The Dzięgielów Lutheran Church in Poland and Zoar Lutheran Church are partner churches. Our partner is a moderately-sized church in the south-central part of the country, a community called Dzięgielów (pronounced something like jen-gyay-loof). A group from Zoar and other Oregon Synod churches traveled to Poland in 2004, 2006, and 2007. In addition to getting to know this congregation and its pastor, they traveled to the south-eastern corner of the country. It is a remote area, and scenic, but the people are very poor and live at a subsistence level, just getting by. The area is not served effectively by any churches. Our partner congregation wants to develop a mission to those people. That will involve such things as providing emergency help with food, clothing, school supplies, etc., creating opportunities for the children to attend Christian camps, and even advocating for the people at various levels of government. In July, another group will make their way to Poland to work with our sister church.
In 2005, a group visited Oregon from Poland. Follow the link below to a letter (in pdf format) written to Zoar as an introduction to Dzięgielów. The letter will open in a new page. Meet our partner church!