Church at the Table (Kostol pri stole)
Slovakia | 58202
Our Story
Southern Slovakia is one of Europe’s least reached regions. In and around Lučenec, nearly 100,000 people, there are fewer than 200 evangelical believers. Many identify as Christian culturally, but few have experienced lived faith or relational discipleship.
Kostol pri stole (Church at the Table) began with a simple question: What if church looked different here? Instead of programs and services, we gathered around tables, sharing meals, prayer, Scripture, and everyday life. What started in homes and informal spaces has grown into a community where people encounter Jesus through relationship.
Now we are taking a step of faith. We have placed a down payment on a former bar on Lučenec’s main street and are raising support to establish a coffee and pie shop with housing above. During the week, the café will be a public, welcoming space and provide dignified employment for marginalized people. Upstairs housing will offer stability for those who need both work and a safe place to live. In the evenings and weekends, the space will host shared meals, Bible conversations, prayer, and discipleship.
The total project cost is approximately €350,000, pursued in clear phases: €145,000 to purchase the building, followed by three renovation phases that will prepare the café, housing, and ministry space.
By God’s grace, more than €56,000 has already been given toward the purchase of the building. We are now trusting God to provide the remaining €89,000 needed to secure it. Every gift helps move us closer to purchasing the building and beginning renovation.
Where We Work
Ministry in southern Slovakia takes place in a post communist, post Christian context where trust in institutions is low and long term relational presence matters deeply. Social challenges are significant, especially among Roma communities, people with disabilities, and those living with mental illness. Without stable work and housing, cycles of poverty often continue.
We already walk closely with people who could flourish in this space: a kind, disabled young man who needs accessible housing and dignified work; a new believer living with schizophrenia who longs for a welcoming discipleship community; and local friends, a barber who shares his faith daily with clients, a social worker seeking employment opportunities for her clients, and a small business owner recently returned to faith who longs to run a Christ centered enterprise.
This building provides what we currently lack: a permanent, public home where faith, work, housing, and community come together. Your support helps make Jesus visible in a city where gospel presence is scarce but deeply needed.
Pray With Us
- Provision — for the remaining €89,000 needed to secure the building and move into renovation.
- People — for those God is drawing to find belonging, healing, and growth as disciples of Jesus.
- Presence — that this space would become a faithful, visible witness of Christ in Lučenec.