Our Pastor

Harry was born in Birmingham, England in 1951, of German parents who lived in Poland up to World War Two. He learned to speak English at school, his mother tongue being German. The family worshipped at the Polish Lutheran Church in Birmingham, where Harry was employed playing the organ at age 12. He went on to study German at the University of Wales, where he also trained to become a teacher while writing a Ph.D. on the medieval Catholic theologian and mystic, Master Eckhart.

After some events in his personal life, Harry felt the call to become a pastor, and assumed this would be in his Polish Lutheran Church in England. He therefore came to Poland to learn Polish (1978-80), meeting his present wife Ania in Warsaw. However, on returning to the UK, he was unable to arrange theology studies and went into language teaching instead. In the meantime, Ania joined him in the UK to study Church Education in Birmingham, and they married in 1982. In 1986, Harry and Ania decided to emigrate to Poland. He began a new career as a translator. He thought he had misheard God’s call, as nothing had come of pastoring in the UK, but the Lord had other plans.

In 2013, the Polish Lutheran pastor invited Harry to teach English Christmas carols and hymns to the parishioners. The success of this led to the formation of an English-language midweek fellowship group, which still continues to meet for Bible study. Finally, in 2017, Harry was invited by WIC’s Church Council to pastor Warsaw International Church. The Lord’s call had not been misunderstood after all. It was just that, instead of being called to pastor a Polish church in England, he was ultimately to pastor an English church in Poland. God moves in mysterious ways. Harry loves “collecting” hymns – wonderful old revival hymns, many of which are now almost forgotten. Ania and Harry also enjoy walking in Poland’s diversified countryside, and are both lovers of nature.