A Note from Matt Reagan

I recently found myself standing inside the reconstructed Bethlehem Chapel in Prague. This is where Jan Hus became one of the earliest voices of Church reform. He preached there in the language of ordinary people, challenging the status quo. And his life and death helped ignite The Protestant Reformation.

Something caught me completely off guard that day. Jan Hus didn’t build Bethlehem Chapel. When he showed up to preach, the chapel was already there.

In 1391, more than a decade before Hus occupied the pulpit, two men, Jan Kříž, a wealthy merchant, and Hanuš of Mühlheim, a royal courtier, leveraged their resource and influence to create a place where people could hear the Word of God in their own language.

They gave land, money, and vision to build something they believed needed to exist. They couldn’t have imagined the world-shaking movement that would flow through it. But they sacrificially invested in a simple conviction.

I’ve been thinking about this ever since: Sometimes generosity builds a room before the leader even arrives.

We believe God is doing something new in the next generation of leaders. Our job is to surround them with support.