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October 16, 2026

A Disciple-making Culture

Dear Friends,

Begin with the end in mind.

Last month, I wrote about launching our 2030 “Like Jesus” vision. Our goal is to walk alongside 1200 churches to develop a disciple-making culture in their youth ministry by 2030. Since the Josiah Venture team is actively serving 700 churches today, we are believing God for an increase of 500 more to accelerate the number of young people reached with the gospel in this region. (By the way, you may notice these figures are slightly different from my last letter. Since then, I received the most recent numbers from our country teams, which are reflected here.)

But what does a disciple-making culture look like?

Hybe is a small village in central Slovakia with just 1,450 people. It is also home to a 344-year-old Lutheran church in a 200-year-old building. You might think a church this old would be constrained by dead tradition and practically empty. Just the opposite is true. The Hybe church is full of young people and vibrantly alive.

This ancient Lutheran church has become the main hangout for youth in and around the village, drawing over 40 young people to Friday night gatherings, hosting camps for children, and developing one of the region’s best worship bands. Young people regularly come to faith in Christ, rooted in God’s Word and discipled through small groups and individual mentoring. Young people consider the church community to be their extended family, and enthusiastically invite their friends.

“We open our home to young people”, the pastor shared, “and they regularly stay until 4:00 am.” “I have decided to invest in young people’s lives, and pursue innovation with respect to tradition,” he said, believing that something old can also be new.

A disciple-making culture is filling this historical church with young people and impacting the entire community with gospel transformation. This has not happened by chance. In addition to a pastor who loves young people, our JV Slovak team has deeply invested in this church for over 15 years, providing training, inspiration, mentoring, resources, and evangelistic tools. Together, they have cultivated a community where disciple-making is deeply rooted in the culture of the youth ministry. This has become the lifeblood of the Hybe church.

As part of our 2030 vision, each country team sets specific goals for the number of churches they are praying to impact. The Hybe church is one of 120 churches our Slovak team is investing in today, and they would like to increase that number to 150 over the next four years. To put this in context, this represents over half of the churches with youth ministries in the entire country of Slovakia.

Imagine the impact this could make across a country of 5.4 million people. Disciple-making “Like Jesus” is a vision that is worth our very best efforts.

Thank you for helping make this dream a reality.

Dave Patty
President, Josiah Venture

Dave Patty President

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