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| ABWE Czech Republic |
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Welcome to the ABWE Czech Republic website. We are missionaries serving with the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism, which is an independent mission agency that exists to serve local churches in the task of sending missionaries around the world. ABWE, with ministries in over 70 countries, services over 5,000 churches and 1,250 missionaries. ABWE Czech focuses primarily on ministry to the Czech Republic and to the Czech speaking world. Please visit our pages to explore our ministry, our team, and how you can be involved. Click "Read More" to find out more about our history here... Following the First World War, the closely related Czechs and Slovaks of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire merged to form Czechoslovakia. During the interwar years, the new country's leaders were frequently preoccupied with meeting the demands of other ethnic minorities within the republic, most notably the Sudeten Germans and the Ruthenians (Ukrainians). After World War II, a truncated Czechoslovakia fell within the Soviet sphere of influence. In 1968, an invasion by Warsaw Pact troops ended the efforts of the country's leaders to liberalize Communist party rule and create "socialism with a human face." Anti-Soviet demonstrations the following year ushered in a period of harsh repression. With the collapse of Soviet authority in 1989, Czechoslovakia regained its freedom through a peaceful "Velvet Revolution." On 1 January 1993, the country underwent a "velvet divorce" into its two national components, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The Czech Republic joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004.
Today with a population of 11 million people and slightly smaller than South Carolina, the Czech Republic is one of the most stable and prosperous of the post-Communist states of Central and Eastern Europe.
Yet, a recent (2001) national survey revealed that those who consider themselves atheists have grown considerably since the last survey in 1991 to roughly 60% of the population. In Prague roughly 3 of 4 people do not believe in the existence of God. There are still today many villages throughout the country with no evangelical witness. The most reliable sources tell us that less than one half of once percent of the Czech Republic are followers of Jesus Christ (about 20,000 to 40,000). The Czech Republic now challenges Sweden as the most secular country in Europe.
ABWE’s involvement in the Czech Republic dates back to the arrival of ABWE’s first Central and Eastern European missionaries who developed strategic partnerships with national ministries. ABWE’s strategy for church planting and reputation in the region led these nationals to ask ABWE to partner with them.
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