First Sabbath Offering for the Czechoslovakian Mission
The country of Czechoslovakia, located in Central Europe, was founded in October 1918 as one of the successor states of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of World War I. It consisted of the present day territories of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Carpathian Ruthenia. In 1948 the Communist Party took control of the country, religious freedom was abolished, and atheism became the official ideology of the country. In 1989 the country became democratic again, when freedom of conscience was granted to the people, and three years later Czechoslovakia was divided and its territory became as it is known today, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Our work in Czechoslovakia started in the very beginning of the Reform Movement. In 1923 there were 43 members in that country. Then Communism entered into the country and the believers could not meet together any longer. The shepherd was smitten and the fold was scattered. But the leader had a very interesting experience in prison. His wife managed to bring him a copy of the book The Great Controversy, and he read and reread the book recognizing that he had made a great mistake by not training younger people to take his place. He confessed his mistake to the Lord and had a real conversion experience. He began to send messages to the congregation through poems. He wrote 150 of them and put all of them into music. The believers were comforted with the brother’s messages and sang them too. Eventually the church fizzled out after so many years without a leader. After he was released from prison, he immediately began trained the young ones as he had promised to the Lord.
In 1995 Czechoslovakia became a Mission, and today we have again a new group of members, and the remnant of those who went through the dark days. We are planning to build a meeting place and go forward in spreading the Third Angel’s Message.
We need your help. Please be liberal when this special offering is collected.
Your brethren and sisters of the Czechoslovakian Mission