Die evangelistische methodistische Kirche

Let me first say that I was highly impressed by a church that is trying to do something counter to what's generally going on in European churches. Too many church buildings have become museums -- nobody worships in them anymore.

Computer time is at a premium right at this moment, so I will have to finish this thought later...

The first thing I got to experience was the children's program. Now, you've got to know that we're not talking about an extremely large church. I don't know if they have megachurches in Germany -- something tells me "no" (but remember that I haven't done any research to guide me to this conclusion) -- but this is no megachurch. There's maybe room for 150-200 tops in their sanctuary. And they're made up like many churches here -- lots of older folks, some young families, teenagers, and kids.

On Friday night, we got to see the children's ministry in action. It was only in its second week, so nobody knew what to expect. We got there to find some 35 kids hearing a clear Gospel presentation. They did it in scenes, each one acted out (mostly by teenagers). The kids all sat quietly and listened (perhaps the game time before had tired them out?) and quite a few came forward when they came to a time of decision.

These were mostly neighborhood kids, too. Kids who had no church background. Kids whose parents aren't bringing them regularly. One thing I thought was cool: they had each kid put his or her name on a paper circle, which they put on the wall. On Sunday, one of the leaders invited the congregation to go and see the names and commit to pray for those neighborhood children by name. And I don't think it was by coincidence that the one name card the leader brought in to show the congregation had a Turkish name on it...