Sometimes in life you are forced to make a difficult decision that will determine your future path. For Bartek, he chose to courageously leave his old ways and begin a new way of life. SGA Storyteller Dominika shares Bartek’s testimony below:

“Either me or your church!” was the ultimatum spoken by his fiancée. Bartek chose to follow God! Thankful for the many people who had invested in him over the years, Bartek walked away from his current love, and into a new life in Christ.  His courage came in part through the many people who had spoken this “new life” to him over the past years. The Gospel changed his life! Today, he is married to a godly woman, has two beautiful children, and now passes this new way of life on to others, in hopes that they too will repent and turn to Christ.  

“Bartek was born in 1982, and he grew up in Bydgoszcz, in a traditional Polish Catholic family. His parents divorced when he was a small child. When he was 16, his uncle who believed in the Gospel invited him to go with him to a Baptist service. It was something completely new for Bartek and he didn’t like it at all. Mostly because Bartek’s days were filled with daily meetings with friends from the streets. People called them hooligans—frustrated youth with no prospects, often abusing alcohol and marijuana, wandering the street, destroying both public and private property.

In 1999, he and his brother were invited to the family English camp. Their first impressions were shocking. What are these people doing here? They tell us to read the Bible, and they talk about God all the time. There were prayers before meals and before meetings. It was so strange for them. They just wanted to run away from the camp, but it was a bit far from home. They decided to bite the bullet and stay until the end of the camp. Time passed quickly. After coming back home, they returned to their friends and continued living as before.

In the next year, they were again invited to go to the camp. They weren’t sure why, but the brothers decided to take part in it. Mainly, they went there to practice the language with the Americans who helped organize the camp.  The next year, they went again, but Bartek’s girlfriend also went. It was during this time that God definitely started to work in Bartek’s heart. After returning from the camp, his girlfriend told him that he had changed. Suddenly, many things began to bother him: cigarettes, drugs, hooligan antics. He didn’t want to be part of it anymore.

Bartek and his girlfriend got engaged and he also started attending services at the Baptist Church in his hometown. He attended a Protestant service in the morning and a Catholic one in the evening. He started listening to the sermons more carefully. More and more things didn’t make sense to him in the Catholic church.  He saw the difference between teachings and had to decide where he wanted to be. He decided to go to the Protestant services.  His fiancée didn’t support him in that decision. She started to limit his time in the meetings. One evening she told him to choose, saying, “Either me or your church!”  He was surprised. He wanted to be closer to God. She ended up giving him the ring back. That was the moment when he committed his life to Jesus.  He had heard the Gospel many times in past years—from his uncle, from the camps, and at the Sunday services. He knew what he had to do. He prayed to God to save him and become a new man.  He repented of his sins and decided that he didn’t want to go back to his old life. Sometime later he was baptized.  He met his future wife in the church. They have been married now for 12 years, and they have two wonderful children.

Today, Bartek is grateful to God for putting people in his path who prayed for him and shared the Gospel with him, even though he didn’t understand or like it in the beginning. He is grateful that now he can be involved in organizing family camps where people can hear the Gospel, just like he did.