Michał Belina Czechowski
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Michał Belina Czechowski (September 25, 1818 – February 26, 1876) was a Polish Seventh-day Adventist. On an individual level, he was the first Adventist missionary to Europe, although this was initially unknown by the Seventh-day Adventist church at the time, and J. N. Andrews was the first official Seventh-day Adventist missionary.
Biography
Background
Michael Czechowski was born in Poland and raised in the
Conversion
In London he became acquainted with the Baptists, who helped him secure passage to the United States. In 1852, he became an evangelist for the Baptists, and began working among the French Canadians of New York State.
He discovered the Adventists in 1856, and at a
Conflict
However, Czechowski was not content with his ministry in New York, and attempted to persuade the newly organized Seventh-day Adventist Church to send him to Italy as a missionary, where he hoped to work among the descendants of the Waldensians in Northern Italy. He hoped to eventually spread his new faith to his native Poland. The church refused, because they believed that Czechowski was too new to the faith, was not very good with money, was unwilling to listen to authority, and was generally an unstable person.[3][4][5]
Czechowski was not deterred. He travelled to Boston, where he met with the leaders of the Advent Christian Church, a first-day Adventist church, and got them to sponsor him as a missionary to Europe. He left in 1864 with his wife and an Advent Christian named Annie E. Butler.[6][7]
Italy and Switzerland
Despite the fact that Czechowski had been sent by the Advent Christian Church, the message he preached was thoroughly Seventh-day Adventist, eventually causing the loss of his Advent Christian sponsorship in 1868. Czechowski spent the first year preaching in the Piedmont region of Italy. However, he was soon forced to move on to Switzerland because of local opposition. In Switzerland, he began publishing a paper entitled L'Evangile éternel, as well as religious tracts in French and German. In his teachings, he mainly focused on the seventh-day sabbath and the Adventist understanding of prophecy in the biblical books of Daniel and Revelation.[8][9][10]
He founded a congregation in
Romania
Czechowski became disturbed upon learning of the contacts between the Tramelan church and the Seventh-day Adventist church. As he was also suffering from financial problems at this time, he left Switzerland. He travelled through Germany and Hungary before eventually settling in Romania.[14][15]
Czechowski worked for several years in Romania, where he was hampered by a lack of knowledge of Romanian. Despite this, Czechowski won 12 converts in Pitești, again without telling them of the knowledge of the Seventh-day Adventist church. One of these converts later made contact with J. N. Andrews in Switzerland.[16][17]
Death and significance
Czechowski died in a Vienna hospital on February 25, 1876.[18]
For many years after his death, he was a controversial figure in the Seventh-day Adventist church, likely a result of his going to the rival Advent Christian Church for sponsorship. According to J. N. Andrews, the missionary who followed Czechowski to Switzerland, Czechowski had caused "pain and sadness" to the people of God, and that the work of God had only progressed in spite of him.[19]
However, Czechowski's work can be said to have forced the Adventist movement to become an international one. The discovery of the Swiss church was the main impetus behind the formation of the Seventh-day Adventist missionary society, which led to the sending of Andrews to Europe, as well as many more to follow. Only in 1871 did Ellen G. White receive her first vision from God telling her to tell the church to expand internationally, and to send missionaries abroad.[20][21]
Thus Czechowski might be said to be the father of the Seventh-day Adventist church in Europe, as well as the father of Adventist missions.[citation needed]
See also
References
- ^ Land (2005), 76.
- ^ Schwarz (2000), 87.
- ^ Schwarz (2000), 138.
- ^ Knight (1999), 82.
- ^ Land (2005), 76.
- ^ Schwarz (2000), 138-9.
- ^ Knight (1999), 82.
- ^ Schwarz (2000), 139.
- ^ Knight (1999), 82.
- ^ Land (2005), 76.
- ^ Schwarz (2000), 139-40.
- ^ Land (2005), 76-77.
- ^ Schwarz (2000), 139-40.
- ^ Schwarz (2000), 140.
- ^ Land (2005), 77.
- ^ Schwarz (2000), 140.
- ^ Land (2005), 77.
- ^ Schwarz (2000), 140.
- ^ Schwarz (2000), 140.
- ^ Schwarz (2000), 140-41.
- ^ Knight (1999), 83-4.
- Sources
- Schwarz, Richard W.; Greenleaf, Floyd; General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. Dept. of Education. (2000). Light Bearers: A History of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. OCLC 45374345.
- OCLC 41597841.
- Land, Gary (2005). Historical Dictionary of the Seventh-day Adventists. Historical Dictionaries of Religions, Philosophies, and Movements, no. 56. Landham, MD: Scarecrow Press. OCLC 56682353.
External links
- Media related to Michał Belina Czechowski at Wikimedia Commons
- A Polish Nationalist book by Czechowski written in 1863
- Historical Dictionary of Seventh-day Adventists: Listing for Czechowski