Tuesday, October 17, 2006

European Reflections (Part 1)

My first stop over in Europe was in Weimar, Germany with a phenomenal missionary couple, Rick and Nancy Dill. The Dills have served on mission in Germany for over 25 years and the fecundity of their work in Weimar is palpable. Rick and Nancy first sensed a calling to foreign missions as they were making the move to work with youth at Wieuca Road Baptist Church (the church where I currently serve as Coordinator for Missional Community). After three years at Wieuca, they made the transition and they and their two daughters crossed the Atlantic in obedience to God’s call upon their lives.

After working in Wiesbaden with singles for a number of years, the Dills moved to Weimar to plant a new church right after the Berlin Wall had fallen. What Rick and Nancy found there was quite interesting. Since Weimar was under the Soviet controlled area of Germany, the communist resistance to religion had made its presence known among its residents. Very few people had any interest in organized religion and a mere handful of followers had gathered through the fifty-year communist dominance for corporate worship. Into this anti-religion biased culture came Rick and Nancy.

Their ministry was frustrated a bit by the state church of Germany (the Lutheran Church) when the communist regime ended. The first thing that the state church did to welcome their estranged comrades back into the unified country was to reinstitute the church tax. You need not strain to imagine how the residents of Weimar received this exciting news.

Nevertheless, Rick and Nancy set about their work. Their ministry has been thoroughly indigenous. The Dill family is fluent in German (i.e. they immersed themselves in the language of the local culture). Rick even preaches in German and he has so committed himself to his language study that one can hardly detect a foreign accent. As one who has studied German, I appreciate the difficulty of this task.

The church that the Dills planted is First Baptist Church of Weimar. Their fellowship has grown to over 200 members. Rick explained to me that in the German church context, where less than 6% of the population frequents a church on any given month, FBC Weimar is a mega church. Their church is built upon relationships, not flashy church-growth strategies. As I strolled through the historic area of the city with Rick and Nancy, I was amazed at the number of people whom they new on a first-name basis. It seemed as if every street we passed brought new people who were rushing forward to greet Rick or Nancy.

What I take away from this visit for my Atlanta ministry context is that there is no substitute for quality, authentic relationships. It is imperative that church leaders understand the culture in which they are ministering and have immersed themselves in the language. A hearty smile and a contagious laugh have the power to break through the most resistant and withdrawn people. And only by drawing members of the indigenous culture into the workings of church will the product resonate with people for whom the church is suspect.

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