Since 2000 we have been serving in a small town just east of Prague (the home town of John & Kelsie Mullen). There we have held English Camps every year, youth groups, English conversation groups, and bible studies. We call the English ministry to the youth "English Club." In 2007 we built the city's first playground on a site that had been a playground decades ago. In 2008 we filled the town with Christian music as we held our first music festival, Heartbeat 2008, and we held our first Sunday service (aka Christian concert) in May thanks to the help from Antioch Churches in Germany. Countless PCF members have been involved in the ministries in Uvaly. Most notably Matthew Elphick has done a fantastic job co-leading the English Camps for the last two years. Click HERE to view the photos of the 2007 English Camp. Click HERE to open the photo album of the construction of the new playground in Uvaly.

Messianic Fellowship in Prague – Chaim Chadashim (New life) Prague is famous for its Jewish ghetto in the Old town. Thousands of tourists come every year to learn about the history of the Jewish remnant here in Bohemia, see the amazing buildings that tell their stories, find out about the learned Rabbi Low (Maharal). There have been many faithful people praying for years for a work to be started among the Jews in our country. Then, in 2005 a group of Jewish and Gentile followers of Yeshua started to meet together once a month with Alan Friedman – a Messianic Rabbi from New York, a former synagogue cantor, now living and ministering in Berlin, Germany. At every meeting there are about 20-30 people, at least half of them either Jewish or with Jewish background. We celebrate the Biblical feasts or Shabbats together, sing (and dance) Messianic worship, listen to teaching, pray for the sick As of October 2008 we decided to start meeting every shabbat. We have set up a civic society called "Chaim Chadashim - New Life“. There is a core group of about 10 people, commited to the work. Our desire is to enable believers with a Jewish background to understand and embrace their Jewish identity, but also to reach out to the non-believing or non-practicing Jews in Prague and the Czech Republic, inviting them to experience their Messiah and receive New life through him. We are preparing to offer concerts of Jewish music, seminars with Jewish themes and other cultural events, translating Messianic literature and teaching, having already published some books of Messianic believers‘ testimonies. We see God calling his Chosen People to him, from all nations. We want to join him in this work and bring both the Good news and comfort to the Jewish people. We believe the Gospel is first to the Jew and also to the Gentile and because of the terrible history of Church persecution, the best person to minister to Jews is a Jew who knows his Messiah Yeshua. This ministry was started in 2006 by former PCF members Mirek and Klara Šedivých and a small team of faithful people with a vision to reach the "the people of God" with the message of the good news.

Youth With A Mission is an international movement of Christians from many denominations dedicated to serving Jesus throughout the world. Also known as YWAM (pronounced "WYE-wam"), our calling is to know God and to make Him known. Back when we began in 1960, our main focus was to get youth into short-term mission work and to give them opportunities to reach out in Jesus' name. Today, we still focus on youth, and we also involve people of almost every age (even many people who choose to spend their "retirement" in active service). Our many ministries fit into three main categories: evangelism, training and mercy ministry. We are currently operating in more than 1000 locations in over 149 countries, with a staff of nearly 16,000. The YWAM team in Prague is currently in transition. Prior PCF Members Roger & Robin Harsh who served in Plzen and Prague with Youth With A Mission Plzen are taking a sabbatical in the US. Prior PCF member Doris Rabus will be leading a new base under the authority of YWAM Herrnhut base in Cheb (near German boarder). She will be assisted by prior PCF member Rosane da Silva. Also Kelsie Mullen serves as a Discipleship Training School (DTS) teacher for YWAM bases throughout Europe. Over a decade ago there was another YWAM team in Prague. This prior YWAM Prague team was led by prior PCF members Joanie Herwig and Laurie Luby. PCF and YWAM have participated together in visiting refugee camps to build relationships and share the gospel. PCF has baptized several people we meet in refugee camps. Many YWAM teams come through Prague and team up with PCF.

Often PCF members are serving as missionaries in the Czech Republic. Currently serving in the field are prior members Roger & Robin Harsh (currently on sabbatical), Micheal Stadler (missionary to his neighboring country Austria), Ted Whang (serving in Prague, CZ), Sam Ewell (serving in Brazil),Andy Faust (serving with Wycliffe), and Will Porter (serving in Kenya). PCF foreign missions began with church members embarking on various missions trips. In 2001 Magdalena Tiehen left for Sudan. She introduced us to Pastor Tijwog Agwet, SCM (Sudanese Christian Ministries) at Sudan Prayer Mountain-Kaya, South Sudan. She returned the following year bring the fruit of our first fund-raising event. Also, in 2002 Eliška Landovská spent with summer in Siberia, the district of Khakhaz, working with Wycliffe translators. In 2003 we partnered with IHOPP to raise more funds for SCM ministry and school. In 2006 PCF member Matthew Elphick went to Belarus to use his skills as a professional trainer to help lead a youth camp for "Belarus orphans" (WLFK).. In 2007 he took a team back during summer, and at Christmas. Garth Wright led another team that year to visit orphanages. In the spring of 2008 we held a fund raising event for WLFKs, raising almost $3,000 at the time. A team returned in the summer to help again with their summer program and deliver the funds. In 2008 Garth also led a team to the Ukraine around the same time. In Ukraine they worked with Nehemiah Ministries serving both Ukrainian and Gypsy churches. Garth returned to Ukraine with teams in 2009 and 2010. We also continued to raise money in 2009 and 2010 for the orphans in Belarus.

The House of Prayer in Prague (IHOPP) is biblically modeled after the church's priestly role in ministry to the Lord as reflected by the primary activity taking place in Heaven (Heb. 8:5 "They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven.") A key verse describing what is happening these days is found in Amos 9:11: "In that day I will restore David's fallen tent. I will repair its broken places, restore it's ruins, and build it as it used to be..." David's tabernacle (or dwelling place) can be studied in detail in the book of I Chronicles. His desire was for the presence of God. He built a special tent to house the Ark of the Covenant and he placed singers and musicians before the ark to minister to God. Worship in the heart of the Tabernacle of David can best be described in three ways. First, it is 24-7 or 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (Lev. 6:13 "The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out."). Second it is "harp and bowl" ministry (Rev. 5:8 "Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints."). The harp in this verse refers to God's songs and God's music in the heavenly court and the bowl refers to God's prayers. Third, it is a model of worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:23, 24 "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."). Overall, this ministry requires that believers have the priestly identity of Levites, ministers to the Living God. IHOPP was officially established on May 29, 2003 by Miloš Kačírek, John & Kelsie Mullen, Michelle Ricciardello, and Lee Ann Thompson. Since the inception John has since served on the board of directors, Kelsie and Markéta Lišková have served faithfully on the English Watch every Thursday evening. Martina Vršková has faithfully led a watch early Monday mornings since 2007. Kelsie and Markéta also pioneered Night Watchs which brings various Christian traditions together to pray and worship all night long. Prior PCF members Mirek Šedivý and Martin Kouklik have faithfully led a Czech watches since the inception.

The Christian International School of Prague (CISP) was established in 2004 for the purpose of providing an educational opportunity - one that is academically excellent, relationally nurturing, and practically oriented - from a biblical perspective designed to assist students to know God better and to serve and transform their community for Christ. CISP serves families with children in grades 1 through 12 with a distinctively Christian approach to education. John Mullen was one of six founders of the new school. Siting on the first board of directors were John and prior PCF Member Klára Šedivá. John served on the board of directors for 6 years, prior PCF member Marie Kouklíková, still serves on the supervisory board. PCF has provided over the years many volunteer teachers including Laura Farrel, Sherry Robins, Ricky Fanning, Marcus Frakes, Joe Beamer, and Kelsie Mullen. Kelsie Mullen currently volunteers as a part-time teacher-nurse and PCF member Renata Vanková is employed as part-time office manager.

There probably won’t be many people left at PCF these days who remember me, but my name is Nathan and I was a member there for about a year in 2001. I’m a “Kiwi” (i.e., from New Zealand) and was travelling the world after finishing university which is a rite of passage for many in my country. My trip had an intentionally spiritual dimension to it however, as I had just finished a theology degree, wanted to apply it to “real life,” and was considering a call to full-time ministry. So, part of my trip was to see how I would maintain my faith in an alien environment and without the Christian support I’d grown up in, and to see if I felt up to the calling of “ordained ministry” when I got home. Like many before me, travelling around meant I soon got out of the habit of church attendance. Having tasted God though, I felt the loss! Six months after my unintended move to Prague I found myself regularly stopping in the various beautiful Catholic churches around the city for prayer, as I trekked between my English teaching classes. In my church background, my experiences of worship usually revolved around words and music with little space for silence or visual beauty. Being still, listening to God, and being drawn to praise by the beauty of the architecture or art of the Prague churches was a revelation to me. I soon, however, also began to crave Christian fellowship, and through the local newspaper stumbled upon PCF! I have very fond memories of my time there and the people I met - a diverse group of believers from many countries. Some of the people were longer in the faith than others, some new converts, all with our own issues, most seeming to be “aliens” in the world in some sense. PCF for me was a genuine community of faith - struggling, supporting and sharing. Church as my theology textbooks told me it should be. After my time in Europe I taught in Korea for a year. Largely this was an enforced time of solitude as few in my town spoke English. I nearly went insane (or did I???), but returned home to NZ with a solid conviction that I should put my name forward to test if I really was called by God to be a minister or not. Up until then in my life I’d had the luxury of being able to choose whatever church to attend as it took my fancy, but when you train for ministry you pretty much have to choose a particular denomination or tradition. As I’d grown up Presbyterian I went with them. Though I still felt too young to be pastoring a church, I knew how that denomination worked and I had enjoyed being a teacher, so the culture of a solid 20 minute sermon each Sunday appealed to me. I was accepted for two years of practical training down in the south of NZ which was really good. I spent some time as an intern in a Baptist church and some time interning as a hospital chaplain. I also re-connected with a beautiful Catholic woman called Amber who agreed to marry me on the condition we move to Wellington when I graduated! Churches are usually pretty small in NZ. There are some big inner-city churches where most young people tend to go, but the majority of churches are suburban or in small rural towns. The average church size is about 50 people – this means one minister per church, or even one minister looking after two or three churches. A church like this can be pretty fragile, and a bad match of minister & congregation can kill a church. There was only one church vacant in Wellington when I graduated, a faith community of about 80 people in a beautiful suburb on the coast – so I applied without expecting to be called. God must have intervened though, because for some reason they decided to take a risk and call me, an untried new graduate, to lead them on into their next phase of life together. We’ve nearly been here five years now, and it’s been great! It’s a very supportive, family church. Initially I was struck by how many people with disabilities were in the congregation. This is a faith community where all feel included and loved, and so families with such issues gravitate here. In the years before I came they reversed the usual trend for small suburban churches and did very well at retaining their young people. This meant that we came into a church with lots of single young adults, but very few children. A Young Adult study group was one of the very first new ministries I set up, and is one of the most enjoyable things I do as a minister. Sunday School has had its ups and downs, but like attracts like, and two years ago Amber and I had our first child, Anwyn. There are now five under-2’s and about 15 children in Sunday School. We’ve also employed one of our young mums as a kid’s worker – to serve our suburb and pastorally care for our church kids. With her help we’ve tried to give children a more prominent place in church life, and have gone through a Presbyterian programme to become an officially certified “Kid’s Friendly” church. Another main focus for her is a morning play group we’ve started with the intention of it becoming a church-connected community of support and meaning rather than just entertainment or even a platform to evangelise. 40-45 toddlers each time would be normal. I’m usually the only dad there which can be weird, but it’s a great way to get to know families! As well as that local outreach, an international element has been added to our church. We had a young couple here who worked with the refugees and homeless of Wellington. They felt called to greater challenges though, and earlier in the year they moved into a slum in Manila with a mission called Servants – a group that seeks to bring the love of God to the poorest on the planet. Living in a slum doesn’t cost much money, so we are able to support them in doing this work! Ministry has proven to be both rewarding and challenging, but God is good. He does not leave us nor forsake us, and I have received a divine empowering strength to minister in difficult situations despite my youth and inexperience. This doesn’t stop me being an idiot sometimes of course, but humility in owning and seeking to make amends for a mistake gives God a profound opportunity to change all involved. When we are weak, we are strong! John said I could ask for prayer for our church community, an opportunity I will not pass up. Please pray for our children’s work! For some reason our suburb is saturated with children, statistics show that 50% of households are couples with children. We’re well under way in reaching out to pre-schoolers and their parents, we’re beginning things for 5-10s, and we’re starting to dream dreams for 11-14s. Check out www.IBPC.org.nz if you want to know more about us. Nathan