Worship in Berlin!
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Lubna and Cindy.
Berlin needs Jesus. Just like Orlando, Florida. Just like Atlanta, Georgia or New York City or San Fransisco. However, Berlin, and by extension all Germany, has a history that is overwhelming, and so much different than America. What Berliners had to overcome in living memory cannot be fathomed by folks here in the U.S. Much as I would love to delve into German history, I won't. You can read it easy enough on line. Suffice to say, Berlin needs Jesus, Who loves them enough to die for them.
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Jesus uses His Word and His Saints to awaken, and to disciple. He uses people who love, who care, and most of all, who understand and are willing to share and partake. To walk in Berliner shoes. To "laden ein Bier ein" (share a beer with). To come along side, to support. To encourage. We all do, really. Berliners are just like everybody else. This was why I was curious about the Hillsong Church, which we visited one Sunday!
Jesus uses His Word and His Saints to awaken, and to disciple. He uses people who love, who care, and most of all, who understand and are willing to share and partake. To walk in Berliner shoes. To "laden ein Bier ein" (share a beer with). To come along side, to support. To encourage. We all do, really. Berliners are just like everybody else. This was why I was curious about the Hillsong Church, which we visited one Sunday!
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It's called the B/C (Berlin Connect) Home. The card and literature say "Welcome Home", which could be the name they use, but Googling shows a "parent name" of Berlin Connect. Funny.... nobody there actually referred to it by name, and I didn't think to ask "Hey Duda, was nannt Mann diesen Ort??" (Hey, you there, what do ya call this place?)
They meet in a large "Kino", a multiplex Cinema, located by the KulturBrauerei, Schönhauser Allee 36. It was an awesome place, and I had one of the best worship experiences I have had in years! It backed a large, cobblestone courtyard the size of a soccer field, which had food trucks parked for use after the service. About fifteen foodies, in fact! With food from all around the world. I had.... ahem.... German. Sorry. I didn't come to Berlin to eat Korean.
Lots and lots of food. Lots and lots of people. Oh, of course many just came in off the surrounding streets to grab lunch, but how neat was it to be at the back door of your church, where as soon as you are done with engaging with the Saints of Light, you get to engage the folks auf der Straße, on the street, immediately!
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It's called the B/C (Berlin Connect) Home. The card and literature say "Welcome Home", which could be the name they use, but Googling shows a "parent name" of Berlin Connect. Funny.... nobody there actually referred to it by name, and I didn't think to ask "Hey Duda, was nannt Mann diesen Ort??" (Hey, you there, what do ya call this place?)
They meet in a large "Kino", a multiplex Cinema, located by the KulturBrauerei, Schönhauser Allee 36. It was an awesome place, and I had one of the best worship experiences I have had in years! It backed a large, cobblestone courtyard the size of a soccer field, which had food trucks parked for use after the service. About fifteen foodies, in fact! With food from all around the world. I had.... ahem.... German. Sorry. I didn't come to Berlin to eat Korean.
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During the worship itself, the singing, the praising .... I watched in amazement. People dancing in the pews. Ok, theatre seating. They were dancing! That's what I wanted to see. Germans dancing before their Lord and King. Do you know how amazing that is to see Berliners dancing in the pews? Trust me on this one.
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And here we Ami's sat, stiff as a board. I wanted to run over with them and just... dance. I wanted to dance for my mother. I wanted to dance for my Uncle Kurt. I wanted to dance for my Grandmother and Grandfather Klöpfer, who lost everything near and dear. I wanted to dance for the atheists in my family who lost all faith and hope, replacing it with cynicism. I wanted to dance in the aisles with fellow Saints of Light.
And here we Ami's sat, stiff as a board. I wanted to run over with them and just... dance. I wanted to dance for my mother. I wanted to dance for my Uncle Kurt. I wanted to dance for my Grandmother and Grandfather Klöpfer, who lost everything near and dear. I wanted to dance for the atheists in my family who lost all faith and hope, replacing it with cynicism. I wanted to dance in the aisles with fellow Saints of Light.
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It was not a packed house, but there were a sizable number there. There was a Hillsong Band that played up front, and some really great vocalists. They came from Germany, from Austria, the pastor himself is from Australia. The guest speaker came from Britain. The congregation is total einwohner Berliner, peppered with various ex-pats, from what I could tell in my one and only visit.
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It was too dark inside to take candid shots, I wish I could have made a video of the service, the band, and the worship songs which were epic. The message themed on the value and worth of a person in the eyes of God. It was one that I believe keyed into the thought-world of most millennial generation Berliners. It keyed into the identity of the believer. It may not have been a favourite theme for R.C. Sproul or John MacArthur, but I think it spoke to Berliners right where they are at. It spoke of the fulfillment that only the Father of Lights is able to provide. We don't have to go looking for love in all the wrong places!
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The take-away from the message that morning was familiar: everyone has a God-shaped hole in their person, their being, that only the Father can fill. But we try to fill it with everything else. Working in the "Gay Triangle", I sure cannot argue with the theology in this message. It looms large in my life, and I suspect, everyone else's.
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I did manage to get a couple videos of the entry area where folks are met by greeters, and where they meet each other. It's the Multiplex food concession area. It was neat to simply kibitz the area!
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I did manage to get a couple videos of the entry area where folks are met by greeters, and where they meet each other. It's the Multiplex food concession area. It was neat to simply kibitz the area!
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Sorry for the lack of editing. I just sorta panned the
area while waiting for the rest of the group! You might
have noticed the top photo was taken between these
two videos.
The "Welcome Home" Berlin Connect church has a specific three point ministry.
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1. "Envision", which speaks to the worship service on Sunday itself, which is amazing, and yes, "envisioning", as I hope you might conclude based upon the above narrative.
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2. "Enlarge", which speaks to core development of the Church Community itself, and I get that. You can never, EVER, in a million years have an effective outreach unless you have excellent inreach. We miss that in main line "Evangelica" here in the states because, whether cognizant of it or not, we have overwritten Business Culture into our Churches.... which is why we rely so much on selling people on the Gospel, we train sales techniques, we try to attract people to 'buy our wares'. Marketing the Gospel. We make it sound sooo valid by using the Corporate Business term: Outward Focused. "We are all-in", another business term that comes right out of the corporate think-tanks! We are so, so commercially oriented, I don't think we realise it. But if we do something novel, like rely on the Holy Spirit to draw and to call, and focus on the open Word, and love one for another within, then maybe those on the outside looking in may say what Josephus once quoted:
"Oh, how they love one another!" Nothing is more attractive than that.
Now, where was I? Oh, yeah....
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3. "Engage". This is where they take it to the street, that is, they engage the community in the "Alltage", the "Everyday". The one on one. Making relationships, making friends. Enjoying their fellow "Einwohner".
I want to share this paragraph, which is found in the "Welcome" brochure:
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If any of this peaques your interest, look up:
Berlin Connect
Welcome Home
(Kino in der KultureBrauerei)
Schoenhauser Alle 36. 10435, Berlin
Did I just do a commercial thing and advertise a church? (sigh!)
Hey, gang, I have to wrap this up here. I can go on and on, but time and space is limited. Let me part by asking you, dear Saint, to pray for revival in Germany. Maybe it can start at Hauptstadt Berlin! The Capital City Berlin !
Tschüß!
(At some point I would like to get hold of the presentation video we made for this trip to show to our congregation... I still may be able to get somebody to forward it to me, it seems to have fallen between the cracks.)
.
1. "Envision", which speaks to the worship service on Sunday itself, which is amazing, and yes, "envisioning", as I hope you might conclude based upon the above narrative.
.
2. "Enlarge", which speaks to core development of the Church Community itself, and I get that. You can never, EVER, in a million years have an effective outreach unless you have excellent inreach. We miss that in main line "Evangelica" here in the states because, whether cognizant of it or not, we have overwritten Business Culture into our Churches.... which is why we rely so much on selling people on the Gospel, we train sales techniques, we try to attract people to 'buy our wares'. Marketing the Gospel. We make it sound sooo valid by using the Corporate Business term: Outward Focused. "We are all-in", another business term that comes right out of the corporate think-tanks! We are so, so commercially oriented, I don't think we realise it. But if we do something novel, like rely on the Holy Spirit to draw and to call, and focus on the open Word, and love one for another within, then maybe those on the outside looking in may say what Josephus once quoted:
"Oh, how they love one another!" Nothing is more attractive than that.
Now, where was I? Oh, yeah....
.
3. "Engage". This is where they take it to the street, that is, they engage the community in the "Alltage", the "Everyday". The one on one. Making relationships, making friends. Enjoying their fellow "Einwohner".
I want to share this paragraph, which is found in the "Welcome" brochure:
.
If any of this peaques your interest, look up:
Berlin Connect
Welcome Home
(Kino in der KultureBrauerei)
Schoenhauser Alle 36. 10435, Berlin
Did I just do a commercial thing and advertise a church? (sigh!)
Hey, gang, I have to wrap this up here. I can go on and on, but time and space is limited. Let me part by asking you, dear Saint, to pray for revival in Germany. Maybe it can start at Hauptstadt Berlin! The Capital City Berlin !
Tschüß!
(At some point I would like to get hold of the presentation video we made for this trip to show to our congregation... I still may be able to get somebody to forward it to me, it seems to have fallen between the cracks.)
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