Our First Week in Croatia's Capitol

“…but the people who know their God shall be strong, and do great exploits.” [Daniel 11:32b]

The view from our apartment of Zagreb's red clay rooftops reminds us daily that we are not in White Marsh anymore. Each morning we open our eyes to a vivid display of sunshine pouring through the stained glass skylight over our bed, like heaven smiling on us. Indeed, our place is a wonderful provision from God and sits only ten to fifteen minutes by tram from the main center. The intercom buzzes soon after the morning cup of coffee and “Dobro Jutro”, it’s P. Tomas and Eva Bulicek arriving for the daily meeting. Pastor George and Carol Arman accompany them up the stairs to our flat where we gather to pray for the day and listen to a message or Bible College class. It’s fun to read the monthly prayer calendar from the Missions Office in Baltimore and pray for the “missionaries of the day”. Praying and listening to the Word of God as a team every morning is like spiritual CPR, it gets the pulse racing.
By the time the class is over we are ready to invest the love of God into people’s lives. It’s that easy, Church planting is simply loving people. We evangelize because we love, as the Holy Spirit is circulating His life and compassion in our hearts [Rom 5:5]. I have really enjoyed the conversations while on the streets, each one is challenging and creates a sensitivity to speak not only what we know factually, but what God has to minister to people individually. God is never caught off guard, he is never speechless, he always has a word for our life, he came not to be ministered unto to but to minister, so we can be sure that God has something special for each face. In the gospels you can read about a certain young ruler, a certain beggar, a certain centurion, a certain blind man, a certain nobleman, a certain poor widow, a certain servant girl, a certain tax collector… over and over again, a certain one. Though he was surrounded by crowds of people, Jesus’ ministry was surprisingly personal, and its no different for us. You plant a church not by buying land or studying cultures, you plant a church by loving people.

In Jelacic Square there is big clock, the cities rallying point. Whenever you want to meet someone you can be sure they will say, “meet at the clock”. In one information guide a caption read, “under the clock where stories begin.” Because of this we often text each other “meet you where the stories begin.“ Also in the Square is Ban Jelacic, or at least a thirty foot high statue of him riding a horse, another popular place to meet. Someone told us that there is a joke that elderly people tell when they are asked how they met their significant other, they say “we met under the horses butt.” Case in point, this square is full of people and it is a great place to witness. Though it is the main attraction in a capitol city, it is surprising how many locals you will meet there… just waiting around.

Camden loves to chase the pigeons around the square, they are accustomed to people so they don’t flutter away until the last possible second, sometimes we think she is actually going to catch one. She also has taken notice of the many cigarette butts laying around and we would repeatedly tell her “no”, when she would try to pick them up. Now she stops and leans over when she sees one, points her finger at it and yells, “doe!” The people standing around get a kick out of it. She is the main attraction.

I wrote previously about the Gradska Kavana, an upscale café in Jelacic Square, this is where we have been holding our Sunday morning and Tuesday evening meetings. The great Cathedral in the backdrop is the pinnacle of the Croatian Religion. Many point to it when they are asked what they believe. The problem is that Catholicism here is more nationalistic than it is realistic. For them, to be Croatian is to be Catholic. The traditions and rituals are carried out in drone like motions, as if the building where an end in itself and not just a place to come and worship the Lord. While speaking to one young man I gave an illustration of an earthly church versus the heavenly church. An earthly church is more on the earth than it is in heaven. Its foundation is here and it reaches upward so many meters into the sky slowly tapering thin and then can go no further. This is like religion. It is attractive but ineffective. The heavenly church however has its roots in heaven, it has descended downward to mankind in the person of Jesus Christ and it touches the earth in only one place… the CROSS. The only way to become a part of the heavenly church is to go to the Cross where Christ accomplished everything that was necessary for your salvation and simply receive it. Then, upon entering the door, all of heaven is open to you. There is no questioning where you stand, no doubts about who you are, only confidence and security that you are accepted in the beloved [Eph. 1:6] and that he will never leave you nor forsake you [Heb. 13:5].

As we meet people and they express an interest in meeting us again, going for coffee, or coming to our fellowship, they find themselves in awe of what they hear. The Bible, once a dust covered book on the shelf, is now coming alive before their very eyes. This is the joy or our vocation.
This past Sunday, after service, we packed up some goods and took a day trip to Jarun, a lake and recreation area just outside the city. Toni, a young man from Bosnia, ran the grill as Siban took pictures. Also a sweet Chinese-Croatian professor joined us as she does to many of our gatherings. Pastor Tomas and I shared the Word after much eating, some ping-pong, and pick up soccer in the park. It was a great day.

Earlier in the week, P. Tomas, Eva, Susanna, Camden and I spent some time down by the beautiful parks near the Main Train Station. There is a great shop in the underground plaza nearby where you can buy a HUGE slice of pizza, more like a quarter of a pie, for only 8 kunas ($1.30). As we go, we bring some of these precious people along with us. It is important to just let people see how you live, what you laugh at, what you enjoy, how you eat pizza… discipling people is simply being motivated, having a direction, a purpose, a calling, and allowing people to follow and learn with you. In short, it’s a lot of fun.

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Quote From Pastor Tomas Bulicek: “to go is to grow, and to grow is to go.” Going to Bible School, going to outreach, going to the mission field, and going forward with God... as we go we grow. The Father so loved he gave, we also give because we love. We give our time, our money, our energy, our shedule, our lives, because AGAPE love not only says, but gives.
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Thank you for the words of encouragement and for those who take the time to leave a comment. We appreciate each one and enjoy reading what you have to say. Please feel free to post a question that you would like to know about what we are doing or about the culture or some other thing. If you don’t know us at all and would like to ask about our teaching and ministry please write also. We decided that we will write an update once a week, each Monday to keep you, family and friends, well informed of what is happening here.
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If you want to reach us please SMS text us from anywhere in the world at no additional cost to you than a standard text. Our numbers are as follows:

Ben Tanguay: + 385 921 074 126

Susanna : + 385 921 089 340

(385 is the country code for Croatia, “+” is dialed by holding down the 0 key on your cell phone pad- it represents the country code you are dialing out from- if not using “+” sign, from the USA you would dial 011 then 385...etc.)
Using the same numbers, you can get an inexpensive phone card and call us if you‘d like to speak with us, we don’t have to pay for incoming calls or texts on our mobile phones.
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Coming up in next weeks edition:::
The renting of a Building and The First Service in our new meeting place.
Prayer Hill
Camden update
The continuous unfolding of God’s plan for our church and the people of Zagreb, Croatia

(some of the pictures i had did not upload correctly so they will be added to this post soon)