Krakow welcomes 1000 Methodists

Krakow, Poland is hosting the 3rd European Methodist Festival in August 8-12, 2012, with the theme: “It’s for you”.

It is indeed for youth and elderly people, for children and families, for singles from all over Europe.

The Festival has several goals: It is at first a mission event. We stand up for Methodist Christians: But we also want to get in touch with one another and find helpful connections for our faith and fellowship in Christ. The meaning of “festival” points to the fact that we want to celebrate together, to sing and play, make music and pray and listen. The festival is arranged by Methodist Youth and Children Council (EMYC) and European Methodist Council (EMC), and the expectation is that 1000 people from Europe and Eurasia will attend.

There are plans to arrange a bus from Ukraine, and combined, partly subsidized travel from St. Petersburg, Moscow and Almaty. This is possible thanks to a travel grant for Russia, Ukraine, and Central Asia. Belarus Methodists will probably be able to join the Baltic countries for travel. Participants pay all expenses on site by themselves, but there are lower rates for Eastern European and Eurasian participants, with €160 as the cheapest alternative.

There will be no official translation into Russian. English, Polish and German are the main languages.

Check www.methodistfestival.eu for program, prizes other information, and registration form. Note that registration can only be made on internet!

Additional information for Russia and Belarus from Andrei Kim andkimumc@yandex.ru, Sergei Nikolaev (president.msumc@gmail.com), Sergei Pugachev (pugachev_sergei@mail.ru), and Eurasia UMC Office (office@umc-eurasia.ru), for Ukraine and Moldova from Vasily Vuksta (vuksta_v@yahoo.com), and Alexander Merzlyakov (umclugansk@yahoo.com), and for Central Asia from Oleg Starodubets (oleg333@mail.ru).

Krakow is a city full of European history with its beautiful architecture, churches and museums. There is the old Jewish suburb of Kazimierz, and “Schindlers Factory” (cf. the movie “Schindler‘s List”). And Auschwitz und Birkenau, places of horrible memories about the Nazis, are not far away. However, participants need to take care of all arrangements for additional tourist visits beyond the festival.