Church: Part 3

*** Please read part 1 and part 2 to be able to get a context for this post! ***

Now that you're all caught up, there are a few other things to keep in mind as you read this post. They might seem kind of random (at times we've thought so, too), but here they are: I have a BA in Biblical and Theological Studies and in Youth Ministry. Stefan has a German teaching license (and has a vollzeit Beamte position/already life tenured government position) and a Master of Divinity. I was the chair of the Missions and Evangelism Committee back in Lanesville for many years. We focused on full support of a missionary family, the Whites, in Austria (who I visited in Austria in 2001); they were later called to teach at a school in Giessen, Germany. I did my undergrad internship in Germany back in 1998 developing a youth program for a little church in Eastern Germany. The senior pastor of the church in Lanesville once came to Giessen and met the school leadership and was profusely thanked for being part of a church that supported their work. I always felt called to do something ministry related with Germany. Nothing ever seemed to work out. Stefan got a full ride to GCTS on the condition that he return to his home country to use his degree. When he graduated in 2007, we moved to Germany believing God wanted us here. Stefan took his school job to provide us with an income while we checked out ministry opportunities.

For nearly 3 years we've lived here and have been looking into full-time ministry positions. We're aware of the fact that his position in the public school system is also a ministry, but it never has felt like a true fulfillment of our combined Berüfung, or calling. This was confirmed to both of us separately during our Lenten time of prayer and fasting both last year and this year. Combine this with our church issues, and we often wondered if we got it all wrong or something.

Four or five weeks ago we ended up spending nearly an hour talking to the president of the Giessen seminary after church. We sort of expected to just talk for maybe 5 minutes, but it turned into one of those conversations where it was so self-propelled with everybody talking and not dominated by any one person, and before we knew it, there weren't many people left in the church. At the end of the conversation he mentioned that this church had a sister church out in the countryside that was looking for a pastor and that perhaps we might be interested.

After facing closed doors for three years, many of which were denominations basically saying not to bother applying for at least 7 years because of how things stood, of course we were interested. The church couldn't afford to pay a full time pastor right now, but we should make an appointment to talk to the Giessen pastor and see what he had to say about it.

Three weeks ago we had opportunity to meet up with our missionary friends, the Whites. They had already heard from the president that he had us in mind for this small church in the country. We had said nothing to anybody, so thought it was interesting. Joel filled us in a little more on what he knew about the church, which only added to the intrigue of the whole situation.

Two weeks ago Stefan met with the pastor in Giessen, Thorsten, to get the scoop on everything and share more about who we were. Incidentally, the seminary president had already talked to Thorsten about us as well, so he already had some ideas. Stefan and Thorsten have met before because of Stefan's mother's baptism and have a good relationship. Things went so well they decided to set up an appointment to go out to Erda to see things in person.

After church on Sunday, Stefan and I rode with Thorsten out to Erda (this website is also where all the pictures of this post are from). It's about 20 minutes from Giessen and 40 minutes from Marburg and is part of a grouping of villages, with Erda being one of the bigger towns. On one hand it's good that it's close to Giessen because if we were to get involved out there, we'd still be close to Stefan's mother to help her out as needed. On the other hand, it's pretty far from where we currently live and Stefan works, so time-wise (and gas-wise) it would be a significant investment. However, we're not 'there' yet, but we keep it in mind. It certainly is really lovely out there!

The church in Erda is over 100 years old, but currently has 57 members and only 1 elder. Preaching is done by a rotating group of pastors and seminary professors from Giessen. It was this elder, and his wife, that we met up and shared lunch with. Lunch was a really great time where we all got to know each other better, with Stefan and I, of course, doing the bulk of the sharing.

After our long lunch, we went over to the church property. Wow, I wish it wouldn't have been so inappropriate to take pictures, because it's pretty amazing what they've got going. They bought an old cigar factory and have been slowly gut renovating it over the past 7 years. All that's left to finish is the main sanctuary, some classrooms, and the main entry. Services are currently held in the walk-out basement fellowship hall - it has really low ceilings because it's where tobacco leaves used to be stacked. Once they move into the main sanctuary they'll have space to seat over 200 people. Like I said, the place is pretty nuts. Because they have been doing the work all themselves, with their own equipment and supplies, it's taken a while, but they're nearly finished.

(pictures of the town)

Also part of the building are 3 apartments, one for a pastor and family, 2 smaller ones, and a third studio apartment for visitors or interns. The location is right in the middle of town, so that's also pretty great. There is lots of space here to grow, all you have to do is look around you to get about 50 new ideas of things to do in the space!

Ministry opportunities are many with a flourishing youth program, lots of attendees, most of whom do not currently attend Sunday services, but might in the future, etc. There's a youth group of about 10-15 students who meet weekly and it sounds like there's a room for growth if somebody were to come along who could help, specifically with the girls. There's also a decent sized mom and infant group, and another group of 5-10 yr olds who are regularly involved in activities, but are looking for more help.

Needless to say, we're pretty interested! In two weeks we'll attend a Sunday service there and be introduced to the congregation. They'll have a bistro type of time after the service that week, so people will naturally stay longer, allowing us more time to meet people and get a feel for the congregation. If that goes well, we'll start attending Sunday services there and start getting more involved in the fall, Stefan with preaching and me with youth work. Of course, we still live far away, so nobody would expect too much in this time frame, but it would be a time for all of us to check each other out.

We really like how we don't feel any pressure about this situation. The earliest Stefan could even try filing to reduce his hours would be in January of 2011 for the fall of 2011. Even then, he's not allowed to receive payment for a second job, even if he's only part time. There seem to be other ways to go about getting part time pay, or an equivalent, so we're optimistic.

As Thorsten drove us back to Giessen he said it best, "At this point I really feel the door has opened that much further, rather than closing in any way". We feel the same way.

Stefan and I would really love your prayers as we explore this avenue further. Specifically, please pray for wisdom, discernment, perspective, the forming of good relationships, etc.