25th Day-2nd August: Vibrant community life in Pszczyna and a surprising invitation

After the historically oppressive afternoon at the Auschwitz Memorial, I left the not-so-appealing industrial outskirts of Katowice behind. My destination for the day was the region of the Bielsko-Biała metropolitan area, located in the foothills of the Polish Beskids. On the way there, I wanted to make a stop at the Evangelical community of Pszczyna - known as Pless in German. The city is a popular tourist destination due to its old castle and large palace park, as well as its association with the German princess Daisy. The first church directly on the market square is the neo-Baroque Evangelical Church, which was formerly influenced by the German Evangelicals. After the sexton opened the church (photo) and showed me the exhibition of old German hymnbooks (photo), he realized that I was not just an ordinary tourist and that I was more interested in the community activities. He called the pastor, who arrived after 10 minutes. Miroslaw Czyz, the pastor, spoke German very well, as he had studied several semesters in Leipzig. He reported that out of the city's 29,000 inhabitants, 1,500 are Protestant. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, around 500 of them attended the Sunday service. After COVID-19, it was only about 350. Every service is broadcasted on the Internet. Once again, I was surprised by the strong attendance at the service. There are separate children's services for two age groups, and around 40 young people gather for the youth group every Friday. The pastor showed me the blackboard with the numerous trips the young people have taken in recent years (photo). There are also women's and men's groups, as well as a large choir. During the school year, there is religious instruction in the community center. The rich community life is also reflected in the professionally created community newsletter.

According to the pastor, the biggest challenge is to return to the pre-COVID-19 state in terms of worship and overall community life, because personal encounters and shared experiences are more important. The second challenge is the major renovation work on the church to keep the walls dry. The pastor sees himself in the role of a community manager. We had a good conversation about the role and understanding of pastoral work, and I also shared some of my own work experiences. He expressed a desire to have more time for the actual basic work and not to spend so much time on administration and organization. After about 2 hours, we said goodbye. He said he would put my bike behind a large delivery van in the churchyard to prevent it from being stolen.

I then took some time to explore the city, went to a cafe, and worked on my blog. When I returned, I couldn't continue my journey because my bike was locked with a unfamiliar lock. The sexton had already left, and I couldn't reach the pastor. Then I discovered the key wrapped in a bag. A day later, I received an email informing me that as a precautionary measure after our conversation, the pastor had bought a bike lock for my safety. Shortly before our conversation, I had mentioned in passing that I had a lock, but the key no longer worked properly and I was worried that I might break the key if I locked the bike and therefore chose not to lock it in the churchyard. This action was a special kind of hospitality. In the afternoon, I continued cycling towards Bielsko-Biała and, once again, got lost. In a suburb of the city, I found a meadow near a large Catholic church. Before setting up my tent, I prepared dinner. Suddenly, a man came out of the nearby Catholic rectory or sexton's house. He and I were both surprised when he saw my loaded bike, and out of embarrassment, I asked if I could pitch my tent on the nearby meadow. No problem, was the answer. When I mentioned that I also work as a pastor, but in the Protestant church, he invited me into the rectory, showed me a bed where I could sleep, gave me a delicious soup to eat, placed a beer in front of me, and said in broken English: Breakfast at 8 am. I was very happy with this unexpected turn of events and slept well that night.