Germany on the Ground

Remember this? It is part of the old Berlin Wall. I arrived in Berlin, Germany yesterday, a city, which was at the center of the world only twenty years ago. I speak, of course of the peaceful revolution in November 1989 that led to the collapse of the Berlin Wall. This event, one, which author Thomas Friedman, cited as one of the ten leading “world flattening events” that began an era of globalization. It was also this event 20 years ago that led to a radical worldwide transformation, heralding the end of the Cold War that had kept Germany, and for that matter Europe divided. This year, Germany’s capital city will commemorate the 20-year anniversary of that history-making event.

Today my host Diet Schindler drove me near the location of “Checkpoint Charlie” and other ominous reminders of the famed Berlin Wall. Change is evident everywhere including-for example- the Pariser Platz, which has been transformed from a potential flashpoint of confrontation between east and west, to a meeting place of the world. Berlin stands as Germany’s most populated city as well as its most multi-cultural and multi-ethnic city too. The changes present marvelous opportunities for the church of Jesus Christ. As Director of Church Planting for the German Evangelical Free Church. Diet invited me to join him for four days of dialogue with German Church leaders to consider the possibility of planting an English-speaking International Church in this, Germany’s largest city.

While Berlin represents compelling opportunities for the church, it also presents startling complexities. How do you overcome the long-held antipathy between some East Berliners and West Berliners? How do you build a church that simultaneously acknowledges the German church’s rich and robust theological history with the need to engage an urban and largely postmodern context that does not see its need for Christ? What church models fit a context like Berlin? To what extent, if any, could the church in America help or hinder church-planting efforts in Berlin? These questions and more are ones we took the time to consider.

There are already several International English speaking congregations in Berlin. While these congregations vary in make-up, size and focus, our discussions concentrated on launching an English-speaking International church targeting a growing population of professional business leaders and influencers. Values such as holistic ministry, missional focus and expository preaching were among many that repeatedly surfaced. Given Berlin’s reputation as an internationally recognized business epicenter and it’s historically rich cultural diversity, what role will Christian belief and practice play in shaping marketplace ethics and practices and informing artistic expression.

During our time together Diet commented to me that Germany plays a unique role with regards to the church, especially when it comes to Church Planting. The German Evangelical Free Church has endorsed the ambitious goal of planting 100 new churches in Germany in the next 10 years. Plans are underway to launch a Church Planting Institute in the near future and the German Free Church has already hired a leading German missiologist, himself a church planter, to head up that work. Germans are earnest and serious about what they are doing, something that should come as no surprise to us! In fact, because of these kinds of initiatives and more, other European countries will look to Germany to help launch similar church planting enterprises in their own countries.

S t r e t c h e d

originally posted on my old blog on May 26, 2008