It feels so good to finally be here and to start on what we have been dreaming about for a long time. Our approach here at the beginning is to get to know the city, get to know people, and start building relationships. We see our everyday encounters as opportunities to be paying attention to what God is trying to show us. Several things have come into focus already.
• We
have been able to make connections with families. We try to take our
kids to the playground as often as we can, and through that have started
getting to know other parents and children. We are surprised how many
young families we have gotten to know that moved here recently. This
life situation we have found to be a crucial one as many are open for
relationships.
• Mannheim is a
tremendously diverse city, second only to Berlin in Germany. One of our
hopes was to be able to relate cross-culturally and have that be a part
of our ministry and the character of the church we plant. We have been
delighted at some of the connections we have made already. Rebekka has
befriended two Romanian women, whom we met at the kindergarten and the
playground. For one of them, Rebekka is helping to find an apartment in
the neighborhood. These early connections have again impressed upon us
the joy we get from connecting interculturally, and that there is
purpose in it for our ministry.
• We
want to be intentional about being out in the city, on the playgrounds,
or walking along the river on some Sundays. This is a crucial way to
connect with people who do not go to church. Having gotten to know a
significant amount of people here in the neighborhood, it has become
clear that many commute long distances to work, and the only time they
have together as families is on Sundays. Since we are in a
post-Christian context, they are not to be found at church on Sunday
mornings. So, we want to be aware and get in a rhythm of sometimes
attending a church service, but also as part of our bigger understanding
of church, “be where the people are.”
We are thankful for the
contacts we have made with people in our neighborhood. Our prayer
request is for continued guidance for these relationships and awareness
for how best to serve in the relationships and friendships where God is
placing us. At the start of our ministry, may God give us eyes to see
and ears to hear where he is at work, so that we can connect with people
who will share in a vision of starting a new faith community.
David and Rebekka Stutzman and their children in front of a castle in Mannheim, Germany.
