French Mission Work

The Missionaries

Ten congregations, including the Freehold Church of Christ, support Galen and Zlatka Harrill in Prague, Czech Republic. Galen arrived in Prague in January of 1995, and married Zlatka, a native of the Czech Republic, in August of 1999. Galen received his BA in Bible in 1989, his BA in Communication in 1990, and his MS in Missions in 1993 all from Abilene Christian University. Zlatka is a certified mid-wife, but now works with Galen in the work in Prague.

Although over 60% of the population in the Czech Republic claim to be Christian, 95% claim to be atheist or agnostic. This contradiction is a result of many years of a faulty understanding of Christianity and systematic government ridicule and oppression of religion through 40 years of communism. People were taught to distrust one another, it is estimated that one in ten was an informant for the communist regime prior to its downfall in 1989. However, the Czechs are industrious, practical, and unpretentious in every day life, and many are searching to find answers to spiritual questions.

The goal of the Harrills is to work toward establishing a church that is capable of evangelism, is financially independent of American funds, and has Czech leadership. Galen spent the first two years in the Czech Republic focusing on language and culture study to determine more fully how best to minister to Czechs, and on making contacts who might form a basis for a church plant.

Evangelism is key to the work at this time, campaigns figure prominently in the work, as do personal and group studies and making individual contacts through every day life. Czechs respond to the gospel when they see that Christians and the church are serious about trusting relationships and treating one another with respect. In this, the church must be the "body of Christ" on earth, healing hurts, loving mercy, and showing a better way of living than the world offers. Currently there are 18 Czech Christians in the church in Prague, the Harrills have a goal of 100 Czech Christians by the end of 2005.

Training leadership is also important and the Harrills dedicate much of their time to formal and informal training of all Christians, realizing leadership can come from any of the Christians at this time and Czechs will eventually need to choose for themselves who their leaders will be. The areas of leadership training include evangelism, teaching and preaching, benevolent work and fiscal responsibility.

The Harrills are working toward recruiting other missionaries to work in Prague or the Czech Republic. There are currently 8 cities in the Czech Republic with populations of over 100,000 without missionary workers. If you are interested, you can contact them by e-mail at:

The Harrill’s work is overseen by the Conestoga Valley Church of Christ in Lancaster, PA. They also receive support from individuals and from the following churches:

Contributions to the work can be made by check to the Galen Harrill mission fund and sent to: