Here is some information about the Czech Republic that will help you pray for their needs and understand their culture a little more...
Mini-History Lesson
After World War II Czechoslovakia was ruled by a Communist regime, under Soviet influence. The “velvet revolution” of 1989 saw the collapse of Communism and a return to democracy without bloodshed. In 1993 the “velvet divorce” split the country in two, forming the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The Czech Republic wants to be a part of the European Union, but public opinion is divided about whether or not this is best way forward. In recent polls 50% of the population described themselves as atheists.
Alcohol
The Czechs are the #1 beer drinking nation in the world, consuming the most beer per capita in the world (160 liters or 43 gallons). They have been drinking beer since at least 900 A.D. The brewery U Fleků was established in 1499. They also brewed the first Pilsner (Pilsner Urquell made in Plzeň) and Budweiser beers. ‘Budweiser’ was originally a Czech beer, until an American brewer borrowed the name in 1876. Both companies are currently entangled in a trademark dispute involving the right to use the name ‘Budweiser’. It is part of their culture and heritage, but it also can cause may problems.
Old Church
The transition from Communism has not been easy for the Czech Republic. When the movement from Catholic to Protestant started many people join the protestant churches. So much so that they had to build bigger churches. But people joined not because they loved Jesus, but because they hated Catholics and wanted to support anything against them. Well a couple years after the movement all the people started leaving. Now we have big empty churches with very old generations. Many of the pastors here are getting old. There is a big generation gap. The avg. for Catholic priests is 69! Pray that God can equip a new generation of spiritual leaders for this nation. Many young people are really searching for answers – pray that Christians would be motivated and excited about sharing their faith.
The Czech Republic needs your prayers!
I am part of a ministry team that will be comming to Czech on a short term missions trip at the end of June. My team will be working mostly with children and teenagers and i would love to know more about the culture specificly the sin influences in the culture. We are going to be performing drama presentations and would love to be able to better connect to our audiences by useing consepts and struggles that they are familier with.
ReplyDeleteAlso anything you could tell me about Prauge and Vsetin would be very helpfull as that is were we will be spending most of our time on our trip.
Thank you for any suggestions or advice that you can give on these matters they really would mean a lot to me and my team.