Personal History

Steven & Barbara Telzerow are pastors of the International Christian Fellowship in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Steven was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He became a follower of Jesus Christ in 1983 and lived in the USA until 1991. From 1991 until 1993 Steve served as a campus pastor at the University of Cologne in Germany. In that same year, Steve moved to Ljubljana, Slovenia, where he meet his wife Barbara. They were married in September 1993. 

Barbara was born and raised in Ljubljana, Slovenia. She made Jesus Christ the Lord of her life in 1989 during a conference in France. In May 1992, Barbara attended a missions conference in Utrecht Holland. During the conference a speaker challenged her to give up everything to serve the Lord in Europe's mission field. Barbara made a decision that moment to put everything on the altar saying, "Lord, whatever you want and wherever you send me I want to serve you fully." Steve and Barbara serve God with a full conviction that they have been planted in Slovenia in order to bear much fruit! They have three children: Sara (6), Tim (3), and Jakob (1).

History

The International Christian Fellowship (Mednarodna krščanska skupnost) was registered as an official church with the Slovenian government on January 27, 1998. The community began when a small number of believers began to meet in the living room of a Christian home to seek God more earnestly for spiritual awakening and revival. Those early prayer meetings were filled with praise and urgent prayer. Many people experienced the power of Christ in their life causing the group to move from the living room to a rented hall. Currently, the church meets in its third location since its beginning, a rented dance hall on the outskirts of Ljubljana. 

Current Situation

Currently, ICF is pastored by Steven & Barbara Telzerow. The church has approximately 40 participants. They meet once a week corperately on Sunday mornings at 10:00 a.m.  Currently, three house groups provide further leadership, fellowship, teaching, and encouragement throughout the week. A number of persons are engaged in early morning prayer from 5:00 until 7:00 am on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. We keep reminding ourselves that the church was born in a prayer meeting."  The church is born and sustained by fervent and persevering prayer!

Vision and Strategy

Our vision is to build a church in Ljubljana, Slovenia, by utilizing the ministries of Ephesians 4, that is passionate in worship, persistent in prayer, and powerful in proclaiming His eternal Word!  We exist:

F  to introduce people to a personal relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ!

(2 Cor 5:17-21 NIV)  "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation...All of this is from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God!"

(Eph. 2:14-18; Col. 1:19-22; John 3:3-6)

F  to develop people to be like Christ!

  (Eph 4:11-13 NIV)  "It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ."

(Heb. 5:11-6:1; Rom. 8:28-31; 2 Peter 1:3-11; 1 Thes. 3:13)

F  to equip people for their service in the church and mission to the world!

(1 Pet 4:10 NIV)  "Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms."

(Rom 12:3-8; Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 1:8)

The long term goal of this community is to establish a strong base of ministry in the capital city by raising up a "Tabernacle of David" (Amos 9:11; Acts 15:16-17) with the characteristics mentioned above. This New Testament church will reach out and establish houses of peace (Luke 10) in its surrounding area. We also believe that the other Balkan nations (Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Macedonia, etc) fall under our area of responsibility as we partner with other like minded ministries for kingdomizing this region (i.e. BLAST).