If you want to see revival, plant your church in the gutter.
Jackie Pullinger, who started a ministry among the poor and drug addicts in Hong Kong.

We just started the English Version of Young Art Edition. The young Art edition is a branch of Down to Earth publishing / Verlag. The aim and dream is to provide a plattform for young upcoming artists both in print and in the internet as we believe that art is the primary medium these days to discuss the deeper meaning of life.
The first book we published was "More than fragile flowers" by the Chinese-Swiss artist Ping Qiu. We published the book in German, English and Chinese as the world is becoming more and more globalized...
It will be interessting to see what happens and how God continues to lead us as we continue to expand that little branch.

As part of the publishing activities of Down to Earth Publishing we recently started the Young Art Editon...Berlin is full of young, inspiring and talented artists, but many of them do not have a voice and find it hard to make themselves known. Therefore we will give them a plattform - both in the form of books and on the internet.
I believe that many people are expressing their deep questions in art and also searching for answers there. Although the art we will publish does not necessarily portray one specific world view or religion, we believe it will be a starting point for discussion, raising questions and open up discussion. We may also beginn selling art of "our" artists there.

News from TOGETHER FOR BERLIN

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JN477-1. TYPICALLY GOD: Tearing down the wall of division

In Berlin, the city that was once globally infamous for its division, a sign of hope has sprung up: churches and ministries are uniting in a long-term process to reach the city.

"The Berlin Wall may be gone, but there is still a wall in people's minds and hearts," says pastor Hans-Peter Pache of the Lucas Fellowship in Berlin. Divisions between 'ossies' and 'wessies', (easterners and westerners), Germans and foreigners, old and young, and charismatics and non-charismatics show that unity did not all come overnight. Yet Hans-Peter and fellow-pastor Axel Nehlsen have been living towards a vision of unity in the city for several years now. Their vision is for believers from all sorts of churches across the city to celebrate their unity in diversity, working together to demonstrate the hope of the gospel in every sphere of city life: education, politics, business, healthcare, family-life, entertainment, the media - and of course, in the church itself.

In a city of four million, only 120,000 regularly attend church, of which perhaps only half profess a living faith. Hans-Peter and Axel want to see that number rise to 400,000, ten percent of the inhabitants. Axel, a state-church pastor, believes hundreds of new churches need to be planted in the city for this to happen: mega-churches, small churches, contemporary and traditional, German-speaking and in other languages. "Only with this sort of variety will we reach the city," he declares. Hans-Peter is even more specific. He believes Berlin needs 1700 new churches. But that requires long-term thinking and planning.

Pache and Nehlsen have been building relationships with other pastors through prayer breakfasts over the past five years, sharing their vision of unity. This breakfast meeting has now grown into Gemeinsam für Berlin (Together for Berlin), a relationally-based network of leaders from some 140 churches and organisations seeking to shape every sector of the city with the gospel. The values of Gemeinsam für Berlin include:

- embracing the whole body of Christ in the city and welcoming new models of church, such as youth congregations, cells, house churches and ethnic fellowships;

- recognising that evangelistic and social responsibilities for Berlin must be fulfilled together;

- affirming that working together means unity with diversity, not uniformity and compromise;

- and building relationships of openness and trust between leaders as models for right relationships in the local congregations.

With thanks to Jeff Fountain for the report.