Ala & Marek Wyrzykowski
In September 2009 Marek Wyrzykowski became the first non-American Director of Affairs in Eastern Europe and Russia. Together with his wife, Ala, he has been involved in the ministry in Poland since the earliest days.
The time had come to let Marek in on the secret. The young Polish engineering student had become a Christian several months earlier and begun attending Bible studies led by foreigners. There he’d met a pretty young woman named Ala, and wanted to spend more time with her, but she had to go to more conferences than he wanted to attend himself. He didn’t understand why Ala had to go to all these meetings, so he approached Larry Thompson, the American who told her to go.
“You need to keep your nose out of other people’s business!” Marek brashly declared.
Larry and Roy Stiff (campus director in Warsaw) explained to Marek Wyrzykowski (Vizh-i-kof-ski) that Ala actually worked for a worldwide Christian organization. However, in the communist Poland of 1984, this group, Campus Crusade for Christ, could not work openly. Ala had become a Christian while translating for the very first Campus Crusade mission project in Poland, and later became one of the first people in Eastern Europe to join the ministry fulltime.
Marek, a natural leader, had turned to Christ in his second year of university. He’d always wanted to know God, and though he tried to be good, felt he was never doing enough. Then a friend introduced him two guys – a Syrian and a Pole – who were leading Bible studies in their Warsaw dorm. Marek went to a study on the Gospel of John, and by the fourth study, he knew what to do with the gospel. Right there in his dorm room, he prayed out loud and gave his life to Christ.
Suddenly he knew he was going to heaven, and his fear of what would happen after death disappeared. More Bible studies followed. He learned to share his faith, and went on a weekend evangelistic outreach to Krakow. The following summer he attended a two-week Bible conference and loved the teaching. “I’ve got to share this stuff with my friends back home!” he exclaimed, and promptly went home and organized a conference for his friends.
Marek’s leadership skills blossomed. “Leadership comes natural to me,” he says,” but I didn’t notice it until after I became a believer. I wasn’t aware of it before, maybe, because those were Communist times, and people tried not to stand out. Everybody knew that the piece of grass that stood taller than the rest got cut down first.”
Ministry Under Communism
Those were also the days of Solidarity, and the Communist government was more concerned about political opposition than spiritual movements. Campus Crusade, known among college students as just a student group, had freedom to share the gospel in the university. “There were informers but we didn’t know how many,” says Ala. “At first, we didn’t know how people would respond to us going door to door. So we just said we would begin doing it the way Campus Crusade does it, then see what happens. And nobody ever stopped us.”
“I wouldn’t call it freedom,” Marek breaks in. “I would call it not being bothered. We knew the authorities could act at any moment.”
When Marek learned that Ala was fulltime with a foreign Christian organization, he did not lose interest. The two began dating in 1984, and married in 1985. Marek wanted to join staff, but one had to be invited back then, and the invitation did not come. The young couple got involved in church work instead, and gained an appreciation for the Body of Christ outside of Campus Crusade. “I like to say I was the first to join staff,” says Ala with a laugh, “and the first to leave. Then I was the first to come back!”
In 1990, just as the walls of Communism were falling, Marek was finally invited to join the ministry. He knew he’d been considered four times before, but each time he was not invited for various reasons. “This has taught me humility,” he says calmly.
Marek and Ala joined 34 Poles already on staff at that time. They worked in Campus Ministry for seven years, then Marek began directing the Great Commission Training Center. He also became national leader of the Community Ministry and joined the outreach to business executives.
The Polish Crisis
In 2001 a crisis shook the Polish ministry to its roots. The ministry had always allowed freedom to be either Catholic or Protestant, and in the early days, had a flourishing partnership with Oasis, a Polish Catholic youth movement.
“I appreciate the wisdom of Campus Crusade leadership in finding a way to cooperate with the Catholic church,” says Dr. Wojciech Szczerba, president of the Evangelical School of Theology in Wroclaw. “Poland is 97 percent Catholic, and to detach ourselves from the Catholic side of our culture is almost suicide. Campus Crusade found a way to be faithful to their mission, and their identity as Protestant evangelicals, yet cooperate closely with the Catholic church.”
In the early 2000s, though, the Polish leadership was drifting away from that middle ground. Tension grew, a schism developed, and it began to look like the movement might break up. “I felt like everything I had given my life to was going to be destroyed,” says Ala. “It was a difficult time.” Marek – ever quick to take initiative to resolve conflict – got involved in the debate and tried to reconcile the two sides. He worked closely with Larry Thompson, who had pioneered the movement in Poland. Through God’s grace the the ministry got through the turbulence onto solid ground.
“Marek looks at reality and sees possibilities, not obstacles,” says Henryk Piechota, operations director in Poland. “He often says, ‘We can do this!’” That ability helped Marek bring healing to the movement, and it led to him becoming national director soon after.
He’s also a builder, and helped build Campus Crusade Poland into a strong and stable movement. Today 98 Poles work fulltime on staff.
Last September Marek was appointed Director of Affairs for Eastern Europe and Russia. “Everybody has a trait that can be used in God’s Kingdom,” he says. “I try to take what is there and make it better.”
