New Pastoral Center
To
be able to develop and serve, the church, as it has grown now – in membership
and spirituality – is ready for a space that will allow her ministry to grow. We
believe that after more then fifty years of existence as a house group the time
has come for the church to become visible.
A
real church building will allow the Osijek church for the first time in its
history to break out of the ghetto the last regime has put it into and where
the majority church is trying to keep it at present. This is the first real
possibility for the Baptist in Osijek to acquire a visual identity – which is
extremely important in a traditional setting, where the building makes a church
a church and a house group is automatically considered a sect.
It
was proven that a proper church building – In our setting – helps the growth of
a church. Any church that has left the anonymity of a house church has grown.
This church has grown to realize its important role in the hurting society. A positive social engagement has always and everywhere been the mark of true Baptism. Our church should become a shelter for underprivileged people – handicapped, youth without work, elderly and abused, or simply needy for an open heart. We have learned that we can and must step out and work to the well being of the land God has put us in (although many are leaving and trying to find happiness elsewhere). This is especially important in a country where social work has only started to develop. We want to see God’s river flow from the “new house of God” to the dessert of postwar trauma and hurt bringing life wherever it flows (Ez 40). We have become ready to learn how to swim in our faith in God.