The International Christian Fellowship church of Warsaw is hard to describe. We are an English speaking church made up of people from over 30 nations, from over a dozen religious backgrounds and from many diverse cultures and background language groups. Roughly 60% of us have English as a first language and the rest have learned it as a second, third or even fourth language. Made up of Poles, foreigners and ex-pats, we also seem to have a constant flux of people coming to or leaving Warsaw. In fact, each summer nearly a quarter of our congregation move to another posting or location somewhere else in the world. This means that we are dynamic and always changing.
The constant within ICF are the key values that we try to build into each and every thing we do. First of all, we are a church. We exist to glorify God the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit. We accept the diversity of our congregation and embrace it as a foretaste of heaven where there will people of every tribe, tongue and nation glorifying God. Doctrinally, we seek unity, adhering to the key doctrines of the Church as seen in the Nicene and Apostle’s creeds. We accept diversity in other areas and in all things, we practice charity (love). Practically, we focus on the things that draw us together in Christ and accept that we have differences and respect one another for those differences.
We are also committed to providing contemporary worship, relevant teaching and authentic friendships to those who join us. Our pastors, ministry leaders and leadership team (elders) are also committed to helping each believer grow in his or her knowledge of Christ and in seeing them become active in using their gifts and talents for the good of the entire body of Christ (Ephesians 4:11-13). To help with this, we encourage and help people to connect with God and others; to grow in their relationships and understanding of God and others; and to serve God and others as an expression of gratitude for what He has done for us.
Along with all that, we also value fun and believe that in granting us abundant life (John 10:10), we are to enjoy the things that God has given us. These values are lived out in our ministries to family, to men and women, to teens, young adults and to children.
