LDS Missionaries in the Czech Republic: Driven by faith, but facing adversity

From aktualne.centrum.cz:

Even with God on their side, these Mormons are fighting against history in the Czech Republic.

Prague - Dressed smartly in suits and power ties, Alex Trost and Ryan Mack approach a woman drinking coffee at a busy, outdoor café in Prague’s Old Town. Smiling determinedly, they greet her and proceed to ask if she has ever read the Book of Mormon.

Though this might be a common scene in the United States, what makes this situation different is that the entire conversation is in Czech, in a country on the other side of the world from the boys’ hometowns. Trost and Mack were both typical 21-year-old college students before they decided to dedicate two years of their lives to being Mormon missionaries in the Czech Republic.

But along with the difficulties of learning a new language and adapting to a new culture, an even greater obstacle that they and in fact all religious missionaries in the Czech Republic face is finding people to listen.

In a 2007 survey conducted by the STEM polling agency, 48 percent of Czech respondents identified themselves as atheists, making the country home to the highest percentage of atheists in Europe, if not the world.

It is no wonder that the Czech Republic presents a difficult working environment for missionaries such as Trost and Mack.

“I would say that Czechs do not like to talk about religion too much,” said Petr Mucha, a professor of religious studies at New York University in Prague. “A lot of it comes from the education under communism. They were taught that religion was bad and led to bad results.”

These bad results, according to the communist doctrine, included the domination of Habsburg Empire, which backed by the Catholic Church, squelched Czechoslovak aspirations during its rule from the mid-16th century until World War I.

Fifty-five percent of Czechs mistrust all churches and only 28 percent trust them, according to the STEM poll.

“I try to talk to people about faith and how it has helped me in my life and it is sometimes difficult because these people don’t have a history of faith,” said Mack. “They have had some rough times during world wars and communism, so it’s hard for them to believe in something they don’t see. Even though I’m speaking their language, they are afraid to trust me at first. I have to gain their trust.”

Mack does not seem to consider, however, that with or without religion, many people find the whole idea of missionaries offensive.

Tomas Uher is a Protestant evangelist who is a Czech native and works for the U.K.-based International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES), which targets Czech university students. He finds that even coming from the same cultural background as his audience, he still faces the same trust issues as the Mormon missionaries.

“The general response I receive is suspicion,” said Uher. “So I’ve found the best way to reach people is through relationships. I heard it once said that it takes a Czech student an average of one and a half years to two years to convert to Christianity and I’ve found this to be true. Friendship is the main vehicle.”

Despite the discouraging statistics, people from various religious organizations dedicate years, some even entire lifetimes, to bringing spiritual awareness to Czechs.

The Mormon Missions make up one of the biggest evangelistic movements in Central Europe, with 18 branches in the Czech Republic and Slovakia and a team of 88 full-time missionaries staffing them. Mormons, who are perhaps most notorious for their historical support of polygamy as well as their strict abstinence from alcohol and caffeine, are a common sight on the streets of all the region’s major cities. (The church now prohibits polygamy, excommunicating any members found to be practicing it.)

“Sometimes they’ll be walking on the streets or they’ll be out on the namestis (squares) where we see them on a regular basis,” said Marvin Slovacek, president of the Mormon Missions in Prague, explaining the missionaries’ work. “They’ll be going through the apartment houses knocking on doors, wanting to talk to people about what those people believe and what’s important to them, and offering to share our beliefs with them.” (cont.)

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This entry was posted on Thursday, December 4th, 2008 at 8:50 am and is filed under LDS Church, Missionary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

2 Responses to “LDS Missionaries in the Czech Republic: Driven by faith, but facing adversity”

Michelle Glauser says:

December 4, 2008 at 11:40 am

The word “Chech” in the title should be “Czech.”
Biff says:

December 5, 2008 at 10:24 am

Michelle–

Thanks for the spell check

ed.

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LDS Missionaries in the Czech Republic: Driven by faith, but facing adversity

2 Responses to “LDS Missionaries in the Czech Republic: Driven by faith, but facing adversity”

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