Slovakia
Ukraine crisis: How to help
Right now, the biggest need is money. That’s what missionaries…
The Bible means business
Minister teaches faith-based management of money and talents — and uses those principles to serve the refugees from Ukraine at his doorstep.
KOŠICE, Slovakia — “It doesn’t fulfill me to just work for money,” said Peter Haluštok.
So the Christian entrepreneur and real estate investor works for the Lord — teaching about money.
Peter Haluštok
Haluštok, a native Slovak who ministers for a small Church of Christ in Košice, created a program called Biblia a Financie (Bible and Finances) that teaches principles of faith-based money management. Years ago he left his full-time job in the financial sector and studied at Sunset International Bible Institute in Lubbock, Texas. There, instructors including Ed Wharton showed him that the Bible, among all its other teachings, means business.
“I never knew there are 2,000-plus verses about money,” he said. In his part of the world, “nobody speaks about this in churches.”
Returning to Slovakia, Haluštok began speaking to church groups and conducting online seminars. The latest, scheduled for September, is on the topic of eternity. “Scripture says the reality of eternal future should determine how we live our present lives,” he said, “and how we use our money and possessions.”
Related: Ukraine crisis: How to help
That principle has guided the minister as he and his fellow Christians have responded to the needs of Ukrainians at their doorstep, said Jaro Marcin, a native of Košice who lives in Prague, Czech Republic, and works for Eastern European Mission.
Haluštok has helped to translate material for the nonprofit.
“Peter has been — and is — a successful businessman,” Marcin said. “As a brother in Christ, he’s always ready to help in practical ways and thus when the crisis really hit our hometown, he was quick to step up (together with others from the congregation) and help the refugees who were coming in.”
Haluštok has worked with city officials to help provide for the refugees as they flow through Košice. Recently he and Marcin helped a group of about 20 Ukrainians get from the Slovak border to Sopot, Poland, nearly 500 miles away.
“Most of us in Czech Republic and Slovakia typically have day jobs and we moonlight in our local churches. … But we’re resourceful people, and we try to make the best of the situation with the talents God has given us.”
“Most of us in Czech Republic and Slovakia typically have day jobs and we moonlight in our local churches — given that congregations in cities like Košice or Prague, for instance, have no full-time paid staff,” Marcin said. “But we’re resourceful people, and we try to make the best of the situation with the talents God has given us.”
Haluštok added, “Working for God, every day is something new.”
