Questions and Answers

• The training is a very intensive experience! So, make arrangements with your loved ones and yourwork.
• There are EIGHT evening sessions on Zoom, usually one week apart.
• Each meeting lasts TWO HOURS. We start and end exactly on time. In the final action groups we can talk longer by agreement; this is voluntary thing.
• You need 15-20 minutes DAILY for practicing individual tools as we gradually learn them.
• It will take about 20 minutes DAILY to watch very useful preparatory videos before each session. They are very important for us to understand each other!
• As for the main element of the training – testing with real non-believers “out there” – we learn to use everyday life opportunities (school/work, traveling, greeting neighbors, hairdresser, car mechanic, etc.).
• For your own meetings with non-believing friends over the Word of God, you will then need 1.5 to 2 hours a week (Discovery).
• It will probably take you a while to print out the materials for the given meeting – 2‑5 pages; if you have a large enough monitor, it will be enough to open individual pdfs.
• Before the next session, you will want to remind yourself of the material discussed in previous meetings; the notes are on the website and the link is sent to registered participants.
• In the action groups, we have a shortened Discovery demonstration and next time the participants will have the opportunity to accompany some part. However, due to time constraints, everything is happening quite quickly. That is why we offer those interested „FULL DISCOVERY“, i.e. an additional voluntary meeting over the word of God in a small group on Zoom, as we do with non-believing friends – about 90 minutes (max. 2 hours). There is an opportunity to really think together and talk about the passage read. Many training participants are shocked by what they discover in a familiar passage and how it newly enters their lives!

The individual elements of the training are connected with each other like a jigsaw puzzle! If you miss a meeting:

• Study the web guide for the given session (will be sent to registered participants).
• Watch the video of the common parts of the given session (the link will be sent after the meeting).
• Practice the tools from the given meeting on your own and use them with non-believers.
• Ideally, also contact the guide of your action group and discuss with them what was done and what you need to learn so that you don’t get lost in the intense pace of the entire training.

If you miss one part without completing it in time, you will have a problem, and most importantly, you will also cause a problem for others in the group or pair. So consider your time options in advance, please, make arrangements with your family and reserve quiet time in your diary for all eight sessions.
If, despite all your efforts, you are unable to attend a meeting, let us know as soon as possible! This is important when we prepare groups.

If someone, without any preparation, meets in a pair with a well-prepared regular participant, they are usually completely lost and represent a hindrance to their partner. This is a great loss for both parties.
Therefore, if someone misses two sessions in a row and has not practically caught up on all the material covered, we recommend that they sign up for the next run of the training.

The main benefit of the training lies primarily in the fact that EVERYONE PERSONALLY practices the individual tools in small groups and in their privacy and then immediately uses them with their non-believing acquaintances.
We must say some things very clearly:

There is really NO PLACE for mere spectators in the training!
A passive spectator would be an obstacle to active participants.

If you want to look at the content of the training, we highly recommend that you sign up for the automatic video lesson guide (in Czech) on this website. Or make your own study plan as you go through the lessons. The videos will undoubtedly be a huge enrichment for you (but it is not the whole training)! At the same time as you watch, please also pray urgently: for the unbelieving people in our country, that they may know the Lord Jesus and faithfully follow Him, and also for the participants in the training and for the trainers.

When a group or team or the entire elders‘ board go through the training together, it is ideal.
However:
Each participant needs their OWN Zoom connection
and an UNINTERRUPTED environment where they can listen and speak independently.

We create random twos or threes several times during each evening. We have excellent experience that, for example, a married couple was each on their own connection: one on a mobile phone in the kitchen and the other on a computer in the living room (on the same WIFI)…
We will be happy to connect participants from your team in the final action groups with one of our guides (4-6 people in total). In case of a larger number, we will create more action groups for you with our trainers.

If you are invited to your church, we will be happy to prepare some of the following forms of service:

• a biblical word on the topic of effective connection with unbelievers and spiritual movement,
• short stories from various forms of personal ministry to contemporary Czech unbelievers,
• a presentation of the training with practical examples and experiential elements,
• we also had Discovery for the entire youth – a short explanation, Discovery in subgroups, feedback and evaluation,
• inspiring working meetings with the pastor, with the elders or with the leaders of various services in the church,
• some meetings were also held remotely; e.g. a video call with the elders or with the youth leadership or other services.
• The ideal is when we not only talk, but when we help you connect with real unbelievers in your area.

A taster of the training in a local church optimally lasts 60 minutes. (The minimum is 20 minutes for a brief one-way presentation.) It is all about mutual agreement; write or call and we’ll make arrangements.
Invite believers from other churches in your region or at least their representatives.

We do not address difficult questions from non-believers or the usual controversial topics in the Bridges to People training.
We bring proven SIMPLE ways to approach Czech non-believers, start informal Bible reading with them and lead them to the living Jesus. Experience teaches us that when we come to people with kind respect and a simple PERSONAL message connected to our own experience, then they usually do not ask philosophical, scientific or religious questions, but usually only personal ones: „How did you come to this?“ Or: „What does it bring you?“ That is exactly what we want to hear; we have the answers to that and we also add a challenge to invite Jesus into their lives.

The training is designed and tested exactly for you. Believers who do not have the gift of evangelism, have never told anyone the Good News about the Lord Jesus and have never brought anyone to Him, will learn very practical steps in the training for PERSONAL ministry to their unbelieving acquaintances.
When they diligently practice simple tools every day in private prayer and immediately try them out with the unbelievers around them, they are then completely surprised to find interest from non-Christians and that the Good News still “works”!

If you are already leading people to Jesus and have a number of new converts around you, that is great! The training itself will probably not be completely new to you personally.
A minimum number of tools
that are simple, biblical
and easy to transfer However, if you want to learn how to effectively serve other Christians so that they too can effectively share the Good News and help new disciples grow, you are welcome! (According to Ephesians 4:11-12, this is what gifted believers in their community should do!)
At certain stages of the training, you will have to humbly lower yourself to the level of those who do not have this gift. However, this will teach you simple and straightforward ways of addressing unbelievers, which many Christians without the evangelistic gift have already learned and immediately began to serve unbelievers themselves. The essence is transferable SIMPLICITY; we place great emphasis on this in the training.

Introverts can use their strengths to great advantage where extroverts would not be effective. They are warmly welcomed in training! They have a number of great advantages in communicating with people; they are usually good listeners, empathetic and sensitive to the deeper experiences and needs of people around them. This can be of great benefit in serving non-believers!
In training, we try out various elements in random pairs – that is, with people you don’t know personally, but whom you know to be believers and friendly. This is a great opportunity that has softened the inner barriers of many introverts.

Some participants did not complete the training for various reasons. When they signed up again, they said: “The first time it was an avalanche, but now it all fits together beautifully…” If this is your memory, sign up again and have members of your group or some church services or at least a partner sign up. (We emphasize, however, that the training is ONLY FOR ACTIVE PARTICIPANTS who practice the presented tools in training groups and privately and use them with non-believing friends.)

• Prayers and listening to the living Lord Jesus are the first and most important step. It is about our inner transformation and empowerment. Perhaps the five-minute lessons will help you with this:
  • Section D. Jesus is greater (15 lessons in total)
• For content preparation for the training, we recommend five-minute lessons in the following sections in particular:
  • Section A. Discovery with non-believers (15 lessons in total)
  • Section C. Good news and beyond (24 lessons in total)
• The approach to non-believers has also shifted for some Christians:
  • Section B. Contact with friends (29 lessons in total)
• A believing partner or a small team of Christians who are interested in winning people for the Lord Jesus is a great help. During the training, they will struggle with you, they will also look for specific ways to reach non-believing acquaintances and provide you with support and feedback when something is not going well.
• The important preparation is that you will talk to known and unknown non-believers anywhere outside in a completely ordinary way: you will ask them how they are and you will listen to them. Nothing Christian! Just be interested, listen and pray for them in your spirit.

Those who serve unbelievers lonely, usually fade away or burn out quite quickly.
Here are the basic options of our long-term support:

• Mission teams. During the training, we will describe a “mission team” (MT) and everyone will try out its functioning in their action group. We encourage participants to create their own MT with believing friends, who will teach them important tools for serving unbelieving acquaintances. Depending on their interest, one of the trainers also participates remotely. Some teams then continue for months.
• Inspirations are short videos in Czech (1‑2 min.) to strengthen the relationship with Jesus and to encourage service to unconverted people. We send links to the videos to training graduates once every five days. (Here is an example.)
• Consultations. Upon request, we provide consultations for specific needs that graduates are solving with unbelievers, and for activities when they want to pass on the content of the training to other believers. Contact us, for example, using the form below.
• Weekends. We invite graduates who we know regularly serve non-believers to an encouraging and edifying meeting of practitioners. Let us know what you do.
• Outreach is an activity where we go out to strangers to talk to them about Jesus and the Good News. Given the distance operation of the training, we are currently organizing „Fieldwork“ by invitation only at specific locations.
• Local training and demonstrations. It is ideal if graduates, in addition to their own extensive use of the tools with non-believers, also train other believers in their area (e.g. in a group or even part of the congregation). Some graduates have prepared a short presentation and demonstration of the training in their congregation. We are happy to help if needed.
• Guides. We would be happy to invite graduates who regularly practice individual tools with non-believers to participate in the next training run as guides. We highly recommend that they bring a few other believers with them. This is a huge encouragement for everyone.
• Follow-up levels of the training. For those who regularly minister to people outside (and have new believers around them), we occasionally organize further training levels; for example, on starting new informal communities with new people from outside.
• Other options for supporting ministry to non-believers we are constantly considering. For example, webinars and occasional online meetings.

If you don’t have a camera on your computer, you can probably get one soon (for a few hundred crowns). Talk to someone technically proficient in the church, they will be happy to help you. Do it as soon as possible.
Active participation of each individual participant is essential during the training. The cameras on allow us to simulate at least a little bit of a live connection when we communicate with non-believers. Therefore, we ask participants to keep their cameras ON at all times.
A working microphone is an essential requirement for all participants.

The training, including all the facilities, is financed exclusively by voluntary donations. This opens the door to students, young families and pensioners – simply anyone.
Make a free decision before the Lord, make an agreement with your life partner and ask your congregation for financial support from Bridges to People. We are very grateful for every contribution. We are most happy with regular long-term support.
Information on financing the Bridges to People training is here.
For citizens of the Czech Republic, donations are tax deductible. We need your details so that we can send you a confirmation at the beginning of the following year.
We can conclude a donation agreement with legal entities (congregation, association, company) as needed.