Vision Slovakia News
Celebrating a Decade of Miracles
“A Decade of Miracles” was the theme of the 10th Anniversary celebration of the Bible School in Martin, Slovakia. The celebration focused on the weekend of July 4-6, and the photos capture three important events of the weekend.
Vacation Bible School, from preschool to junior high, culminated in an exciting final program with 330 children participating. The children were from several different churches, as well as from non-church families. Thirty-two people were involved in teaching VBS, assisted by Bible School students.
On the final day of VBS, Friday, July 4:
Students were on stage in an auditorium in Martin and participated enthusiastically in animated songs they had learned.
Participants experienced short dramas of the Bible stories from the week, and recited memory verses from the Bible to their parents, grandparents and others who filled the auditorium.
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The day concluded with a gigantic fireworks display sponsored by the city of Martin to honor those who had come from America to teach and sing, and to celebrate the gift of freedom which Slovakia now enjoys following over four decades of communist oppression.
The Anniversary celebration on Saturday, July 5, included presentations by the faculty of the Bible School on the origins and history of the Bible School, the need for and the role of lay leadership in the Slovak Church, and the vision of the Bible School and Lutheran Elementary School under the new identification, “Center for Christian Education.” Several guests spoke in the afternoon session on the way in which their lives have been blessed through the vision of the Bible School. The day concluded with an evening concert by the St. Andrew’s choir presenting a program of sacred music to a capacity crowd in the Lutheran Church in Martin.
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On Sunday, July 6, the first outdoor worship service of the Lutheran Church in Martin was held on the square in front of the Bible School and church. It was a perfect Sunday morning of summer warmth, sunshine, and a congregation filling the church square. The St. Andrew’s choir and the choir of the Lutheran Church in Martin joined together in singing the anthem “Beautiful Savior.”
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“God’s Son Has Made Me Free,” the signature anthem of the St. Andrew’s choir, was sung for the VBS program, the Sunday morning outdoor worship, and for every concert from Banska Bystrica to Eastern Slovakia cities of Bardejov, Presov and Kosice during the week following the anniversary celebration. This theme anthem celebrates the heart of the Christian faith and freedom centered in Jesus Christ, and also expressed the freedom from communist oppression under which the Slovak people had lived until 1989.
You, as a congregation, have been present through “A Decade of Miracles” (1998-2008) that has taken place in Martin, Slovakia. Under the guidance of God’s Spirit, you have been there with your faithful support and commitment to the vision we share with our friends in Slovakia.
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Bible School adult students of the Youth and Family program studied English in the two-week Conversation English program taught by 18 people from the St. Andrew’s group. |
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