We served on a mission team in Olomouc, Czech Republic, for a decade and a half. We worked with youth, including weekly Bible studies, free-time activities, and summer English camps. For young adults, we hosted weekly conversations in English about the big questions of life. We provided families with weekly opportunities for their young children to learn English in a fun and safe atmosphere.
In our various outreach activities and discussions, we strove to create an atmosphere where all feel welcome, that they can contribute, and that we want to hear what they think, not just to tell them what we believe.
Campers often said the English camp was the best week of their year — that there they experienced a love like no other. One preacher from another church said that our group was the envy of other congregations, as we had so many seekers involved in what we were doing.
There's a lot we did right, but there are plenty of things we would do differently.