CAMBODIA - FOOD FOR WORK PROGRAM
PHOTOS: Food distribution to families that participate in the Food For Work program in Cambodia
(Continued on next page)
POLAND - EWA EXPRESSES SOLIDARITY WITH POLAND
The Baptist World Alliance (BWA) has extended condolences to the people of Poland on the tragic plane crash that killed Polish
President Lech Kaczynski, his wife, Maria, and 94 other national leaders and officials, near the city of Smolensk in western Russia, on
April 10.
General Secretary Neville Callam, in his letter to Baptists in Poland, expressed “deep regret” and stated that “the entire Baptist family
from around the world grieves with the Polish people, and especially with our Baptist sisters and brothers, over your indescribable loss.”
The BWA leader assured Baptists in Poland of Baptist solidarity and divine support. “We stand in solidarity with you even as we are
assured that the ever-present God waits to comfort and strengthen you all through the Holy Spirit.”
He stated his hope that, “even in the midst of such wrenching tragedy and loss, the love of God through Christ, and the peace that
passes all understanding, will engender hope for a bright future for all the people of Poland, even though the present seems so dark.”
Condolences were also sent to the Central European country by Baptists in Europe. Tony Peck, general secretary of the European
Baptist Federation, wrote to Donald Tusk, prime minister of Poland, “We have been shocked and deeply saddened by the news of
the plane crash. We know this is a major tragedy for the whole Polish nation and we mourn with you the loss of so many outstanding
leaders.”
“God’s Word calls on us Christians to empathize and be compassionate towards one another, for ‘if one part suffers, every part suffers
with it,’” Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists president, Alexey Smirnov, wrote to Gustaw Cieslar, president of the Baptist
Union of Poland. He assured Polish Baptists that Russian congregations were praying that the deep wounds of Polish sisters and
brothers would be healed, their spirits strengthened, and that they would be given the power to cast all of their suffering onto Christ
following the irreplaceable loss.
Hartmut Riemenschneider, president, and Regina Claas, general secretary of the Union of Evangelical Free Churches in Germany,
expressed sympathies to Baptists in the country of 38 million people. It was “with great shock that we received the news of the
tremendous tragedy that has befallen your country,” they said to Cieslar. “We pray that the Lord of all comfort will be with those most
immediately affected.” The Germans prayed that God “will raise up leaders who can fill the void,” and that Baptists in Poland will testify
to “the hope founded in the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ.”