About Our Partners
Lithuania’s return to national independence from Russia in 1990 birthed spiritual revival among Lithuanians. People gathered frequently to pray and without many resources available to them, they depended on God. Faith is strongest when all we have to depend on is God. Upon the breakup of the USSR, the Western church flooded Lithuania and other former Soviet countries resulting in a rapid expansion of the gospel. Waves of people came to faith, and churches once closed during Soviet times reopened.
Through the work of western missionaries, City Church was launched in Klaipeda in this period of rapid growth. City Church’s current lead pastor, Saulius Karosas, recalls that period as being an important one for new Christians to learn much from the West with fresh ideas, leadership training, worship, resources, and so much more. City Church’s vision was to conduct daily evangelism on the streets and in homes. They conducted daily prayer, several worship opportunities during the week, and many Bible studies. From these more turbulent yet exciting times, City Church has grown to several hundred people and is the largest single evangelical church in Lithuania with three church plants. In 2015, City Church planted itself in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. In 2022, people attending the Vilnius Church from nearby Kaunas decided to plant another church there. Today another organic plant is starting in Siauliai, central Lithuania. Each plant has its own culture and opportunities. City Church’s leaders have identified seven other cities in which plants have a high chance for success. This is in addition to a robust online ministry to Lithuanians in diaspora.
In addition to church planting, City Church has identified its mission context to include transformation of leadership culture in society and has deployed Global Leadership Network (formerly GLS) effectively to shape the vision of political and business leaders with a Christian worldview. Saul and his family have led the way in helping transform Lithuania’s care for special needs children and have themselves adopted two children with Down Syndrome. Sanna, Saul’s wife, received a national award recognizing her efforts. City Church understands that unless the church is reaching society with the gospel in ways that address real issues, it will quickly become irrelevant. The Outreach Foundation sees in City Church a kingdom champion!
City Church has served the needs of Ukrainian refugees since the outbreak of full scale war in that country, despite being a neighbor to Russia. They have stood with Ukrainians, provided humanitarian relief, and have joined The Outreach Foundation on visits to the border and inside Ukraine. Leadership has identified Ukraine as their next mission field and is a partner with The Outreach Foundation in this work.
The Impact
With this organic growth and expansion of mission has come the need for leaders, but since Lithuania has no seminary and many do not speak English, training new pastors without removing them from their context is a challenge. We have identified a number of opportunities for donors and congregations to partner with City Church in financial and hands-on ways.
We feel that Saul has done significant work for years to lay a strong foundation from which he wants to raise up and empower the next generation for this next season of ministry in Lithuania and perhaps influence beyond in other European countries. We invite you to be part of this!
The opportunity
The Outreach Foundation is seeking gifts to support the mission and ministry of City Church Lithuania. All gifts of any size are welcomed to help City Church Lithuania live out God’s call and mission for their church not only in Lithuania but in additional regions of Europe.
