The Oaks - Pardubice, Czech Republic
Hi, we’re Pete & Michelle and we have two kids, Ema and Jan. We moved to Pardubice, Czech Republic in 2014. Michelle is Czech and we always knew that one day we would live in the Czech Republic but we never knew where, when or what we’d do.
It took a Relational Mission prayer day, a prophetic word about “a city called Pardubice” and dreams with Ema riding a horse before we knew ‘where’ and that we would move to the Czech city of horses. The ‘when and what’ came two weeks later with a dream about three baskets of wood which was quickly followed by two job offers. We started our new jobs as English teachers in Pardubice, three months later.
Michelle always had a heart, even prophetic words, about returning home with revival and we knew that this would involve the need to plant churches but Pete was reluctant for us to start a church and either wanted confirmation from God or for God to send someone else.
On arrival we met other couples with similar callings and we initiated a meeting and started a small community group which we quickly called ‘Oaks’ after the Czech word ‘dub’ (oak) being central in the name Pardubice and the reference to Isaiah 61:3. With the help of Relational Mission, losing and finding Pete’s wedding ring and two other prophetic words, Pete’s reluctance lifted (enough) and in 2018 we started intentionally meeting weekly as a church plant.
At the moment we are just a small bunch of people, mainly expats and some Czechs but it is interesting that together we hail from five different continents. We firmly believe that the harvest is plentiful in our small little city and that God has called people from distant lands to help with this.
