It has been a while since we have given a thorough update on the life of Mozaika, and there are some pretty great things that we would like to share with you.
On June 21st Mozaika hosted a "Church Day". The people from the Nové Zámky church, the church that planted Mozaika, joined us here in Nitra for a great day. Together we filled our current meeting location with 120 people. The two main highlights from the day were water baptisms and a BBQ. We also played a soccer match from which Mozaika emerged the victorious, yet humble, winners. The day was a lot of work on the organizing end, but it was worth it. We really want there to be a collective sense of community between the two churches and time spent together is an essential part fo the bonding process.
We are generally excited for the things happening at Mozaika. Though the city is more quiet with
the school-year concluded, there is good momentum to church life: national kids and youth summer camps are about to begin, a couple from Mozaika are moving to another town to step into a pastoral role, a young man involved in the Teen Challenge program has concluded a prison sentence and has returned to Mozaika with quite the testimony, and City Hall seems to favor us like never before as we prepare for the I Love my City project in August.
Within Slovakia most evangelical churches, being small, do not own their own space. Here in NItra, as the seat of Catholicism for Slovakia, the Catholic Church owns more property than the city does within the city limits. As you know, not owning our own space has been an adventure for Mozaika this past year as we were evicted from one place, transitioned into a persons home, then into a business facility which kept the heat off all winter and now into a Brethern Church in between their services. As if this was not enough nomadic experience, small churches around the country learned a valuable lesson when a church in the northern town of Martin lost their meeting place (and pastor's home) to the ambitious plans of their landlord.
Owning a space not only creates a stable venue through which to connect with people, but delivers a strong message to the surrounding community that we are rooted here too - we are a part of this community together.
In Nové Zámky they have been renting part of a larger building for approximately 12 years. They have done renovations, run a Mother's Centre and maintain the adjoining city kids park. The owner had announced his intention to sell and the church won the bid to purchase the building. This process is still ongoing as financing for the bid is not fully resolved (churches must be creative as banks will not provide mortgages for non-profit organizations), though through a course of events it looks as though they will be able to purchase the building for 300,000 Euros less than originally expected. Furthermore, the church is set to acquire occupancy of the rental space next to theirs (within the same building) by the end of August. This will be an answer to over 10 years of prayer as a night club has been the tenant. Pray that the financing will be completed soon.
Red Dot = location of our apartment
Yellow Dot = location where Mozaika currently meets
Green Dot = location of potential property
For Mozaika, the city architect has offered Mozaika a piece of property on the edge of Klokočina (pronounced klo-ko-chee-na). This borough of Nitra is home to over 30,000 people and is currently dominated by apartment blocks. The city is wanting to expand in that direction and has scheduled the construction of family homes and starter homes. By setting roots in this area of the city, Mozaika would be surrounded by families. Talks are still very much in the beginning stages, so please pray that Mozaika would have wisdom and keen insight as we make decisions about where we will call home. We do not simply want to jump on the first opportunity that comes our way.
