Gospel ministry in Slovakia is not easy. Only 0.2% of the population are evangelical believers. Many experience opposition to the Gospel.
This is the setting in which Ervin Mittelmann, an SGA-sponsored missionary pastor, seeks to serve.
Despite the difficulties, Ervin is encouraged that the church he planted with just six people, now has 55 who are in regular attendance. Many of them come from dysfunctional family backgrounds but they are now part of active discipleship groups which are designed to help them grow into healthy and faithful followers of Jesus.
Ervin recognizes that it is God who is building the church, even more so given his own personal weakness. He has a serious worsening intestinal illness, which is accompanied by significant anxiety. He requests prayer for complete healing or, if the Lord does not will an improvement in his condition, that he would glorify God in his suffering.
It would seem that God is already helping him to do that. Recently, Ervin spent a morning with a family which was experiencing serious illness, and was prompted to share how God is with us, even as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death. His words were a great comfort to the unwell woman who learned that the ever-faithful God was One who understood her pain.
Pray for Ervin and those to whom he ministers, that they might be content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities, and like the apostle Paul would know that when they are weak, then they are strong. [2 Corinthians 12:10].
Ervin, who is one of SGA’s 70th anniversary missionaries, has a deep concern for the lost and a burning heart for evangelism. Pray that more such missionaries will be raised up and sponsored during this year, the Mission’s 75th anniversary.