This document summarizes the 20th anniversary celebration of English language services at the Maly Kostol in Bratislava, Slovakia from 1994 to 2014. It includes messages from bishops, pastors, church members, and associates who helped establish and serve the congregation over the past 20 years. They recall the challenges of starting the church community and share fond memories, from early worship services to baptisms, funerals, and fellowship events that helped the congregation grow.

1. 20th Anniversary
of English language services
in the
Maly Kostol
1994 - 2014

2. A message from the General Bishop
ECAC
On behalf of the Evangelical Church of the
Augsburg Confession in the Slovak Republic I
warmly thank you for your invitation to worship
with you on the occasion of the 20th Anniversary
of the official convocation of the Bratislava
International Church.

3. Please allow me to take this opportunity to thank
you for the 20 years of partnership. I am very
grateful to the Almighty God that people from
different countries can be united and be together
for the Word of God, prayer and the Sacraments in
a language they understand, which is close to them
or even is their mother tongue.
May the coming years be held in the same spirit of
cooperation, supporting and tolerance. I wish you
and all your members God’s blessing, mercy and
peace in your service.
Yours sincerely Milos Klatik General Bishop ECAC

4. Maly Kostol Bratislava in the old days!

5. Maly Kostol before refurbishment –
some things never change!

8. Pastor Twila Schock 1994 - 1997

9. Pastor Twila Schock
writes:
"We find rest in those we love,
and we provide a resting place for
those who love us."
Bernard, Abbot of Clairvoux

10. A Grand Dream
As in any new venture, there are
great proponents and then there
will be the skeptic – the detractor.
I recall so well the day in 1993,
prior to our move to Slovakia, when
we were consulting with several
ELCA Global Mission staff persons.

11. Most all of them were excited
about the prospect of starting an
English language worship
community in Bratislava. But
there was one individual who
looked at us, shook his head and
said, “Having a church in
Bratislava is someone’s grand
dream. It will never work.”

12. And, to be truthful in those early
days, I feared that person might be
right. The challenge was downright
daunting. We had no telephone for
most of the first year, much less
internet. There were just a handful
of English speakers, and very few
expatriate families with children
were living in Slovakia in those days.

13. Financial resources for printing
and advertising were at a
premium. And, both Pastor
Swanson and I were teaching 18
hours a week at the Evanjelicke’
Lyceum; hence, the development
of a new congregation needed to
be done in our “spare time.”

14. But, the Lord does provide in the
most unusual ways. The copier shop
down the street from Maly’ Kostol
had new colored photocopy paper. In
1994, this was a novelty! Hence, the
signs that we posted around town
were quite noticeable – especially
since Western advertising had not
yet taken hold in this fledgling
republic.

15. English speaking Slovaks rallied
their networks of friends to help
us get a telephone and permission
to post signs around town.
The Bratislava Seniorat
interviewed us and agreed to
allow us to use the Maly’ Kostol as
our worship venue.

16. September, 1994, arrived and we
had done our groundwork. Maly’
Kostol was going to have its first
Sunday morning English language
worship service. And, we were
terrified. Would anyone beyond
the worship assistants attend?

17. How very delighted we were that
morning when 40+ persons not
only attended but sang with great
gusto – the gusto that people who
don’t get to sing in their mother
tongue on a daily basis can
muster.

18. Throughout that first year, there
were on-going attempts to breathe
life into that small but mighty
community. I recall agreeing to
play “Frosty the Snowman” on a
two-octave electric keyboard at
the International Women’s Club
children’s party in exchange for
the opportunity to advertise our
Christmas worship.

19. I recall running up to total
strangers in the K-Mart (now
Tesco) when I heard them
speaking English, making sure
that they knew the community
existed.

20. Throughout the three years we
served there, the community
grew, as did the expatriate
community. And, I remember
delighting on the day when we
“broke 100” attendees, people
from Canada, Indonesia,
Germany, the Czech Republic,
Sweden, Finland and the US.

21. Today, I continue to delight in
seeing how miraculously the Holy
Spirit has continued to sustain
and build this community of faith
– a community which has been a
blessing to so very many who
sojourn far from home.

22. Perhaps that skeptic was right.
Bratislava International Church
was “a grand dream.” For it
certainly is a dream come true.

23. On this anniversary, know that
my prayers of thanksgiving join
yours. And, in the days to come,
those prayers will accompany you
as you accompany many
sojourners in the faith.
Peace, in Christ,
Pastor Twila Schock

24. Pastor William Swanson
1994 - 1997
Greetings to past and present friends
of the Bratislava International
Church!
It’s hard to believe that it has been
just over twenty years since Pastor
Schock and I first began to work on
developing the Bratislava
International Church.

25. I would like to add a few
recollections – ranging from
humorous to day-to-day to sad –
the life of a lively congregation!

26. Perhaps it was in fall of ’90 (or was it
’91?) that we learned that “Velký
Kostol” was to be renovated for
several months, so the Slovak
congregation was going to need to
worship in “Malý Kostol” during our
usual worship time. No problem,
there was a lecture hall in the
facilities of the Lutheran theological
faculty at Comenius University that
we could use, just down the street.

27. However, the seats of a lecture
hall differ from standard pews:
They fold up when you stand up!
We all learned to hold back our
laughter whenever we stood up to
sing or to pray because of the
series of “bangs” that arose when
we did so…

28. With three different worshipping
communities gathering in “Malý
Kostol” on a tight schedule each
Sunday morning, our volunteer church
musicians had little chance to
prepare for their role in worship
leadership before our worship
service. Still, they managed to lead
the community’s song with gusto and
faithfulness, week after week.

29. In a highly transient worship
community, events such as
baptisms, confirmations and
funerals are not common. Still,
within those first years, the
ministry of the community
included each. It was a delight as
our “membership” became stable
enough that our worshippers first
brought a child to be baptized.

30. Imagine the joy of any Lutheran
pastor when your first, single,
confirmation student came to
classes already having memorized
the appropriate passages of
Luther’s Small Catechism and
wanted to have a serious
discussion about why he agreed
and disagreed with Luther’s
theology on that point!

31. And then … the mixed emotions
when the aged father of a
volunteer teacher, who had
returned to Europe for the first
time after leaving Czechoslovakia
following WWII and was able to
be reunited with his brother for
the first time since then,
suddenly died on Easter Sunday.

32. I give thanks to all who came from
many lands and denominations to join
our gathering in those days, to all
who supported the ministry with
their time, talents, prayers, and
financial gifts, and to all who have
helped build up the part of the body
of Christ known as Bratislava
International Church since then.

33. Blessings on your ministry, today
and tomorrow!
William Swanson

34. Tom Nelson (church member)writes:
Congratulations on the
20th anniversary of the English-
speaking congregation in
Bratislava. It was good to be able to
worship in the small church the three
years I lived in Slovakia. The
fellowship was warm, and I enjoyed
the sermons of Twila Schock and Bill
Swanson.

35. The worship services also gave
me the chance to play the
organ in the church. I’m not
really an organist because I’ve
never learned to play the
pedals. Still, it was the only
chance I had to play on a
keyboard during those years.

36. One special memory I have of playing
there was at the funeral of the father
of my Lyceum colleague, Jerry
Havlik. Jerry’s father, a native Slovak,
had come for a visit with his relatives
around Easter time. Unfortunately, he
died suddenly. Jerry and his wife,
Anna, decided to have the funeral in
the small church in both Slovak and
English. I volunteered to play the
organ.

37. Everything went well except the
psalm, which was chanted in
Slovak. I was supposed to play
the chords to accompany the
pastor. But I couldn’t follow the
Slovak well enough to know when
to change chords! It would have
been far better if the pastor had
just done it a cappella.

38. It was very embarrassing for
me, but, fortunately, the
Havliks understood the
situation, and they forgave me
for how bad it must have
sounded.

39. Lynnae Sorensen Associate in Ministry
1994 – 1997
I remember having a blessing of a
baptism. My only sister's first
child was born in the states and I
was the God Mother, but because
I was in Slovakia I could not
attend the baptism.

40. Pastor Twila Schock had me stand
at the font in the Maly Kostol (first
we had to remove the flowers and
add water) and she had me make all
the promises that I was to make as
the God Mother and we prayed
God's blessing upon my new niece,
Elizabeth Crumrine.

41. I also remember the first time
that I brought wine into the
sacristy for the Altar Guild
matron to set up Holy Communion.
She rejected my red wine and
said that in the Lutheran Church
of Slovakia we only use white
wine!

42. I will also never forget our
Lyceum services at the Vel'ky
Kostol when Dr. Kuruc (who's
English was always a bit rusty)
would welcome everyone to the
"Assassination Service".
"Ascension" was just too hard
for him to say, but absolutely
NO ONE laughed (out loud).

43. Pastor Paul Hanson
August 1997-July 2004
Remembrances from 7 years at
Maly Kostol

44. Pastor Paul Hanson

45. Early in our time at Bratislava
International Church, Melanie
Radoja offered to teach Sunday
School, a rich blessing to the
congregation’s life and to all the
children who were gifted by her
talents and educational efforts.

46. We wanted to introduce a regular
“Coffee Hour” after the service,
an opportunity for people to
share fellowship. It was a new
concept for European churches
but very familiar to Americans.
Finding a place was very difficult.

47. Our apartment didn’t work (102
steps!). Using the “old Lyceum”
served well and for a long time.
It usually meant Kay bringing
coffee in thermos containers
since buildings had no kitchens.
Renting space from the
Methodist Church up the street
turned out to be our best solution
at the time.

48. Explaining how to get to Maly
Kostol was a continuous challenge;
no cross on the building, no sign,
the “false door” on Panenska. We
finally arranged for a bronze
plaque to be attached to the
church building listing all 3
morning services—German,
English and Hungarian. Is it still
there?

49. The Maly Kostol building underwent major
refurbishing in preparation for hosting a
meeting of the Lutheran World
Federation Council in June of 1999.
As a part of the refurbishing, the English
language congregation arranged for the
silver altar items to be cleaned and
restored. Shortly thereafter there was a
break-in and the items were stolen.
Thankfully they were recovered shortly
thereafter, somewhere in northern
Slovakia.

50. Maly Kostol hosted a worship service on
Friday, September 14, 2001, in response
to an invitation by the European Union to
set aside a time for prayer and
remembrance following the 9/11 attacks
in the USA. Jake Slegers (US Chamber
of Commerce) and the community
relations person from the American
Embassy publicized this event to the
international community and c. 90 people
attended, representing many nations.

51. During our years there were several
bi-lingual weddings at Maly Kostol,
typically Slovak and English. On one
occasion we had a tri-lingual wedding;
a Slovak bride, American groom, but
their common language was German,
and there were guests from all three
language groups.

52. Our last Sunday was July 4, 2004.
The congregation presented us with a
painting of the front of Maly Kostol.
The artist was Doc. Janka Krivisova,
who had done the large painting to
the left of the altar. We are deeply
grateful for this gift which occupies
the space above the mantel in our
living room and invites much
conversation with guests.

53. All in all, our Bratislava/Maly Kostol years
are among our most treasured experiences.
To live in a city which is a global
intersection, in a country rediscovering
itself following decades under communism,
and to serve a congregation which every
Sunday includes worshipers from at least 4
continents, sometimes 5, occasionally 6
(never anyone from Antarctica as far as we
could determine) and so many interesting
people is an awesome privilege, a gift of God
which we will always treasure.

54. Thanks to all who shaped it in our
time and who continue to do so,
and we’re pleased that one of our
Montana friends, Pastor Miriam
Schmidt, is sharing her gifts
there now.
Paul and Kay Hanson

55. Kay Hanson

56. Maly Kostol members on Slovakia
Wooden Churches tour

57. Sunday School class led by Melanie Radoja

58. Gathering in the courtyard preparing to
enter the church in a Palm Sunday procession

59. Pastor Ann Sorum – Associate
Pastor 2001 - 2006
Jon and I, from the beginning (2000),
appreciated the congregation at Maly Kostol.
The next year, I was thrilled when Pastor Paul
Hanson asked me to be his assistant pastor at
Maly Kostol !! It was the shortest interview for
a "new call" I ever had :-) I enjoyed getting to
know members at coffee hour, the women's Bible
study, the retreats Maly Kostol had, and then
visiting "our" people at the International
Women's Club, in their homes, and community
events.

60. The great variety of people who gathered
at Maly Kostol still astounds me.
Volunteer teachers from the United
States at the Lyceum, embassy or
business men and women from many
countries, foreign students who came to
study in Slovakia, Slovaks who wished to
worship with us, persons traveling
through or making their homes in
Bratislava for whatever reason. We were
a community away from "home", (wherever
in the world that was.)

61. The outreach to refugees began when we
were there. It started when George
Evans (refugee from Nigeria) found an
advertisement about Maly Kostol in the
English language Bratislava newspaper in
the refugee camp library. He got on a
bus at 4 am to travel to worship. As a
result, other refugees came too, and Maly
Kostol held a couple of events at refugee
camps.

62. I will have other memories pop into my
head that will bring smiles, and warm my
heart as I think of Maly Kostol. May
Jesus be ever present with only the
Blessings He can give, as you celebrate
His church in the midst of you.
In Christ,
Ann & Jon Sorum

63. Pastor David Schick 2004 - 2009

79. Pastor Josh Auchenbach
Member from 2004-2006
Associate Pastor 2006 - 2008
Bratislava International Church is a
truly unique and incredible
congregation and I feel extremely
privileged to have had the
opportunity to serve there. A few
things that I cherish/remember
from my time there:

80. The amazing diversity. Everyone
from diplomats, to refugees, to
students, to business people -
from every continent. Something
I don't think I'll experience
again to such a degree this side
of heaven.

81. How hard it was to say goodbye
to beloved members of the
congregation every year. And
after wondering how the
congregation would carry on
without them, watching the way
God continued to provide new
people to carry on His good
work.

82. The great conversations and
treats at coffee hour in the
Methodist Church basement, and
at Next Apache.
The wonderful food shared at
potlucks.

83. The beautiful worship setting at
Maly Kostol. I enjoyed preaching
from that elevated pulpit more
than I'd like to admit!

84. The privilege it was to serve with
the Schick's, our diversity of
musicians, kostolnicka, and all of
the other great individuals who
offered their time and gifts to
BIC.

85. Blessings to Bratislava International
Church as you celebrate 20 years and
as you continue the good work God is
doing in your midst!
Pastor Josh Auchenbach

86. Anne Edison-Albright pastoral intern
at BIC from 2008-2009

91. Pastor Anne says:
I had the privilege and joy of being the
pastoral intern at Bratislava International
Church from 2008-2009. My husband
Sean and I look back on that time with
great gratitude and fondness. I loved the
way BIC brought all kinds of different
people together - people from different
countries, denominations, and with very
different life experiences. It created a
unique set of joys and challenges.

92. Pastor
Arden Haug
2009 - 2012

93. We have wonderful memories of
our time in Slovakia and the
community of the Bratislava
International Church. Our sons
Vitali and Alexei especially
enjoyed the international youth
conferences with David and
Carla Schick.

94. Interestingly, they never missed a
Sunday worship service - I don’t
know if it was the preaching or
the pretty girls in the youth
group.
Janna and I think of you often
and pray for your continued
journey of faith.
Arden Haug, Pastor

96. Taryn Montgomery
Intern Pastor 2009 - 2010

97. Autumn Greetings and Congrats!
What a blessing to be celebrating
20 years of faithful ministry at
Bratislava International Church!
We count ourselves fortunate to
have spent one of those 20 years
with you.

98. In those short 12 months, the
community of BIC helped to
shape, support, guide, affirm, and
encourage both of us in our calls
to ordained ministry and faith
journeys as children of God.

99. While the congregation is one in constant
transition, this is also perhaps your
greatest gift to those old and new who
enter your doors week after week. For
they are not entering only into a beautiful
sanctuary adorned with centuries of
stories, but more significantly they enter
a community eager to welcome, embrace,
and make others feel that they have
found their home - continually creating
God's story together.

100. This is what we remember most
about our time with you - for
through you, God is always making
more room at the table, for
everyone is genuinely welcomed.

101. Thank you for opening your doors,
your hearts, your homes, and your
community. You have enriched our
lives 20 fold and more! Blessings in
your 20th anniversary and in the
many more years of ministry ahead.
With our love,
Pastor Taryn Montgomery & Pastor
Christoph Schmidt

102. Phil and Susan Schmidt
(church members 2010) write:
Hello to all of you who now
worship at Bratislava
International Church. We were
only able to live and serve in
Bratislava for one year, but
during that time the BIC was a
central part of our lives.

103. It was here that we found a place to
worship and to find renewed strength
in God’s presence. We loved that the
church was full of people from
various countries, various religious
backgrounds, and various work
situations. All were bound together
at BIC, an accepting community that
encouraged open discussion and
mutual encouragement.

104. Its presence is essential for non-
Slovak speaking Christians who
are living in Bratislava. We hope
that you continue to thrive so
that you can continue to serve
the English speakers who come to
Bratislava.
Phil and Susan Schmidt

105. Anna Rudberg
Intern Pastor 2010 - 2011

106. Jim and Paula Stensvaag – church
members 2011 - 2013
We remember our time in the
International Church with great
fondness. We think of the people,
singing in the choir, coffee hour,
time visiting in the courtyard before
services, and on and on.

107. Images and vanished sounds come
to us often--saying the Lord's
Prayer, each in the language we
learned it; seeing students and
teachers at worship; going with
the choir on adventures around
the country and rehearsing;
learning from staff, interns, and
others about faith, music, and
living.

108. As with all of our stay in
Slovakia, it seems like we stayed
for more than two years, and yet
the time flew by so quickly!
Jim and Paula Stensvaag

109. Kara Propst Intern Pastor 2011 - 2012

110. Cevernica trip 2012
Peter drove the school van for
several of us to make a work trip to
the school for children with
multiple disabilities in Cevernica.
The director was not ready for a
group of mostly women, but we
finally convinced him we could do
some work, so we weeded the
garden and moved dirt.

115. Pastor Miriam Schmidt
2012 - present

116. Rachel Ann
Eskesen
Intern Pastor
2012 - 2013

118. I loved my time as an intern at
BIC and my chance to not only
get to know Slovak culture but
also embrace the unique culture
of BIC itself. Bratislava
International Church is where
God showed me that I could be
brave and that (with the help of
the choir!) I could sing loudly.

119. My time at BIC helped me find
my voice as a pastor and shaped
the minister I am today. Where
ever I find myself, I carry the
BIC community with me both in
my prayers and in my heart.
Pastor Rachel Eskesen

120. Kyle Svennungsen
Intern Pastor 2013 - 2014

124. Bratislava International Church
was more than an internship site,
it was a place where we could
grow and deepen our faith. The
people of BIC became family and
made our year a life-changing
experience.

125. Everyone provided the comfort
and support we needed both in
our professional and personal
lives. We will always remember
the people and our amazing year
at BIC.
Kyle and Anna Svennungsen

126. Paul Kacynski
Intern Pastor
2014 - 2015

127. BIC now!

138. And so …….
Into the future
Praise God!