Germany has always been a core part of our family’s story. Germany is where we met and where we ultimately fell in love. We owe our marriage to the ‘God-thing’ that happened when we found each other while serving in a small church in a town called Rostock in former Soviet bloc East Germany. We left Germany after a year, but Germany and our memories of the wonderful people there never left us—we hoped and prayed that one day, God might bring us back to Germany to serve his kingdom in Europe.
We served in Rostock, Germany, because the church there is sadly very small and terribly under-resourced. The church doesn’t have enough people and they don’t have money to hire the people they need—just 2.5% of Europeans are evangelical Christians. The church in Rostock, and in Germany at large, needs to grow but it can’t grow without help and it can’t grow unless it develops new ways of reaching people outside the four walls of the empty church buildings that dot the landscape of Europe.
In Rostock, we found that people lived isolated and disconnected lives. Most people minded their own business and only interacted with their immediate circle of friends and family. We also found that even though people desperately craved community and connection, no one would ever consider entering a church. Christianity is seen as cute and laughable, like Greek or Norse gods of old—’superstitious nonsense’. But we noticed there was one place where people in Rostock came together to sit and talk and discuss their problems.
While chatting in a café for a few hours, we realized that coffee shops were an ideal way to meet people, since Germans have a coffee break every afternoon! If the local church started its own café, it could host community events and make connections that never would have been possible from within the church building. We prayed and began to hope that one day God might call us to this kind of unique ministry.
Now, 7 years later, we’ve finished school, our family has grown by one, and a golden opportunity has dropped in our laps. A pastor friend of ours in Rostock is opening a café through his church. He has the property and a location, and he would like us to come and run the café and turn it into a hub that connects the church to the surrounding community. We couldn’t believe it, we would have a chance to return to Rostock and to serve in the very ministry we had ourselves imagined so many years ago. We knew God had been calling us to this ministry, so we said yes.
Our vision: “to see a community created and fostered through an intentional ministry of hospitality in Germany.”
Our mission: “reaching Germany by sharing the hope and love of Christ.”
Join us, and read about our journey to do ministry in Germany with Greater Europe Mission. With God’s help, all things are possible! We are so excited that you are coming along for the ride.
A Warm Haus & Home 