NOTE: The following information is outdated. Most recent information about Second Baptist Church in Wrocław could be found on this website: http://baptysci.wroclaw.pl.
The story of the Baptist Church in Wroclaw (the city was called Breslau in those days) began on the 20th of June 1846 with the baptism of 4 people who came to personally
know Jesus Christ through the testimonies of O. Friedman. Although
Breslau was mostly Catholic, the church started to grow dynamically:
there were 27 members in 1851, 207 in 1878, 558 in 1908, 774 in 1929,
828 in 1938 and 631 in 1944. They met in three church buildings: at
Muzeum Platz and at Marthastrasse (today called Lukasinskiego and
Dąbrowskiego). The chapel at Muzeum Platz was completely riuned during
the war so afterwards the church gathered at Marthastrasse
(Lukasinskiego 20). The year 1946 closes the German part of the church
story. As a result of the II World War Breslau (Wroclaw) was found on
the Polish side of the border. Polish christian families, mostly from
former eastern parts of Poland, began to come to the city and meet
together with the German baptists who lived here. On 7th of March 1946
the German Baptist church in Wroclaw celebrated their 100th jubilee.
During the service they officially offered the church building at
Lukasinskiego 20 to the Polish christians. From that time the Polish
group had its regular services there. Because of the political
situation the German church members had to leave Wroclaw shortly
thereafter. 10 years after the war there were 135 members in the
church. Under the pastorship of Michal Popko the church established
its structure and forms of activity. Very important parts of it were
Bible study groups, Sunday School, a Biblical School, a church choir
and a youth group ministry. The church started missionary work in
cities and villages around Wroclaw: Glogów, Zielona Góra, Walbrzych,
Klodzko etc. and soon new, independent churches arose in those places.
The church had close relations with other churches in Poland and
abroad, especially with a baptist church in Wetter (Volmarstein, FRG).
These friendships were always a great blessing for each one involved.
They proved to be a very special source of encouragement and help
during the dark years of martial law in Poland in the mid '80ĺs and
during the building of the new church center at Klodnicka street.
The old chapel at Lukasinskiego 20 had become too small for the
growing church. After many years of prayer and after continuous
discussions with the city government finally in 1982 the church was
allowed to start building a new center at Klodnicka. The construction
work started at the end of 1983 and finished in 1990. The opening
ceremony took place on 15-16.09.1990. The new building allowed the
church to grow even more dynamically through various activities that
were possible there (e.g. Language School, bookstore, Biblical
Seminary [BST]
, charity work, etc.). After the church moved to the new
place a problem arose as to what to do with the old chapel at
Lukasinskiego 20. The church decided that the christian mission should
be continued at this place. A young pastor (Arek Patalon) , was invited to Wroclaw to start a new church planting work. He began with a group
of just 5 people delegated for this ministry by The First Baptist Church in Wroclaw : his wife, Ewa and Jarek Leszczyński and Marek Cebrat. At the
begining our group met in a small room close to the church building as
we were not able to pay the maintainance costs of the old chapel.
In 1995 the group there had about 30 members and it officially became an
independent church - the Second Baptist Church in Wroclaw. At the
same time we decided to move in to the church building which had been
hired out to a wholesale firm for 5 years.
The new church is growing,
we now have 70 members and have had more than 100 people at a
Sunday service. Our vision is to reach those around us with the
Gospel. The church is located in the slum area the Police have named
"the Bermuda Triangle", well known for its crime, alcoholism, and
poverty. We are also responsible for a church planting work in another
nearby city, Olawa . There is a group of about 10 christians meeting
there. At the begining of September 1997 a young pastor with his wife (Marek and Beata Pachuccy) and their two kids
was invited by us to serve there as a full time minister. Other forms
of outreach besides the personal evangelism that we are all involved
in are: EAGLE - School of Practical English , Youth for Christ and InterVarsity (IFES, ChSA)
groups. Many young people have come to know the Lord through the
music ministry of "Rainforest" ,
a group of young musicans from our church. There is a strong Sunday School ministry within the church and
most of our church members belong to one of the 15 house groups that
exist. We depend especially on this small group ministry to provide
opportunity for spiritual care and growth.
We have recently been given a beautiful piece of land in the mountains and forests on the
Polish/Czech border. We are grateful to the Lord for this gift and are
convinced that since He has given us this land ideal for camps that He
will also provide what is needed to build a suitable facility there
that would be used year around.
The church's chapel and the Language School were heavily damaged by the flood that happened in Poland in July, 1997. A brief description of the damages is given here.
The Second Baptist Church in Wroclaw
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