Vital evangelism by German churches
Story by Vicki Brown, photos by Mike DuBose
March 21, 2018 | MUNICH, Germany (UMNS)
March 21, 2018 | MUNICH, Germany (UMNS)
Editor’s note: This is the ninth in an occasional series of stories, “German Methodism: A strong Christian voice,” about the 51,000-member United Methodist Church in Germany.
On the surface, a lively church in a new building with plenty of children and youth programs might not seem to have much in common with a tiny village church that runs a weekly community café or an inner-city church with aging members and multiple outreach programs.
Those United Methodist churches are quite different from another inner-city church that runs a nonprofit afterschool program for poor or immigrant children, or a church in an economically depressed area that holds regular outdoor services.
All those churches, as well as a group of young adults who just get together for dinner, have one thing in common: Each is an example of a vital congregation in Germany — an effort to reach out in “fresh expressions,” which Bishop Harald Rückert said is “simply doing good work.”