Journey to make my dream come true
Over the past two years, I have been thinking a lot about what I could do to make this dream happen. I came to see that, if I want to follow it, I would need to leave my position as the main pastor of Viera church in Bratislava as it would require considerably more time and travel. Until this point, I have invested some of my spare time but this was not enough to move things further.
As I believe this is also what God is calling me to do, I made a decision to step out in obedience and faith. As of March 31, 2025, I am leaving my job, and, starting in April, as the first step on this journey, I will try to gather around me co-workers and supporters in this mission so that Ican go ahead full speed.
For more information about how you can join me, see Support.
If we can do this together, this would enable me to continue with next steps:
1. Meeting people
responsible for care of church pastors in individual churches
2. Joint meetings
of those who develop care and support for church pastors in individual churches
3. Survey among church pastors
about their resources, health, available social support and also perceived stress factors in their ministry
Doctoral
studies
Last year I shared my dream with many people, especially with the leaders of various evangelical churches in Slovakia (Assemblies of God, Baptist Union, Brethren Church, Methodist Church) who work together within the Association of Evangelical Churches platform (ZEC).
I got an unexpected offer and challenge: to become a full-time PhD student and write a dissertation about pastoral care and the research mentioned above.
I will commence my full-time doctoral studies at the Department of Evangelical Theology and Mission of University of Matej Bel in Banska Bystrica in September 2025.Supervision training
For long have I wanted to participate in Supervision in the Helping Professions training. I am convinced it will be very useful for me because the work of church pastors is a combination of helping, managerial, and teaching/lecturing activities. Supervision is already common practice in these work areas and it responds to the needs of the support ministry with an aim to improve the impact of their ministry.
I have started this training on February 15, 2024 and will continue throughout the next year. After the first part, my expectations are even higher. I believe it will be an opportunity to learn a little more about myself, as well as about supervisory skills that I will greatly need in my ministry to pastors and church teams.