Last November Pastor Joachim Kanitz was released from his ministry with the Evangelical Church in West Berlin for re fusing to baptize small children.
The pastoress (there are about 23 Protestant lady pastors holding office in West Berlin) who succeeded Pastor Kanitz in his office planned for a special series of Bible studies in her church, thus hoping to bring about a revival among its members. For this series of Wednesday night studies she chose the subject, "Sects in the Light of Holy Scriptures."
Among the "sects" she included Seventh-day Adventists. However before speaking about our denomination she chose to con fer with an older colleague, seeking thus to learn more about us. The man whom she consulted assured her that Seventh-day Adventists were very good people. In fact, some weeks before he had found victory over the smoking habit by attending our Five-Day Plan conducted at Berlin-Wilmersdorf. He advised her to speak positively about Seventh-day Adventists, and then suggested that she get in touch with her predecessor, Pastor Kanitz, for additional information. For about a year be fore his release, Pastor Kanitz had been visiting the patients of his church at our Seventh-day Adventist Hospital Waldfriede, and in this way had become some what acquainted with us.
This contact ultimately led her to invite someone from our headquarters in Berlin to present the topic about Seventh-day Adventists to her church. After a short welcome she apologized openly for having chosen the expression "sects" in her topic. "The Seventh-day Adventist Church is not a sect," she explained. She went on to state how, according to information she had gathered, they are a Christian denomination in many ways similar to the Evangelical Church. Then she read a letter written by Pastor Kanitz to the superintendent of the Evangelical Church in which he questioned the wisdom of regarding Seventh-day Adventists as a sect. In the letter he encouraged discussion with Seventh-day Adventists, and concluded with, "But the prerequisite for such conversations would be that we do meet them as brethren and not as sectarians."
Following these words of introduction the pastoress turned the time over to the speaker from our Berlin office, Pastor H. Morenings, president of the West Berlin Conference. In his presentation he spoke at length of the rise of the Advent Movement and of our beliefs. A cordial and spirited discussion followed. Then the question was raised as to whether or not they would be permitted to attend our church services, whereupon the lady pastor, Pastoress Gerloff, suggested that her whole congregation attend one of our services at Berlin-Zehlendorf. The date agreed upon was Wednesday, May 5, when the subject would be on the condition of man in death. At the time of this writing, this date is yet future.
In another instance a young Protestant pastor in Berlin-Mariendorf tried to stimulate his congregation by presenting a series of Sunday-morning sermons on the general theme, "Christ and His Sects." Printed invitation cards were distributed in the community by the young people of the church. When Pastor Morenings learned of this, he sent the pastor the books Christ Our Righteousness and Christ in the Faith and Life of Seventh-day Adventists. Subsequently the pastor called Pastor Morenings, requesting the opportunity to visit with him. After a four-hour discussion, the young man had changed his opinion of Seventh-day Adventists and invited Pastor Morenings to his church service to hear his sermon about Seventh-day Adventists. As an introduction to his sermon he chose the Sabbath commandment of Exodus 20, then followed with very favorable comments of our church and its work. At the close of the sermon Pastor Morenings was invited to say a few words and then offer the benediction. Shortly thereafter, on March 8, 1971, the young pastor visited Pastor Morenings again and expressed continued interest.
The growing interest on the part of others in the belief and work of Seventh-day Adventists has also been reflected in other ways. During the past several months workers from our West Berlin Conference have been invited by several schools to speak in their classes about our faith. Pastor L. Wilhelm has spoken before two high school classes in Berlin-Charlottenburg, and Pastor H. Mayer has spoken at a Catholic school in Berlin-Steglitz. In addition to this, two classes from a high school in Berlin-Spandau attended our church services on the Sabbath. Our brethren were also invited to give several lectures at a night school on the subject, "The Bible in the Hands of Modern Man."
We are encouraged by the growing interest toward our church and the way in which God is opening doors of opportunity for the sharing of our faith.
