– by Harris
No Boundaries Church, led by Stanislav and Eva Bubik, are celebrating a ‘swinging’ Christmas in Prague. This church is in the front line of the Pentecostal movement in the Czech Republic.
On December 18, at their usual morning service, there will be a concert by the extremely popular singer Jana Smigmatora and his Swinging Quartet. Here’s a YouTube video of one of their performances, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPSKQdD944w.
No way would the church usually be able to afford this very famous secular performer, but Jana is doing the concert purely out of goodwill. An interesting trend that has been gaining momentum in Czech society in recent years…
The Czech Republic is notable for being a very atheistic country. Out of 10 million people, 1 million are registered as Catholics, and as for the rest, who knows?
Stanislav notes that there is a spiritual hunger among the people, even though they are not returning to their traditional religious affiliations. Perhaps the soil is really ready for the growth of Pentecostalism in the Czech Republic. Stanislav and Eva have planted 28 churches across the country with a combined attendance of more than 1,000 people.
Another interesting social trend is that people now like to get married by a church pastor. They are looking for a warmer and more meaningful experience than a purely official service at the local town hall. This is a reflection of this hunger for more spiritual depth and quality in life.
The pastor at one of the churches that Stanislav and Eva oversee, has been performing wedding ceremonies. It was through one such wedding that he got to know Jana. This association has led to the singer providing his services to the church.
The Christmas service will be held in a conference center hired for the occasion. They have held concerts with this singer before and Stanislav expects the concert will attract 100 visitors. “From past experience we always get that sort of number, and of course there are always some who take it further. This service is one of our most important outreach efforts.”
Here is link to No Boundaries Church’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cbh+praha and their official website can be found here www.jinacirkev.cz (in the Czech language).