MYRA WATKINS

Noting the apparent lack of an indepth study into Evangelical experiences of partnership between North American missionaries and Polish churches, US missionary Randy Hacker seeks to fill the gap by building upon his own long experience in Poland, where he has pastored churches and mentored local leaders and missionaries since 1999. Hacker’s research identifies both positive patterns in and barriers to such relationships, and recommends best practices for North American missionaries and Polish church leaders wishing to promote thriving and fruitful partnerships. Compared with the Catholic Church, Evangelicals in Poland are small and recent, most of their denominations having arisen during the twentieth century.

As Christianity has been present in Poland for over a thousand years, Hacker’s concise overview of that history is invaluable here. For many Poles, the Christian faith started out as a burden imposed upon them by their ruler. Still, a religious patriotism developed with the romanticized struggle of Polish Messianism, which reached its peak when a Pole, Karol Wojtyła, was elected Pope John Paul II in 1978. It was also prior to the fall of Communism in 1989 that North American missionaries first began to partner with Polish Evangelical churches. Hacker’s study continues by utilizing his own recent online survey of North American missionaries, a focus group of more experienced North American.

missionaries, and personal interviews with Polish Evangelical leaders in order to assess the nature of their partnerships. By “partnership,” he means any formal or informal working relationship between a missionary and a local church, cooperation with a registered local religious organization being a requirement for foreign missionary activity in Poland. 

On the basis of his analysis, Hacker then offers ten recommendations for North American missionaries in Poland to become more effective: prayer, focusing on personal relationships, learning Polish, working to understand Polish culture and values, choosing to live a similar lifestyle, becoming a student of Polish history, respecting Polish denominations, avoiding great promises, clear communication, and taking a humble posture of service. 

Among Hacker’s suggestions to Polish partners is the need for them to demonstrate clarity of vision, as a lack of this quality was cited by North American missionaries as a particular barrier to partnership. Indeed, both North American missionaries and Polish church leaders rated differences in ministry vision and/or philosophy as among the top barriers to effective partnership, alongside differences of method. For Polish leaders, missionary agency restrictions were the primary barrier (72). In most cases, however, Polish leaders judged that their partnerships with North American missionaries had been a significant source of encouragement. 

The main weakness in Hacker’s research is one that he readily admits: As he serves in a Baptist church in Poland, most of his missionary contacts have come through the Baptist Union. While his research suggests that North American missionaries tend to partner with the Baptist Union, his affiliation therefore may have impacted his findings. 

As a US missionary who has served in Poland as well as Ukraine for more than a decade, I highly recommend this book to new missionaries as a source of wisdom on how to begin, as well as to long-term missionaries who may still lack such an in-depth perspective as Hacker’s. Having reflected upon the patterns that emerge from his analysis, I would emphasize the Polish leaders’ advice for North American missionaries to remember that they are in Poland to serve, and so should build up relationships with local churches. They may also work towards defining resulting partnerships, but only once trust has been established. Furthermore, as missiologist Scott Klingsmith points out, churches in Central and Eastern Europe today seek missionaries who offer expertise in areas they have not yet developed. By recognizing this, we may avoid awkward scenarios in which missionaries look for Polish translators in order to conduct ministry that Poles can do just as well, if not better, themselves (69). 

Finally, I concur with Hacker that similar studies of partnerships elsewhere in Eastern Europe could be of significant service to such relationships.

Myra Watkins is a doctoral student of Intercultural Studies, with a concentration in theology, at Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky. Together with her husband Mike, she has served as a missionary since 1993, predominantly in Ukraine and Poland.