Our current world is changing at an exponential rate. How well are we doing in adapting our missional strategies in Europe to this rapid change? The GLOBALshift Consultation seeks to create a dialog about the future of missions in Europe. Through the biblical teaching of globally experienced speakers and many levels of group interaction, this will be unique learning experience.

The Consultation will interact over three missiological themes:

• The globalization of the world and the opportunities this creates in Europe
• The increased opportunity for Kingdom-oriented connections and global partnerships
• A deep look at how we do missions today with a desire to prepare for effectiveness in the rapidly changing future

This is a by-invitation consultation sponsored by the Europe Division of ReachGlobal to help us prepare for the changing face of Europe over the next 10 years.

An interesting perspective of Berlin was published by Gemeinsam für Berlin this month:

“Berlin draws a large number of creative people. We have often written about this. The importance of creativity in relation to income for the city can be seen in numbers—on a national scale, creative industries make up only 2.6% of the entire economy. In Berlin, however, the creative industries comprise 13% of the economy! The creative industries are comprised of companies in the areas of music, visual arts, film, design, games, and books.”

Residents or visitors can quickly see this aspect of Berlin – from the street graffiti to the many opportunities for enjoying the arts. Sociologists tell us that creative people lead the development of ideas and forming people’s worldview. There is a great opportunity to bring the expression of the gospel into this aspect of the city.

If you are a creative person with a desire to express Christ in many unique ways, perhaps Berlin is the place for you. Contact us if you want to consider this, berlin@efca.org.

Over the last six months, the ReachGlobal-Berlin team and partners have been dreaming about developing a leadership/discipleship training center for ministry in a Post-Christian World. Signs continue that the spiritual landscape in America is becoming more secularized like Europe. The Church needs to be prepared for the challenges this produces.

The idea for the Training Center is to utilize the context of Berlin to equip leaders for ministry in a post-Christian context.  This will train participants over a 12-month intern period in cross-cultural ministry, practical theology, and living in community to aid in their personal and spiritual formation. The program is geared toward young adults in the post-college years.

The participants will engage in the following learning objectives:

• Language learning: participants will learn a basic level of German (4-6 months)
• Cross-cultural ministry: participants will serve in a local ministry throughout the internship
• Practical theology: participants will interact periodically with local and visiting experts on selected themes
• Community living: participants will engage one another in spiritual formation topics
• Mentoring: participants will meet regularly with a mentor for their personal development

In a joint partnership between ReachGlobal-Berlin and Two Rivers Church (EFCA, Knoxville, TN), we are developing a cohort group that will move to Berlin in September 2011. We will work together to lay the foundation for this project, providing a path for other young adults to follow in future years.

The newest addition to the ReachGlobal-Berlin team arrived in Berlin this week. John Hasler is from National Community Church in Washington, D.C.  He will be leading our business-as-mission project, which is a joint effort between NCC and ReachGlobal. The project will represent the Berlin Campus of NCC, although it will have many unique differences to fit the Berlin culture.

John arrived in Berlin on the 21st anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, November 9.  Very fitting! The Wall represented a barrier between East and West Berlin, a clear division of the city, and the collapse of the Wall open the path toward unifying people of different ideologies together. Our hope with this project is to break down the barriers between secular and spiritual-minded people, and to discover common ground in which to share ideas and work in community together.

The ReachGlobal-Berlin Team is very grateful to have John on-board with us. We look forward to the days ahead and the outcome of this new initiative.

You can contact John through his blog: justicetabernacle.wordpress.com

A few weeks ago I had the chance to travel with a prayer team from Two Rivers Church in Knoxville TN. We visited several of the churches in Germany where I have been involved for the last seven years. I gained a clearer perspective that spiritual interest is changing in former East Germany.

My German colleagues would not call this change revival by any means, but to a person they mentioned that something is clearly happening. My good friend Bernard stated it this way:

“For the last couple decades the church (in East Germany) has been on the defensive – acting in survival mode. Yet now we sit at a point of change. The time for the church is now. The church needs to move on the offense, offering gospel solutions to a culture looking for answers.” (paraphrased)

The time is now!

It’s a similar story in the larger eastern German cities. Christ-followers are very small in number (under 2% in all cases) and  the ‘non-belief’ in God is high (60-70%). YET there is a thawing in a small few and in many cases the number of Christ-followers has doubled or tripled in the last 5 years.

For many of us, there is a sense that the time in NOW – it is time to hold firm to the hope the gospel offers and to share it with others boldly and often. The years ahead are promising!! The church is growing!

If you would like to ride this exciting wave with us, check out the opportunities with the Berlin-East Germany Team.