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16 years with the EBWU
unusual interview with
Ewa Gutkowska
- How many countries have you visited during your ministry among the women in Europe?
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The EBWU consists out of over 50 Women's Unions and organizations.
Generally Baptist Europe is bigger than Europe geographically because
the Middle East and some of the Central Asian countries belong to
Baptist Europe.
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| Ewa Gutkowska |
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During my ministry I have visited 34 of the Baptist European countries.
I also participated at the Women's Department of the BWA meetings and
the world Leadership Conferences & Baptist Congresses, therefore I
visited additionally 7 countries in other continents.
- Which one was the most special experience and why?
- My travel and visit to Tajikistan has been a special experience. I
have been invited to this country by the Union of the Evangelical
Christian Baptist Churches of Tajikista. We went there together with
Olga Moca, the member of the EBWU committee and we led two women's
conferences in Khudzhand and Dushanbe, the capital of the country. It
was the first official contact of the EBWU with our Tajik sisters. The
Baptist Union is small: 350 members in 14 churches, but the women are
very active and mission oriented. They work with children from the
streets, in orphanages, with disabled children, women in prison and
after prison and homeless people. During the summer time the church
organizes camps for children, also from the orphanage, and women get
involved in this work very much. They work also as Sunday School
teachers. Tajikistan is a country, where children constitute the
majority of the population, that is 53 percent, (over 7 million)
therefore the ministry for children is very important. The life of many
of them is not easy. School is not obligatory, so they spend their
childhood in the streets and some of them work very hard, for example
on the cotton plantations from the morning to the evening. When we
visited one of the Baptist families with six children, I was watching a
12 year old boy who was working all the time during our visit. When I
said goodbye, I shook his hand. It was a hard hand like the hand of an
old man, who worked physically all his life. It made me very sad. Child
without childhood. How many such children are in Tajikistan and in
other countries? How to help them? These are open questions. The
situation of women in this very poor country is not easy either. They
take care not only of the children at home but they very often work
hard to earn some money for the daily bread. Every evening they have to
carry water home from wells and springs because in Tajikistan, which is
a mountainous country (over 90% of the land) there is a big problem
with running water. In spite of this difficult situation the Baptist
women do their best to help others to know Jesus Christ as their
personal Savior in this very Muslim country. Some-times they have to
pay a high prize like the mother of Sergiej Bassarab, the pastor who
was killed by Muslims about four years ago after the service in the
church in Isfara. I met this old woman and her deep inner peace in
spite of this tragic story has touched my heart very deeply.
- What was the deepest touching experience in your ministry?
- There were many and it is not easy to choose one but I will try. One
of the very moving events not exactly as the part of the EBF Council
meeting in Prague in September 2005, was the "Prayer Walk" in Prague.
It had been arranged by Lauran Bethell and her co-worker Simon, a
Bulgarian minister. On Friday evening the group of the Council
participants took part in the special ministry mainly for Gipsy
prostitutes in Prague, young victims of trafficking. We did not know
what to expect. What we saw and experienced was a big surprise for us.
When well dressed, pretty girls recognized Lauran as their "Mom" they
were very friendly and open to us from the very beginning. They
spontaneously exchanged hugs, introduced themselves by name, started to
talk and without any hesitation posed for a photo. Some of them told us
their life story and asked for prayer for themselves and their beloved,
especially for children. It was a very moving experience for me to
listen to their stories and in spite of their difficult situation to
see their joy, maybe coming from our total acceptance of them as human
beings and of the kindness towards them. They stayed in my heart by
names. One of the girls decided to escape from her pimp and went back
to Bulgaria so we prayed for her. Just through these girls the prayer
to fight against trafficking of women and children became more real to
me. It is very good that under the EBF umbrella the anti-trafficking
group has been established with Sven Gunnar from Sweden as the
chairman. It is also good that a prayer network has been established.
Praise the Lord that more and more Unions and that means also Union
women got engaged into this great, complex and very important ministry
of helping trafficked women and children.
- When
did you feel that your ministry is very meaningful and when did you
feel that your ministry is a total failure and how could you overcome
that feeling to regain your strength?
- This ministry from the very beginning has been great privilege for me
but also a great challenge and big responsibility. Through earlier
experiences of the ministry for women in my own country I knew that it
is very important. Just during the ministry in Europe I saw many
additional confirmations about how meaningful it is. When I saw the joy
of women who participated at different conferences and meetings...,
when I heard their moving testimonies concerning their personal life
and the ministry..., when I had the possibility to talk to them face to
face and to listen to their burdens, difficulties, sometimes very
secret family problems..., when they asked me for prayer..., when we
prayed together..., when we could create the chain embracing the
sisters from all over the world during the Day of Prayer..., when
through the Day of Prayer offering it was possible to help those with
the biggest needs..., when some of them openly were saying: you have
encouraged us, you should visit us more often, we need you... then my
heart is grateful to the Lord that he used me as His instrument. I
realize very clearly, that this is not my but God's work through my
life. But sometimes I experienced weakness and maybe not total failure
but helplessness. When I saw poverty, famine, homeless children,
invalids, orphans in orphanages..., when I heard about violence
experienced by women in their families, even Christian..., when I
talked with trafficked women..., when I received e-mails from sisters
who experienced the tragedy of war... I felt helpless while facing the
fact of such great suffering of many women and children. And then all
of my and also of our EBWU help for different projects seemed as if it
was only a small drop in the sea of needs. But thanks to God for His
word from Matthew 25,40 "I tell you, whenever you did this for one of the least important of these brothers of mine, you did it for me"
So even a small cup of cold water offered to a man in need is very
important. Praise to the Lord that there is precious help to overcome
bad feelings - the PRAYER. In my life it has always been the source of
strength and hope. The awareness that every Monday sisters from the
EBWU committee and other sisters were praying also for me has been very
helpful.
- How did it effect your personal and family life?
- I am very grateful to God for the possibility to serve Him in such a
way. Through this ministry God has opened my eyes and allowed me to see
His great work not only in Europe but also on other continents. I feel
blessed and privileged. I have learned a lot from the sisters dedicated
to God. I could better and deeper know God and His greatness. He has
shown me in bigger measure the beauty of His creation, like the beauty
of the countries, beauty of the women, but also a world full of pain
and suffering. In some way He has sent me like Isaiah 61:1 said: "He
has chosen me and sent me to bring good news to the poor, to heal the
broken- hearted, to announce release to captives and freedom to those
in prison". Regarding the family I do not hide that sometimes it was
heartbreaking on what to choose: to travel or to stay at home. A few
months ago the two year old son of our eldest daughter was very sick.
Marta needed me very much and I tried to be with her. However there
were travel plans to Latvia before. Additionally my father broke a rib
and he needed my help as well. It was not easy to make the decision but
after eager prayer God arranged everything in His way so I could go to
the EBWU officers meeting. There were more similar situations during my
ministry. My husband Ryszard from the very beginning accepted my
ministry and he supports me very much all the time. But I know that
when I travel he feels alone and he would have liked to have me longer
at home. I realize that all my family would like to have me at home
more often as a mother and grandmother of three grandchildren.
- What is the essence of your ministry experiences to hand over to your successors?
- The most important is the personal relationship with God. Without Him
we can do nothing and this truth has been practiced in my ministry.
That's why regardless of my busy plans I have tried never to neglect
this intimate contact with God and His Word. Then there are the
relationships with women, the direct contact to them and to the leaders
practiced in different ways. It is very important to answer each
E-mail, to have time to listen to them and to talk, to pray together
and even sometimes to change the plans of a meeting. I cordially
encourage our successors to continue organizing mini-conferences.
Through our experiences from such previous meetings, I can say they
always inspired and strengthened its participants.
- What kind of future do you see for the European Baptists and especially the women among them?
- The aims of the European Baptist Federation are very clear. One of
the very valid tasks is mission and evangelism. It is important in this
work to take into consideration the changes which have taken place in
Europe since1989. There are many results like changes inside the
societies in Central and Eastern Europe, expansion of the EU and
greater possibilities of closer contacts between nations. These changes
are positive but they also create new problems. Both of them we should
treat as a challenge in the Baptist mission and evangelism. The women's
ministry is leaning towards this same direction. However, I think we
should put a big emphasis on social ministry. Women do a lot in this
aspect. For example they work with children and women in need, they
support different projects concerning this ministry. Many of them
answered positively to the great challenge which is the antitrafficking
program established by European Baptist Federation. They support this
ministry and are involved in it. We realize that women's work needs
well prepared leaders and workers. Therefore the EBWU supported some
training conferences in different countries and IBTS women's students.
It has also been one of the purposes of the regional mini-conferences.
If we are faithful to God, He will help us to fulfil various challenges
to make Jesus known as the personal Saviour for many people who suffer
and are in darkness and through that we will bring glory to God.
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