A Quick Look at Poland

Poland is a country of contrasts. From the high-tech -- Europe's first PC motherboard factory is Polish, the Poznań airport is one of only three in the world with Wi-Fi internet access -- to the low-tech -- horse-drawn farm equipment, outdoor toilets, unpaved streets. It is a young country with a 1000-year history. Universities, factories, gleaming office towers, cell-phones, coal-mining -- all of these define Poland, and yet, all together, they cannot even begin to describe the country and her people. 

There has been tremendous change since 1980 when Lech Walęsa first climbed a fence outside of the Gdańsk shipyard. That singular act set in motion a series of events which would eventually topple the dominance of the Soviet Union. From martial law, to power-sharing with the Communists, to the ousting of the Red Army, to her entry into N.A.T.O., Poland has seen generations-worth of change compressed into just a few years.

As positive as the change has been, this very change has shaped a new society. Mores and values are in constant flux, the influence of the Catholic Church, while strong, is on the wane -- with more Poles out-of-step with the official teachings of the Church. Capitalism has won, but has brought along it's stepchild: materialism.

It is in this milieu that the Polish Evangelical church ministers. Their desire is to see their country transformed through lives transformed by a personal relationship with God. Although small, this group of believers is working hard to see their country transformed from a religious society, to a Godly one in which people have been changed by a vibrant relationship with