Days of Renewal with the United Methodist Church in Poland

The Revd Dr Barry Sloan, Partnership Coordinator for Europe in the Global Relationships team of the Methodist Church in Britain, reflects on his visit to the ”Days of Renewal” Conference held near Warsaw by the United Methodist Church in Poland.

Every year in August, since 2004, the United Methodist Church in Poland has been holding a ”Days of Renewal” conference for its members and friends. This year the event was held in Paprotnia, near Warsaw, and in my role as Partnership Coordinator for Europe for the Methodist Church in Britain, I was invited to be their keynote-speaker. The theme was ”Love One Another”.

As I live in Chemnitz, in eastern Germany, I decided to travel with my camper van to the conference, taking things slowly and making a couple of overnight stops in the Polish countryside. I had actually planned to use the time on the road to finish preparing the slides (and translating them) for my presentations, but my mobile phone had poor reception, so I ended up not being able to do that. Instead, I used the spare time to prepare myself mentally and spiritually for the conference - although to anyone who might have seen me, they would have thought I was just sitting by a river, reading a book.

These times of tranquility, peacefulness and mindful relaxation - along with the slower means of transport across continental Europe - were actually the best preparation for me as I headed to take part in this event. I arrived refreshed, relaxed, and excited about the next three days - not how I typically show up to conferences, if I’m honest.

The conference was held in ‘Hotel Kuznia Napoleonska’ (Napoleon’s Blacksmith), an excellent venue, with comfortable rooms, friendly and helpful staff, delicious food and amazing facilities (indoor and outdoor). I parked up my camper van, checked into my room, and then went to get my name tag at the conference desk. There, I was warmly welcomed by people who could speak English to me, and then made to feel even more welcome by people who spoke Polish to me - with the most generous and kind smiles that bridged all language barriers. Global relationships in action! My heart was strangely warmed - as it would be on numerous occasions in the next 3 days.

There were 210 participants attending the conference - with a varied programme of activities for children and youth, a men’s meeting, and a women’s meeting. Along with the 3 keynote addresses there were ‘Wesley Groups’ for discussion, workshops on all manner of topics (eg. biblical interpretation, marriage matters, the sacraments, ...). On Friday evening I did a concert, singing some of my songs (based around the conference theme) and telling stories, ending with the opportunity for people to respond to what God has been saying to them during the conference.

In my keynote addresses, using passages from Luke’s Gospel, I talked about the fact that loving one another is a process of small steps, and about our call to love God’s favourite children (the unloved), and about the challenge to love the whole world. This conference gave me the opportunity to learn more about the work of the UMC in Poland.

I learned things like:

• The UMC in Poland is family orientated. I have never seen children so well integrated into the main sessions of a conference. In my experience, these kinds of conference would typically have a 30 minute praise session at the start of each day, led by a worship band. But here in the opening 30 minutes, all the children came up onto the stage to lead the all-age worship. And at other times during the 3 days, the kids were on the stage delivering inspiring content. This conference showed me that the UMC in Poland intentionally invests in children, young people and families.
• There is a Spanish speaking group in the UMC in Poland. The Polish government has made it easier for workers from places like Columbia and Cuba to come and work in Poland. Some of these migrant workers are finding a home in the UMC in Poland.
• The UMC in Poland is, like most of the churches in the global north, experiencing a decline in attendance at worship services since the Covid pandemic. Pre-pandemic there would have been about 300 in attendance at this conference.
• Interpreters are saints. Without interpretation, nothing makes sense! This was true for all that was said at the conference... but it also made me think about the need to translate the Gospel into the language of the contexts where we do mission and ministry.
• I cannot imagine churches in Britain or Ireland inviting a speaker to their conference, where all the keynote-addresses would be in a foreign language that needs translation for those in attendance. What does that say?

I was also able to share with the members of our partner church in Poland some of the issues and themes that are important, relevant and current to Global Relationships and the Methodist Church in Britain as a whole. Things like the possibilities of twinning between congregations in the MCB and UMC Poland, or MCB’s call to be an inclusive, evangelistic and justice-seeking church. I was grateful to get an update on the important work that the UMC Poland is doing to support Ukrainian refugees and internally displaced people within Ukraine (In 2022 MCB, via the World Mission Fund, funded the purchase of a transporter / minibus to support this work.)

At the end of the conference I, along with all the other contributors, was given a clay lantern as a gift. Reverend Andrzej Malicki, the General Superintendent of the UMC Poland, thanked us all for the ways we brought light to this conference, and then encouraged us to carry this light out into the world.

If, a few days earlier, God had pulled up a chair beside me, as I sat by the river reading my book, and said to me: ”Hi, Barry. Do you need anything?”, I wouldn’t have known how to answer. But I do now. I would immediately answer, ”Days of renewal!”.

I went to Poland to serve MCB’s partner church there. I went there to speak to them about loving one another. I went there to help them be renewed in their faith. What I didn’t know was what these few days in Poland, and the love of my Polish brothers and sisters would do for me.

I probably should have known it... because the world church is the gift that keeps on giving.

If you would like to support the whole work of the Global Relationships team in connecting with partners around the world, you can do so by making a donation to the World Mission Fund of the Methodist Church in Britain.