów. It’s amazing to see how God uses a variety of ministries to accomplish his purposes.

Remembering Students in Prayer

• Pray for the daily B.S. students: Marek and Renata (Czech Republic), Zhenia (Ukraine), Julita, Sylwia, Marta and Artur (Poland) and Genadij (Guestministry leader from Ukraine).
• Pray for the approximately 60 students in the weekend program.
• Pray for the seven students in the weekend program via internet.
  

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This article comes from the EEMN Newsletter.