We just went online with our pages on the EFCA site. Take a look: Berlin City Team

And a new friend, Mike Eaton, recently joined me for a week in Berlin to film a video to increase the interest in joining the ReachGlobal-Berlin City Team.  The testimony is touching and the cinematography is great.  Take-3min and have a look.

For those that might be interested in learning more, drop us an email at berlin@efca.org

I recently came across this quotation from Ronald Regan’s famous Berlin speech, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall”, June 12, 1987:

Years ago, before the East Germans began rebuilding their churches, they erected a secular structure: the television tower at Alexanderplatz. Virtually ever since, the authorities have been working to correct what they view as the tower’s one major flaw: treating the glass sphere at the top with paints and chemicals of every kind. Yet even today when the sun strikes that sphere, that sphere that towers over all Berlin, the light makes the sign of the cross. There in Berlin, like the city itself, symbols of love, symbols of worship, cannot be suppressed.

The Fernsehturm (Television Tower) was commissioned under the atheist ideals of East Germany’s leadership.  With the cross so prominent a symbol over the city, Berliners called the Tower, Rache des Papstes, or “Pope’s Revenge”.

In my wanderings around a city with so many not knowing Christ, the cross reflected off the Tower on a sunny day is a reminder that God cannot be suppressed.  <><

We recently concluded the Berlin Church Planting Summit.  It was a forum between 14-U.S. churches and 7-FeG church planting projects to discuss how to help multiply healthy churches in Berlin/Brandenburg. There were many good ideas, mutual encouragement, and the beginning of several long term relationships.

During the Summit, Timo Heimlich and I were interviewed by a radio affiliate of TransWorld Radio. (Catch it here in German.)  The interviewer was intrigued by the idea of why churches in America would be interested in the spiritual condition in Berlin.  Perhaps I was caught off-guard because it did not feel abnormal to me.  During the interview I responded to this question by stated that my American colleagues were here to serve and learn.  Is that unusual in today’s political climate? It must be, as this piqued the reporter’s interest.

My view.  In many U.S. regions, America is dealing more and more with the decreasing influence of Christianity.  While the U.S. is not yet post-Christian, many think that this is the path that lies ahead. Post-Christianity is the situation we see in Europe.  Americans need to learn from what church planters and pastors face daily in a city like Berlin.  The secular, spiritually- tolerant mix creates a living-learning-laboratory than can be very important to evangelism and discipleship in the American future.

The church in eastern Germany is small in numbers and young in experience.  Yet they are rich in learning how to deal with issues that are on the forefront of the next generation of young adults.  The American church can help directly with increasing resources, including sending workers, to grow the church in Europe.  Yet they too can directly learn about life transformation (discipleship) in a place that is relatively hostile to the gospel.

We can learn from one another.

Recently T.J. Addington shared with us precept about people of deep influence.  They pay attention to the following areas of life:

• Forged on the inside
• Growing emotional intelligence
• Choosing a posture of humility
• Embracing spiritual transformation
• Allowing suffering to mold me
• Managing the dark side (being alert to temptations)
• Choosing intentionality
• Contrarian thinking (question status quo)
• Coming to clarity
• Mentoring others
• Leading from who God made me to be
• Persevering in adversity

“The cross must be raised again at the center of the marketplace as well as on the steeple of the church.” - George McLeod

One of the most exciting things for the ReachGlobal-Berlin team is a partnership with National Community Church in Washington, D.C., to create a new platform for ministry.  This is an incredible story of convergences, i.e. God-stories, which are bringing together a like-minded team to experiment with another way to impact post-Christian Europe.

We each bring a unique story to how this began.  My starting point for this was my graduate studies in urban theology.  The idea of God “bringing peace on our cities” (Jer 29:7) through the gospel working in His people, opened my eyes to explore ministry more holistically.  I have a keen-and-true church planting passion and commitment, yet widening the front-door toward this has been a good journey for me.

Dan Kimball (They Like Jesus But Not the Church) explains that post-Christianity has widen the gap between the church and culture to the point that misperceptions and distrust have created a great chasm. This chasm can be crossed through authentic relationships usually outside the setting of the church. The church tradition often positions the church for people to come-to-us to engage in relationships. The challenge (in post-Christian Europe) is to go-to-them, or to create safe environments outside the suspicion of the church to engage in community together.

So as I converge with this like-minded business-as-mission team, my hopes are to create a safe place, often called a ‘third place’ for the church to cross paths with unchurched people.  The business part is important so that we can create the environment and model life in the marketplace.  Part of the hope is for business to give back profits directly to help the local neighborhood (e.g. service to the needy).  It is also an active place of community and dialog about conversations that matter.

The other team members bring more creative ideas into a melting pot of innovation.  The journey is organic and filled with a strong sense is that God is taking us somewhere in our dialog.  We are aggressive moving ahead, yet have a spirit of waiting on the Lord to synergize our discernment and creativity with the specific opportunities in Berlin.  There are exciting days ahead as we discover this together.

Note: John Hasler will be leading this effort for the Berlin team.  This is a direct mission effort of National Community Church.  John is moving to Berlin in late-2010 and will remain part of the NCC movement while serving on the ReachGlobal team.