Welcome to the Czechout Website
Welcome to this site! If you are a new or even casual visitor, a few details about us. Our purpose is to inform and to promote prayer for our work.
Czechout, now 21 years old, exists to encourage and support the Church of Jesus in the Czech Republic. It is a voluntary organisation headed up by Dennis and Sue Bavister, who have worked as church planters in South Yorkshire for more years than they care to remember.
Please read on and as you do, pray for our work in the nation which claims to have the lowest church attendance in Europe.
Posted on 16 October 2007
First Weekend of the School of Worship and Leadership.
It was so exciting, something that I had dreamed of for some years. At last God had shown the way and very quickly it came together.
Nearly 80 students arrived during the Friday evening, many new faces, quite a few old friends, some I had met at interview. And there we were! All feeling a little uncertain and John de Jong saying ‘Welcome to you all’!
From the start, it was good to worship together, there was a sense of ‘this is where I belong’: with God’s people, lifting our voices to him and a feeling of anticipation. We have come together for God’s purposes.
Over the weekend we all worked hard. There is much to do over these two years. We shall do a lot of studying and a lot of practical work, but it will be in our relationships, together and together with God that will produce much of the development and vision that we long to establish.
The Leadership track, my own personal responsibility consists of 25 students, 17 guys and 8 ladies. They are a mature bunch, several of them already well qualified bith in academics and experience, but they are joining us with this as their prayer, ‘ God, deepen my knowledge of you, show me your route for me and use me to glorify you.’ With a group like that, you can appreciate that I feel very excited, (think of the privilege in helping the next generation plan their strategy for changing their land for Jesus!).
Sue worked with me on that first weekend and so did Frank Fearnley from Hull. They were much appreciated. We also had a young pastor, Petr Studnicka and look forward to another British couple, Martyn and meg Cripps, who will be taking care of pastoral needs on the Leadership Track.
I need to do a lot more planning and hear from God about the rest of the course. It’s good to start well, but I have already realised it is one of the biggest challenges I have ever taken on. But it must be, if it is to be the medium God uses to develop us in his service.
Please pray for us, for the students, for John, with whom I am co-leading the entire venture, for Petr, Martyn and Meg as they lead pastorally and for our visitors. Both Sue and Frank will be back, I believe. Next time we have Paul Bedford and Neil Huddleston from Barnsley.
Finally, just join us in praising God!
In his name – many thanks.
Dennis
16 October 2007
Posted on July 12 2007
- The last weekend in June was great. We had a leadership team from Hradec Kralove with us. Last Thursday they attended the Ground Level 'key leaders' meeting, where they introduced themselves and asked if they could be permitted to 'join up' as a Ground Level church! Obviously, we well thrilled to bits and praise God for this evidence of the close relationships that we enjoy. (More details on the Hradec Kralove page).
- On Friday, they were part of a Czechout presentation in Barnsley. It was something of a trip down memory lane. More details will be posted soon. We had a couple of powerpoint presentations and we want to get the best shots onto this website. It will take a couple of days! (I'm working on it!)
- We can now give you more information about the School of Worship and Leadership which appears under Angel Mountain Ministries. You can download the School of Worship and Leadership PDF Brochure to give you more of the aims and the background. We agreed that we could not run the course with less than 20 students and would like 35-40. Today we have 17 applicants and two more months before the closing date. It's looking good (but what a lot of preparation work - pray for us!!)
- Please pray for the visit to the Prague Central Congregation next week. This is a holiday conference (14-21 July) when Dennis and Sue will be the key speakers. Since last year (same holiday, same speakers!) the group has more than doubled in size as it has merged with another Prague Christian Fellowship congregation. We feel need need to bring the encouragement (challenge?) from Isaiah 52, 'Awake, Oh Zion'!
- Please pray for our preparation for the annual Angel Mountain Conference in the Czech Republic (4-11 August). It is fully booked (about 270 folk); Stuart and Irene Bell will be joining us on the ministry team and we just long for it to be a time of encouragement, envisioning and growing in faith. (This is where we would expect to receive most applications for the SWL course).
- You may like to consider sponsoring or helping to support a student on the course. Many will find it hard to cope financially. If so, contact Dennis for more information (dennisbavister@aol.com).
Thanks for all your prayer, encouragement and support in so many ways. Please keep it up in our 21st year of involvement with Czech believers.
God bless you!
Dennis and Sue Bavister
PS - did you notice how often the word 'encouragement' is used? - that's what it's all about!