Emerging Church Germany meeting

It went really well. Some great people doing great things for God in Germany. A bunch of us met at a Thai restaurant. I started by sharing some thoughts from a German book called “The Emergent Church: The Future of Christianity in a Postbourgeois World” (1981, English version). In his book, German Catholic Johann Baptist Metz predicts a new kind of church arising from the margins of society and a new reformation of the SENSES for Protestants and of GRACE for Roman Catholics. How prophetic.

Heres a few photos and thoughts from the event.

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Kerstin Hack (left) showed us some excellent publications and her new book on Anabaptists by Peter Hoover. Only available in German language but if you looked around on Kerstin’s site, you might find a English version PDF that you can download for free. And since we were just talking about Anabaptists and the emerging church . . .Ahhhh . .. its all in German . . .let me do it . . .. here you go “The Secret of the Strength [PDF]” The German version is probably better and Kerstin and her team spent 400 hours in libraries checking on the original German sources for this book. Labour of Love!!

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Those cards on the Proverbs are for distributing in coffee shops and some are free. As well as running Down To Earth Publishing, Kerstin is involved in the Berlin emerging church scene and Together for Berlin. She doesnt look anything at all like Pee-Wee Herman. Just need to clarify that from the beginning. Hi Kerstin!!!!

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Some guys from California came over to see what God was doing in Germany among the emerging culture – which was a good excuse to meet and swap stories. This is Marcus Laegel (left), who is also part of 24-7 Prayer, explaining how God called them out of the “cool” club scene in Dresden to start a monastic style church base in a small town. They approached all the pastors and Christian leaders with their intentions, as well as the Mayor. They said they had no money but wanted to impact the town for God. The Mayor gave them an old schoolhouse for 50 Euros a month and now about 20 of them live there and use the schoolhouse as a base for ministry. One bathroom and no ovens until recently but they are loving it. Marcus made it clear that coolness was never the goal and there was nothing rebellious at all about their ministry. I think he felt it necessary to explain that to the Americans because the emerging church criticism from USA seems to poison the rest of the world and makes it hard for them.

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Florian (left) shared about his ministry called Dream House and Mirko (right) talked about Jesus Freaks and how they started out as punk rock teenagers who had started a hundred communities in a very short period of time and with no resources. I think all of the Germans in the room have been impacted by the ministry of Jesus Freaks and Freakstock Festival.

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Everyone shared over the meal but we continued the conversation outside. Johannes Kleske and Mark Reichmann (are from Kubik – where i preached 2 years ago. Johannes is the geek behind some of the web projects I am involved in.

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Is that my thumb???? Hajo and Rachel just got back from a year in Asia, including time at Sewa Ashram in India. The global scene is very similar, they said.

Hey – thanks everyone for traveling to Frankfurt and being a part of this. Fantastic to be with you all and to be challenged by the German scene.

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And thanks to the Americans (who will remain nameless lest we taint their reputation) because they cared enough about what God is doing in Germany to come all this way to meet the people and hear the stories firsthand. Those who seek will find. Thanks for your listening and also for sharing from your perspective. You guys rocked. Every blessing on your efforts in California and beyond.

Andrew

Andrew Jones launched his first internet space in 1997 and has been teaching on related issues for the past 20 years. He travels all the time but lives between Wellington, San Francisco and a hobbit home in Prague.

11 Comments

  • Jeff says:

    Thanks for the introduction to this book on the Anabaptists. I found a better English version here (in html or pdf):
    http://www.gw.org/Sos/index.htm

  • Johnny Laird says:

    …clocked the ubiquitous Apple Mac, Andrew! 😉
    Where would all the emerging folks be without their Macs, coffee, and U2? :-)))
    Peace & Blessings
    J

  • Simon says:

    Good to hear from Germany as an Exil-German in Phoenix right now. I think it’s awesome stuff all those people are doing for the kingdom of God.
    Still my question would be, why no voices out of the mainline churches are present in these conversations? I don’t question that there are a lot of good things that can happen outside of those churches Metz was thinking about (or wasn’t he thinking about the Protestant and Catholic church of Germany?), but we have to recognize that still 52 Million Germans (out of 82 Million) are members of one of those two churches. So what an impact would it have if those two churches would go missional? Maybe we could begin thinking about that, although it might get messy with all the institutionalism … but who said that life for Jesus couldn’t get messy at times ….

  • Kerstin Hack says:

    Hi, Johnny
    thanks for the question…there is a lot of good things happening in the mainline churches and of course we were talking about some of it. In Karlsruhe, Berlin and other places there also are working cooperations between “old” and “new” churches. But as the meeting was focussing on what is happening in the emerging church context Andrews report is about that…not about “what is happening in THE whole church of Germany…” – in spite of frustrations and depressions that are the stories about that would still fill volumes….
    Hi from Berlin – Kerstin

  • andrew says:

    simon, one of the reasons for this meeting was to discuss future projects and help resource each other. there is really no money available for these projects so they have to start with zero budget, unless we can help each other. the inherited/state/institutional churches do have some budget and probably dont need much help in this area.
    the other thing is that we dont start with the churches needs but rather with the emerging culture itself and the needs of the harvest. then we see who has jumped in to serve. sometimes these meetings have lots of institutionally connected people (UK, USA, Australia) and sometimes, like this one in germany, they dont.
    but its a good question.

  • lisa says:

    I love the Marcus emphasized that’s it’s not about trying to be cool. And hey Kersten, nice to see your face on this site today. Last time I saw you was in summer ’06 at the Lisbon airport the day you turned up to travel around… the day we had to say goodbye to Barbara 🙁

  • Johannes says:

    I love to get all the credits for it but all I do for the web projects is setting up some Basecamp accounts (http://basecamphq.com).
    And I can’t say that I have been impacted by the JesusFreak.

  • Simon says:

    Kerstin and Andrew, thanks for updating me on this. As somebody who has been part of both “old” and “new” churches I guess it is just on my heart that we join in the same movement … I hope that in a few years when I will be a pastor in one of the “old” churches that we can just start locally and support projects like these and learn from each other.

  • Matthew and Cordelia Creeden says:

    My wife is a Berliner and I am from the states – but only American on paper :)!
    We now live in Berlin and have decided to start our life, ministry, and mission here. We are dedicated to Western Europe and are emerging church people. I 38 and she 31, we long for something new, artistic, and missional for Germany and beyond. We would like to connect with Emerging Church folks in Berlin please. Maybe Kirsten or someone else could contact us directly at the listed email address. We are not computer saavy, therefore do not understand why on these blog sheets we run into there is seldom contact information. CONTACT US :)! May the Gospel be propelled…….

  • Matthew and Cordelia Creeden says:

    kololam77@yahoo.com is the address

  • Sushil Philip says:

    CHURCH PLANTING – NEW DELHI
    (NORTH INDIA)
    INTRODUCTION
    New Delhi, the Capital of India & a Hindi spoken region where mainly people dwells from the Provinces of Uttar Pradesh (U.P.), Bihar, Rajasthan, Himachal, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh (M.P.), Punjab, Kashmir, & Nepal. Being the Capital, people from other cities reside here. The city has been reestablishing in a full-fledged way.
    POPULATION AREA DENSITY LITERACY DISTRICT CHRISTIANITY
    1,50,00,000 1,483 sq.km. 9340 81.82 9 7% Unofficially
    The city has two regions of population:-
    (a)- Inner ring road circle
    (b)- Outer ring road circle
    Inner ring road circle
    This part contains government offices & people from high class. 25% of the population has been dwelling in this region.
    Outer ring road circle
    This part contains middle income groups & lower income groups. 75% of the population has been dwelling in this region.
    Everyday, a lot of new people come to Delhi. Searching for jobs, many of them leaves Delhi so that ups & downs (i.e. shifting) almost everyday takes place in Delhi. It is one of the doors of India through which WORD can be focused. The people who leaves Delhi may receive God’s Word & also, these Words enter their cities is our only prayer & our foremost effort. Also, we pray that millions of people may know God’s Word.
    -1-
    ABOUT US
    I, Sushil Philip, belong to U.P. State & my wife, Shakila Philip, has come from Muslim Background & belongs to Bihar state. In the year 2002, Lord visionised us for to run His ministry. Unison, Gospel Distribution & visiting areas from inside & outside Delhi through different medium is our main task. Also, we have been providing evangelical materials into other churches through our ministry as a medium. The contents of our evangelical materials / tools are Gospel, Tract, New Testament, Bible, Cassette, Video Cd, Message Cd, etc.
    CHURCH PLANTING (TEAM WORK)
    We have selected seven people within holy spirit (Acts 6:3) who can be the reason to save spirits through full gospel preaching, Gathering people for the churches, Visiting homes & through open distribution. We are beginning church work at five places in Delhi which will be at a rental place which consists of two places in slum areas. All the churches will be in busy areas.
    PATERN (5 STEPS)
    s. Particulars Medium
    1. Step One (Introduction)
    Project Introduction
    2. Step Two (Follow up)
    Presenting Gospels
    3. Step Three
    Presenting New Testaments
    4.
    Step Four
    Sharing Gospels
    5.
    Step Five
    Invites for fellowship
    -2-
    OUR ACTIVITIES
    PART-II
    SCRIPTURE LITERATURE PROMOTION
    We, mostly, provide preaching materials to those churches in Hindi spoken areas where people can not buy. All of their needs are fulfilled i.e. tract, Gospel Book, New Testament, Message Cds, Jesus Movie, Bible & other materials are sent to new believers in 9 regions of many a cities.
    LISTED CHURCHES:- Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Nepal.
    GOSPEL DISTRIBUTION (TEAM WORK)
    -Public places – market – Government offices – Schools – Colleges – Station – trains- buses-
    PUBLICITY (TEAM WORK)
    One of our Gospel team roams in all these regions within a year. Through material display, Introduction, putting stalls in conventions & people are continuously being evangelized.
    GOSPEL DISTRIBUTION (OTHER MEDIUMS)
    Support through a lot of evangelical materials to different independent churches.
    -3-
    TEAM MEMBERS
    CHURCH PLANTING
    S. Name Father’s/ Husband’s Name Training Districts
    1. Mrs. Shakila Maryam Mr. Sushil Philip B.T.H. East Delhi
    2. Pr. K.C. Sharma Mr. R.C. Sharma C.T.H. East Delhi
    3. Pr. Kunwar Pal Mr. Ghure Singh C.T.H. North / East Delhi
    4. Pr. Anand Swaroop Mr. Ram Swaroop C.T.H. West Delhi
    5. Pr. Vijay Kumar Massih Mr. Krishna Ram B.T.H. North Delhi
    6. Pr. Chand Massih Mr. Mahuar Singh C.T.H. South Delhi
    7. Pr. Jasbeer Singh Mr. Pooran Singh G.T.H. South Delhi
    BUDGET
    CHURCH PLANTING (7 PASTORS)
    (Monthly / Annually Report)
    Support Fare Material Monthly (7 Pastors) Annually
    Rs. 4500 Rs. 500 Rs. 3000 Rs. 8000 * 7 pastors= Rs. 56000 Rs. 672000
    Rent for 5 Fellowship Centres Rs. 4000 * 5 centres= Rs. 20000 Rs. 240000
    MONTHLY BUDGET (in Rupees)= Rs. 76000
    ANNUAL BUDGET (in Rupees) Rs. 9,12,000
    -4-
    OUR SOCIAL PERSPECTIVE
    India is a developing country & many a province in North India are Undeveloped. Those places are surrounded with poverty, sickness, illiteracy, no better nourishment, Child labour, human rights, & persecution, etc. These malices will be removed only when the Gospel of Jesus Christ will reach into these places as Jesus Christ said, “The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives & recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord”. (Luke 4:18-19)
    1. To support or help Educational, Charitable, & Vocational
    2. To open Orphanage, Health Care Centres, Libraries, Reading Rooms for Welfare of the General Public.
    3. To start the Rehabilitation Centres for Destitute, Widows, Old Men & Women, and Poor.
    4. To donate Blankets, Rugs, Clothes, & Other Necessities for the people dwelling on Road, Rivar Banks, Under the Bridges & Stations.
    5. To create a Forum for Senior Citizens where they can exchange their various views & experiences which may be made available to Younger Generations.
    6. To help Poor & Indigent Persons in Marriages of their Sons & Daughters by way of Cash Donation.
    7. To offer Prizes & grant Scholarship to Deserving Students.
    8. To introduce the Self-Employment Programmes for rural people.
    9. To provide Nursing Aid to the Needy People especially for the Old Age Men & Women, Orphan, Ill, etc.
    10. To promote Literacy, Adult Education, Classes, Lectures, Exhibitions, Press Conferences, & Seminars.
    -5-
    CHRISTIAN LITERATURE SERVICE
    (Regd. Under Indian Trust Act 1882)
    CHURCH PLANTING – EVANGELISM – LITERATURE
    205 – Janta Flats, G.T.B. Enclave, Nand Nagri, Delhi-110093-INDIA Ph: 011-22582205, 9818191134, 9871114764
    E-mail: christianliteratureservice@yahoo.co.in
    To, 10-06-2007
    Respected Pastor,
    Greetings to you in the precious name of our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ!
    Our Ministry, besides Delhi, works regarding the distribution of Gospels, Tracts, New Testaments, & Bibles in many regions of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand. In Delhi, we have been starting Church Ministry through a team of 7 members among new people since we are doing an independent work, that’s why we don’t have any support for the team.
    We, often, arrange Gospel, Tracts, & New Testaments but it’s hard for us to buy Full Hindi Bible as we need 200 Full Hindi Bibles per month since we work among Low income group where people does not have the purchasing capacity, that’s the reason we have to provide the Bibles to the people free of cost. You can enhance the kingdom of God by participating & sponsoring any part of this project either monthly or yearly. We want to feed the people through 2 fishes & 5 Breads.
    Thanking You,
    In Christ,
    Sushil Philip
    Ministry In-charge
    -6-

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