Czechowski & Tramelan: Early Work in Europe Season 2 | Episode 25
Michal Czechowski is an interesting character who tends to divide opinion.
He was educated for the priesthood in his native Poland,
but had to flee the country on the back of a hay-covered wagon
because the monastery that he was a part of
had gotten involved in national politics.
He was later imprisoned in Rome,
then was an exile in France for three years
before he came here to Switzerland
where he renounced the priesthood, got married,
and then headed across to the United States of America.
There he converted first to Protestantism
and then later on in Findlay, Ohio, to Adventism.
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Having an ex-Catholic priest amongst the church attracted a lot of attention
and frequent mentions in the Review and Herald.
He worked near the Canadian border with the French settlers
before moving to New York City
where he worked with the French, Hungarians, Italians, Poles, and Swedes
and raised a congregation in Brooklyn.
James White found him a difficult person to work with,
a stubborn character who liked to march to the beat of his own drum.
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He longed to go back to Europe, though,
and pleaded unsuccessfully with the brethren to send him.
He was seen as being too rash, sometimes difficult to work with,
and not good at handling money.
He received several letters from Ellen White
that both commended him and counseled him.
She urged him not to mark out his own course
but to wait for the counsel of the brethren.
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Soon after this, he went to a campmeeting organized by the Advent Christian Church
and told them of his desire to go back to Europe and they agreed to sponsor him.
In 1864 he came over and went to northern Italy
where he worked near Torre Pellice for 14 months.
He then came here to Switzerland
where he worked for about three years and baptized around 40 believers.
He raised up several churches,
the main one being here in Tramelan.
It was organized in 1867, and is the first Sabbath-keeping Adventist church
that was organized outside of North America.
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However, Czechowski had not told the new believers
that they were part of a larger church in North America,
but one of the believers here in Tramelan
found a copy of the Review and Herald in Czechowski's belongings
and began correspondence with the church in America.
The first letter that he sent was simply addressed,
'Adventists, Battle Creek'.
As they began correspondence,
it caused much joy to the church in America
to hear of the Sabbath-keeping Adventists in faraway Switzerland.
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He would later run into financial difficulties,
both with the press that he had mortgaged
and with the Advent Christian Church,
who eventually found out that while they were sponsoring him,
he was evangelizing with a different message to the one that they held to,
and the sponsorship was dropped.
He would go on to work in France, Germany, Hungary,
and then in Romania where he raised up another group of converts.
He died of exhaustion at the age of 57 in 1876.
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His legacy is a mixed one.
Many of his converts were of the highest quality
who would go on to make a significant impact in the church in Europe.
He was a hard worker who preached the gospel in new places,
but he had some administrative flaws and character flaws
that left their mark on the work and those he came in contact with.
God did bless his preaching,
but the story of his life poses the question, 'What if?'
May we listen to the counsel of our colleagues,
may we adhere to the inspired counsel,
and may we work in harmony with the brethren as we forward God's work.