Evangelism in Present-Day Germany

The years 1946-1947 were in the truest sense of the word years of reconstruction. Our ministers served the various congregations which had been quickly gathered together again, and searched for interested souls. We now have fifteen new and reconstructed chap­els.

By RUDOLF DETTMAR, President, Hessia-Westphalian Conference, Germany

The years 1946-1947 were in the truest sense of the word years of reconstruction. Our ministers served the various congregations which had been quickly gathered together again, and searched for interested souls. We now have fifteen new and reconstructed chap­els. Several of our brethren promised, after the completion of the chapels, to proclaim the gos­pel in a fuller measure through public evange­lism. I also determined to do this, and worked out a plan of evangelization for the whole con­ference.

It is true in this country that the large mass of people who have drifted away from God, and who lead a political but not a religious life, have never been reached through evangeliza­tion on the part of the various religious organ­izations. Our evangelistic efforts were directed to those who were already under the influence of the Word of God. The task of the Christian world to evangelize remained an unfulfilled re­sponsibility. This fact raised the question as to the reason for the lack of work for the masses. Perhaps it is not so much because the task is lacking, as the fact that Christianity today needs to recognize its responsibility of preaching God's last message to the world. This task is ours ; therefore, our program of evangelization must be influenced both by our recognition of our task and by the prophetic word. Only in this way can it become the clarion call it should be, penetrating into those circles where God is unknown. The threefold message is a barrier against apostasy. The prophetic word, because of its confirmation through the signs of the times, contains so much comfort that the best method of evange­lization today is through emphasis of the pro­phetic word. The Voice of Hope, as it is heard through the book Morgenrot fiber Ruinen (Dawn Over Ruins), as heard over Radio Luxemburg, is also the voice which promises success in the work of evangelization. The line of thought in the evangelistic meetings must reach beyond the judgment to the redemption, beyond the ruins of the wailing wall of time to the eternal city of God. The consideration of the 'problem and the work of evangelization calls for the following series of subjects :

1. The 20th Century in Its Relationship to God's Judgment Upon Babel.

2. Prophecy Reveals the Fate of Europe (Daniel 2).

3. From Jerusalem's Wailing Wall to the City of God (Matthew 24).

4. "Behold, I Make All Things New" (Rev­elation).

Related topics were:

1. The Advent Within the Advent.

2. The Spirit of Berea in the Present Age.

3. The Visible Return of Christ.

4. God's Last Call to Our World.

Prepared with the above list of topics, I started the series of meetings. Over a number of weekends I visited each of the churches with reconstructed chapels, and held meetings Friday evening, Sabbath evening, and Sunday afternoon. Tuesday and Wednesday evenings I held meetings in my home church, Bielefeld, and also in the church at Brackwede, which I could reach by streetcar. The new meeting places are wonderfully fallow ground for God. With them our seatincr6 capacity was increased by eighteen hundred. The larger places, such as Kassel, Dortmund, and Gelsenkirchen, are always full during the week-end meetings. The meetings in Bielefeld are also well attended. How grateful the churches feel where evange­listic meetings are being held for the first time.

The visitors are a very attentive audience. We often find persons present who once en­joyed the blessings of a large share of this world's goods. Today they are searching for eternal riches. We receive many more requests for personal interviews after the meetings than was customary before the war. These inter­views are always the beginning of a firm hold on souls. In the churches where the week-end meetings are held, there is always a decided in­crease in attendance from Friday to Sunday evening. The method of distributing the printed copies of the lectures which have been given verbally, always helps the local minister to ob­tain the addresses of those who attend the meet­ings.

During the week-end meetings in Hagen three persons greeted me who six months previous, in the town of Gevelsberg, had heard for the first time a series of meetings conducted by C. A. Motzer, W. Peters, and me. After these meetings Erich Schubert, the minister, was able to baptize other converts in addition to these three. Our believers take an active part in the work of these meetings by distributing the announcements and inviting their friends. They, too, carry away with them an inner gain. Before the currency reform was put into effect we had eight hundred placards printed, without stating names and dates. These were taken, largely by our young people, and fastened in prominent places on walls and still-existing ruins. Working for the Lord and listening to the same old message maintain the good spirit in our faithful people.

We experience no difficulties in this work. The reason for this may be a solemn, sadden­ing one. People of today have become immune to all things godly because of the spirit of the times. They do not fight against God, because for them God does not exist. Many a follower has been gained from the ranks of the persecu­tor, but the lukewarm ones have been spewed out of the mouth of God. In Catholic regions at times the owner of a building has been led to prohibit our use of a hall for which we had already paid.

The call of our brethren who returned from their recent trip to the General Conference Autumn Council session for new efforts in evangelization leads me to think upon methods by which the ministers in our country dis­tricts, or those who are still too young or al­ready too old to hold public meetings, may be drawn into this greater evangelization pro­gram. They should do house-to-house work once a week. To make this method successful, I thought the following entering wedge might be used : Employing the radio program the Voice of Prophecy, we would ask whether they have ever heard the program in the German language. From then on the conversation would determine the course of action. Where the peo­ple do not have a radio, we would offer them our missionary literature. In doing this work from house to house, much depends on getting in touch with as many people as possible, and engaging them in earnest conversation. A num­ber of our fellow workers want to try this method.

The intensive thought given to evangeliza­tion makes us take cognizance of the cities where we as yet do not have any congrega­tions. Here we want to introduce a plan of evangelizing new territory. As quickly as our means permit us to make a somewhat more ex­tensive announcement of our efforts, we want to try a city of from twenty to thirty thousand inhabitants, and circularize it with our an­nouncements sent through the mail, inviting the people to three consecutive meetings in the larg­est hall obtainable. After these meetings a col­portuer would work the city with our literature. The names and addresses received would be turned over to the worker, who would water the seeds and pray for God's ripening blessings.

By RUDOLF DETTMAR, President, Hessia-Westphalian Conference, Germany

September 1949

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