Interview with JP Fahd about a Mission Household in Poland
Around 15 years back we had “mobile households” where brothers would spend a month or so in various locations. So, we are reviving that idea.
N: How are you, JP?
JP: Thanks, very well, and enjoying a full life! Last autumn I started studying a masters in “Charity Accounting and Financial Management”, and I continue my responsibilities for finances in our Sword of the Spirit Region and regional stewardship for the Servants of the Word.
N: We wanted to find out more about a project you were involved in last October/November. What is a mission household?
JP: It’s a way to go live somewhere where we currently don’t have a brotherhood house as a short-time undertaking rather than a long-term commitment. During that time we glean experience what it is like living and doing mission in that location and see what the community is like – all on a short-term basis. It is also an opportunity, after Covid and our internal crisis, to build relationships with young men who up to now had not been exposed to our life.
We had four Polish young men from the community in Gdansk living with us for the entire duration
N: We have not heard often about “mission households”. Is that a new invention?
JP: No, not really. Around 15 years back we had “mobile households” where brothers would spend a month or so in various locations. So, we are reviving that idea. It is a way to invest in new locations and to respond to requests from various communities where we do not have permanent brotherhood households.
N: Where did that household go?
JP: We were in Gdansk, on the North Coast of Poland. We have two communities in Poland: one in Bielsko-Biala, in the south, and “Time for Families” in Gdansk which is 27 years old and has connected with the SOS more recently.
This year, in addition to Gdansk, we did ten days in Bielsko-Biala and Krakow, and in June we will go to Croatia where there is a young, thriving community as well.
N: Who was involved in that household?
JP: We had Tadhg Lynch from Belfast, Serge Saadeh from Lebanon and myself for five weeks. Philip Barbara, a young man from Lebanon currently doing a mission year in London joined us for the last 2 weeks, and we had 4 Polish young men from the community in Gdansk living with us for the entire duration.
N: What did you do during your time there?
JP: Each of us brought his “normal work” with him and worked remotely. We lived our brotherhood life with prayer and our pattern of life along with the 4 young men living with us. We also organized weekly teaching nights and had the opportunity to do some outings/activities together and spend one-to-one time with the young men living with us. It was a good time to connect with and get to know the community: we participated in their activities, we were invited to spend time with various community families for dinner, and we had some good discussions with the community leaders. We were also able to participate in an ecumenical conference that the community had helped organize.
N: So, it sounds like those mission households are both a way to be present in a community and also to do some intensive formation with some young men, do I understand that correctly?
JP: Yes, that’s right.
N: What was your experience of Poland?
JP: I have been to Poland on various occasions before, but this was the longest I have spent there. I loved it! We were lucky with the weather- it was a bit cold, but sunny most of the time. Gdansk is a modern city and an easy city to live in. I don’t speak much Polish, which was a challenge of course, but most people speak English, so it was easy to build relationships.
N: You have lived in the UK now for quite a while. What were some notable differences between home and Gdansk?
JP: London is of course much more international; in Gdansk I clearly stood out as a foreigner whereas as a Lebanese in London I easily mix into the multicultural make-up. But the community was very warm and welcoming, so that made me feel at home right away.
N: Did you learn any Polish worship songs.
JP: Oh yes, many! We tried, as much as we could, to conduct our prayer life in a bilingual way: we chanted some of the Psalms in Polish and we foreigners also learned to pray the Our Father in the local language.
N: A great cross-cultural experience, it seems. What are conclusions and plans with these mission households, both in Poland and beyond?
JP: We were very happy with this visit, and it was very positive. We are now considering going back for a slightly longer time to continue building the relationship and seeing how our life fits into their community. It is part of a bigger discernment process whether we should invest more in Poland in general: a missionary household once a year, or a more significant investment even- but I expect that it will take a few years for us to get more clarity on that. “Time for Families” has invited us back, and there is a need which we can contribute to in helping them start a student outreach and a formation program for young men and women, so we are seriously contemplating going back next year.
N: Are there other locations to which you are considering sending a mission household?
JP: This year, in addition to Gdansk, we did ten days in Bielsko-Biala and Krakow, and in June we will go to Croatia where there is a young, thriving community as well. This is all part of the process of asking ourselves whether we should invest more in those locations: in Europe we only have houses in Belfast and London currently, so this has been where we invested most of our energies up to now. Now we are discerning whether we should do more to support other European communities, even if at the current time we cannot start permanent houses there.
N: Sounds like you will be doing some more remote work in the years to come. In closing, can you give us three intentions we could pray for?
JP: First of all, for the planning for next year, that we make good decisions and experience God’s provision given our constrained resources. Secondly, and this is of course connected, that the Lord would call more men to join us so we can do more in terms of mission. We are hoping that through such activities as this mission household young men will be exposed to our life and consider investigating our life. Thirdly for our mission household coming up in Croatia: we have only just gotten to know them in the last year or so and we see a lot of potential in partnering together to build God’s kingdom. We are hoping that the time in June will be a powerful time for their young people and for strengthening our relationship with them.
N: We will gladly pray for that…and of course for your studies. Thanks for making the time to talk to us.
