First Baptist Church, Knoxville, Tennessee, and the Croatian Baptist Union have formed a Strategic Partnership to support the work of the Pastoral Center in Čakovec, Croatia, and to provide seminary extension textbooks and classes for Baptist pastors and church members enrolled in the Baptist Institute of Croatia.

 

Don Garner, Chairman of the Religion Department at Carson-Newman College, and Bob Money, Pastoral Counselor at First Baptist, will be the first teachers to go as part of this Strategic Partnership.  The seminar will be scheduled for late January 2007.

 

The Strategic Partnership has three purposes

1)     Provide resources for writing, translating, and publishing 5 textbooks for the Baptist Institute

2)     Enlist professors to teach in the Institute

3)     Assist with the development of the Pastoral Center in Čakovec

 

Toma Magda, president of the Croatian Baptist Union, said, “The Baptist Institute is an interactive educational program started by the Croatian Baptist Union to help and equip pastors and church members who are actively involved in the church life and ministry.”  Currently, 700 people have participated in this program in six regional centers.  The textbooks of the Baptist Institute are used by lay leaders to help in their ministry of teaching and preaching. In addition, the Baptist Institute provides in-depth training for lay leaders and offers intensive week-end seminars to churches without trained pastors on important topics of effective faith or systematic doctrine. On-line courses are planned for the near future.

 

The Pastoral Center in Čakovec, the first visible beacon of Baptist faith in Croatia, offers spatial possibilities for retreat and seminar training as offered by the Baptist Institute. Beginning next year, the Center hopes to be able to offer courses on parenting, conflict resolution and peace building, support for victims of substance abuse, victims of abuse in general and the like to a non-churched but interested public to help in situations of need.

 

The Pastoral Center in Čakovec is the main center where the Baptist Institute is coordinated.  The Center is also the link to FBC Knoxville. Zjelko Mraz, General Secretary, added, “In the last 15 years, the number of Baptist churches in Croatia has doubled (from 24 – 50) as well as the membership (1142 – 2062) in these churches.  The number of full time pastors grew from 4 – 27. For further growth, we need a quality discipleship program both for pastors and members. This was the role of BI so far. The partnership with FBC Knoxville enables us to continue our development towards christian maturity. I believe that both sides will benefit from this cooperation, and that this can be a healthy model of cooperation in the mission field. May the Lord bless this partnership.“

 

Ksenija Magda, director of the center said, “The Baptist institute is determined to serve the church in our transitional society by equipping its lay leaders and potential leaders through a systematic teaching in doctrine as well as in the living out of faith taking into account the needs of society.”   In the past, any social work was carried on by the state. In the transition from communism to democracy, this infrastructure is slowly deteriorating. Churches must be swift in starting to walk their talk and show practical love to the needy. Ksenija Magda added, “Our new partners in the US have the experience and the skill to help us in this.”

 

First Baptist participated in missions projects at the Pastoral Center in 2004 and 2006.  Three more trips are planned over the next year.  College students will travel over the New Year holiday to minister with students in Zagreb and Čakovec.  A music ministry event is planned for the first week in July.  First Baptist musicians will sing in a city-wide festival in Čakovec.  High school students will also travel in the summer to minister to Romany people near Čakovec.