ALPHARETTA, Ga. — With 11 million people of Polish descent across North America, one of the greatest challenges facing Polish pastors and church planters is how, with limited resources, to reach them with the gospel.
It may be a greater challenge than even the Polish population’s devout Catholicism: Only about 30 churches of any evangelical denomination are focused toward reaching the Polish population in the United States and Canada. The question of how to multiply leaders and congregations filled much of a two-day meeting of the Polish Baptist Association at the North American Mission Board (NAMB) in Alpharetta, Ga.
“Right now we have one church for every 400,000 Poles,” said Mark Hobafcovich, NAMB’s urban church planting consultant. “If a fully funded pastor were required for each church start, the costs would be astronomical just for salaries alone.”
But through a multiplication model, Hobafcovich envisioned Polish churches reaching people by multiplying themselves and raising up new leaders. The Polish association embraced a vision for 500 churches among the North American Polish by the year 2030, beginning the initiative in conjunction with NAMB, field partners and other evangelical networks during the coming year.
The Polish population is most heavily concentrated in the Midwest and Northeast. Chicago boasts the highest concentration of Poles of any city and New York the highest of any state.
Share with others: