It was a privilege to hear in the second session Gerhard Roth from Wetzlar, near Frankfurt, in Germany. He spoke of the darkness of Germany where just 2 million of the 85 million are Protestant (Lutheran or Reformed). Most of these would be nominal. There are also a million or so independent Christians, the Baptist Union being the largest group. Johan Oncken was the original founder of the Reformed Baptists in the early 19th century. There were close connections between Spurgeon and Oncken. The Oncken Verlag published many Spurgeon sermons in German. The BU, however, soon moved from its good origins and today is not Reformed and liberal in many cases.
More recently there has been a small movement towards Reformed Baptist theology. A few people in different places in Germany came across Reformed books such as the Forgotten Spurgeon by Iain Murray translated into German. Bowdlerised versions of Spurgeon also raised questions for people. Jorg Muller's Warburg Verlag also began alongside the Fiel Verlag.
In 1995 a church was formed - probably the first RB church in Germany in many, many a year. The church sought help from other RB churches but made little progress until a church in Northern Ireland lent a hand. Still the church had no pastor and eventually there was a sad split. However, in 2009 a small church formed in Wetzlar (and also in Biskirchen). Two other churches also formed (in Waldenbuch and Heilbron) soon after and there are now 5 or 6 of them (Neunstadt is another).
There is also work in Denmark (refugees because they are home schoolers - home schooling is illegal in Germany), near Munich and now in West Berlin. Since 2005 there have been camps for young people involving people also from France and Switzerland. Martin Holdt did consider coming as a missionary but eventually declined but two others have gone to Germany (including former LTS student Andre Bay). Germany that once sent out missionaries to Africa is now receiving missionaries from Africa.
We were urged to pray for the many young people. He confessed the danger of Shibboleths and the need of love. He also spoke of the danger of emigration under pressure. He explained the freedom that they have but there is a problem of an increasingly anti-Christian climate of the atheistic and superstitious sorts. Because the schools are so bad many Christians are keen to home school. However, Germany is the one country in Europe where state schooling is compulsory (it has been the case since 1938! - significant year) and there can be many difficulties. The German law is actually anti-constitutional. He drew attention to the story of the Romeikes who have found asylum in the USA - see here. Also see here.
At the end Daniel Webber of EMF also spoke about Jorg and Heike Muller.
Links
Wetzlar RBC
Heilbron Fellowship
Biskirchen
Also Hanover and Celle
More recently there has been a small movement towards Reformed Baptist theology. A few people in different places in Germany came across Reformed books such as the Forgotten Spurgeon by Iain Murray translated into German. Bowdlerised versions of Spurgeon also raised questions for people. Jorg Muller's Warburg Verlag also began alongside the Fiel Verlag.
In 1995 a church was formed - probably the first RB church in Germany in many, many a year. The church sought help from other RB churches but made little progress until a church in Northern Ireland lent a hand. Still the church had no pastor and eventually there was a sad split. However, in 2009 a small church formed in Wetzlar (and also in Biskirchen). Two other churches also formed (in Waldenbuch and Heilbron) soon after and there are now 5 or 6 of them (Neunstadt is another).
There is also work in Denmark (refugees because they are home schoolers - home schooling is illegal in Germany), near Munich and now in West Berlin. Since 2005 there have been camps for young people involving people also from France and Switzerland. Martin Holdt did consider coming as a missionary but eventually declined but two others have gone to Germany (including former LTS student Andre Bay). Germany that once sent out missionaries to Africa is now receiving missionaries from Africa.
We were urged to pray for the many young people. He confessed the danger of Shibboleths and the need of love. He also spoke of the danger of emigration under pressure. He explained the freedom that they have but there is a problem of an increasingly anti-Christian climate of the atheistic and superstitious sorts. Because the schools are so bad many Christians are keen to home school. However, Germany is the one country in Europe where state schooling is compulsory (it has been the case since 1938! - significant year) and there can be many difficulties. The German law is actually anti-constitutional. He drew attention to the story of the Romeikes who have found asylum in the USA - see here. Also see here.
At the end Daniel Webber of EMF also spoke about Jorg and Heike Muller.
Links
Wetzlar RBC
Heilbron Fellowship
Biskirchen
Also Hanover and Celle
2 comments:
A million independent churches eh? That's one church for every eight germans...
Thanks for spotting that - I've corrected it now to Christians
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