Mariusz (Max) Bartkowski is serving as pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Bydgoszcz. He is a graduate of the Academy of Physical Education in Warsaw, University of marketing and management, and Warsaw Baptist Theological Seminary. Prior to entering full-time ministry in 2011, Max worked as a Trade Marketing Manager at T-Mobile, Poland. He and his wife Agnes, have two children, John, and Adam. Max has served in Polish Baptist Union churches for four years. In 2015, he moved with the family to Dublin (Ireland) to support his mother-in-law who was diagnosed with cancer and was going through chemotherapy. He stayed there for one year and was trying to reach Polish emigrants in cooperation with the local church. As he was planning to come back to Poland he was praying and seeking guidance from the Lord on how they could best serve Him. Max came to the conviction that he must plant an independent, biblical church in Poland. As he had never planted a church before, he needed to seek training. God, in His provision connected him with Grace Baptist Partnership and he moved with the family to Edinburgh (Scotland) to learn from Pastor Ali McLachlan. He was trained and sent with his family as a missionary by Grace Baptist Church, Edinburgh to Bydgoszcz in July 2017. Grace Baptist Church Bydgoszcz was constituted in November 2019.

Update from Pastor Bartkowski (April 2022):

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Thank you very much for your prayers and your support. Apologies for the delay in sending this update... It was great to meet some of you at the True Church Conference. Please find bellow a few words of update from Grace Baptist Church Bydgoszcz.

The Church

Thank to your generous support we were able to rent the new, permanent meeting hall for Grace Bydgoszcz. We were able to buy chairs, simple sound system and many other things we needed. We prayed for a new venue for few months and the way that God answered that prayer encouraged us tremendously.

The View from the Room for Mums with Toddlers

I am so encouraged by spiritual growth of some church members. They are willing to help in many ways: man wants to learn how to study the bible for themselves and to teach others, to evangelize, to guide the Ukrainians and to teach them Polish.

We started the “Grasping God’s Word’ course to teach man how to interpret and apply the Bible. We continue the church membership with Aleksandra and Grzegorz. May God continue to add to the church in Bydgoszcz those who were being saved.

We do street evangelism as the Covid has left Poland – at least from media... We had two new visitors last Sunday and we had some good conversations recently as well.

Our ladies continue to ‘Edify” each other, and we will start K2 men’s meetings – once a month.

The new meeting hall is at the building with several offices, so people who work here can see the signage on the wall. I had a good conversation with three people who work next door during the “coffee break”. I invited them to join us on Sunday.

                                     Street View                                                             Entrance to the Building

Refugees from the Ukraine

Once again, I want to thank you for your generosity and prayers. Over 2,5 million Ukrainians came to Poland in last two months. We, in cooperation with other churches, were able to help some of them. We were able to provide a shelter for them, feed them and buy clothes, shoes, beds, and some other necessary things. We helped them to go through a lot of the paperwork last month as they had to apply for Polish identity number, schools for children, some support from the government, health care etc. By the grace of God, we were able to do it and they are treated as Polish citizens right now.

We encourage them to start work and some of them work as nurse at the hospital others bake and sell cakes. We were also able to offer them Polish language course. Better knowledge of the language will help them to get better job or continue to study in Poland. Please pray for them and especially for their husbands, fathers and sons who must fight for their country. That is the biggest stress factor for ladies who came to Poland with their children.

Pray for our neighbors and Agnes’s coworkers (nonbelievers) who can see the church taking care of people in need. Some of them were helping us by transportation, others gave sleeping bags, retired baker gave away his tools from the bakery, the trampoline park owner allowed kids to play for free as many times as they want from Friday to Sunday. It was a great opportunity to show people love in action and to share the Gospel with them.

Trip to Krakow and Przemyśl

I was greatly encouraged by the visit of brothers Barry and Ryan King. They visited Krakow and Przemyśl near the border with the Ukraine, where we were able to share the Gospel and to pray with the Ukrainians and Poles.

       Refugee and Volunteer in Krakow        Irena (95) - Had to leave home for 3rd time in her life.

We also visited small group of believers in Przemysl led by Przemek Mac. Przemek and his sister Magda were born again few years ago. They started to share the Gospel with their family and friends. God led to Christ their grandma, mother, brother-in-law, Przemek’s wife, and Magda’s friend. Przemek was never trained to be a pastor or church planter, so it is a great opportunity for us to help him. We hope he can participate in some AIT or GBP trainings, like “Basic training”, the Bible institute etc. We pray and look forward to see what is God’s plan for them in the future. Please pray for them. I know Przemek from Przemyśl is not easy to pronounce for you but you can pray for “Mac”… He would not be offended and God knows who “Mac” is.

Please continue to pray for grace Bydgoszcz:

• Our evangelistic efforts among Poles and Ukrainians.
• For Aleksandra and Grzegorz who are at the church membership class.
• Łukasz and Sebastian who participate at the Grasping God’s Word program
• For our nonbelieving neighbors who are asking questions about our faith.
• For Ukraine and the end of the War.
• For John and Adam to believe and walk with the Lord.

May the risen Christ bless you and yours richly with joy, love, and hope.

Yours in Christ!

Max Bartkowski