greetings from berlin!

It is really late Wednesday night and we are very tired after our 2nd day here at the Berlin Summit (end of the first full day).

Yesterday afternoon we got registered and spent the evening introducing ourselves to all of the Germans and American attending and enjoying a nice meal at one of the local churches.

There are several churches being represented here, all interested in seeing revival of faith in this area.  There are 2 other churches from St. Louis, as well as churches from Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Chicago, Washington D.C., Iowa, and California.

Today we broke up into groups and went to visit a couples of church plants.  The first one we saw was called the “Berlin Project”.  They are a young adult focused church located in the City Center (or Mitte) that meets in a movie theatre.  The location is in a very trendy part of town that attracts a lot of young professionals and varying types of artists… in fact, the most liberal political party has an office right next door to the theatre!

Berlin Project has been in existence for about 5 years and has grown to 400 people, most of whom were previously unchurched.  They actually had a lot to teach us about how to find true relevance in a community that isn’t actively seeking God.  One example is that they host an art gallery in the store front area of their offices for local artists who are desperate to display and sell their works.

Lastly, the Berlin Project is currently striving to plant one church every year… the next three years are already in process!  We visited with the pastors of their first plant in one of the other downtown sections- this area is heavily populated by Turkish immigrants.  They are about to launch a Sunday afternoon service, but in the meantime have been meeting in a small group setting.

Prior to these churches there were no protestant churches serving this community (besides Lutheran).

As of now, we are still looking and praying for tangible ways for our community (that’s you guys) to get involved with this community.  We have engaged several Berliners that we have run into about their view of the spiritual climate within the community.  The consistent response is that they see very little reason or need for church… they believe in God, but the church provides them little to no benefit.

Please continue to pray for us to find the right way to get involved here and for the people here who are intently trying to spread God’s truth and love in an effort to take back: berlin.

Advertisement