May 1st report:
(Walpurgis Night and 1st of May)

This 1st of May was the most peaceful since almost 20 years" the Berlin press reported. The night before May 1st was almost completely peaceful, attempts to cause violence failed. One amunition depot (cobble stones) was discovered beforehand.

On May 1st it was peaceful throughout the whole day, with tension rising in the evening and some people trying to start street fights. There was one car that was turned over, a little damage on police car, but no comparison to the past years were almost 180 (2003) policemen were injured and damage worth 1 MIllion Euro was caused.
The prayer people who were out on the streets are tired, but happy - it was great fun to see answers to prayers right before your eyes. And some could even share the Lord with young people who had come to throw stones, but left with John 3, 16 written on their hands and hopefully on their hearts, too.

The police had acted so wisely already in 2004 that this year policemen from Holland, Switzerland and the Czech republic came to learn from them. Maybe we should tell them that at least some of the secrets of the success of the police lies in the fact that they were covered in prayer. We had prayed specifically that God would give them wisdom and of course we prayed against violence on the streets. We are all happy - in spite of some "casualties" on our team: One girl twisted her ankle badly and another one lost her internet shop in a hacker attack the day after the prayer. We pray for full restoration of both and protection on the team!).

May 8 report:
(Memorial Events for the 60th anniversary of the end of WW 2)

A big thank you to everyone who prayed for us on May 8. The situation was tense. On the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II 3000 Neonazis (less than expected) and 6000 left wing demonstrators (about 1500 of them were considered to be militant anarchists) came to Berlin to use the celebrations to propagate their ideas. Because Germany is a democracy they were allowed to demonstrate - even though they were not welcomed by most people. It looked as if violence was inevitable. However: God answered all of our prayers:

- The memorial celebrations were good and in some ways even prophetic. The speakers like President Koehler and Bishop Huber spoke about the guilt and the pain of the past (Huber: "If you believe it is easier to admit guilt"), but also about the responsibility and role Germany has to play in the World of today. All over Berlin people celebrated peacefully.

- The "barrier" which the police built between the two groups of demonstrators remained firm and could not be broken through.

- There were peaceful protests against the Neonazis. Thousands of people blocked the road where they had wanted to march. So in the end the Neonazis had to cancel their demonstration as it was impossible for the police to clear the road for them (not that they had wanted to do it anyhow!)

- There was no violence (exept a few stones that were thrown) and nobody was injured and nothing was damaged.

- The Nazis did not mention to draw the attention of the public (nobody was there) and the (international) press did not zoom in on them, but reported mostly about the democratic celebrations.

- We could share with a number of journalists and policemen that we were there to pray for peace. Some were surprised "do you think this helps" others reported positively: "There is a handful of people standing on the empty place in front of the Townhall. "We pray that things remain peaceful" sais one young man. They are part of "Together for Berlin" an association of Berlin Christians. "We pray that God would give wisdom to the police!" a woman sais. It looks as if their prayers are being answered. (reported in Weser Kurier, Bremen)

What more shall I say. I do not have time to tell about Rosemarie, Markus, Julius, Michael, Christine and all the other intercessors, who through faith conquered anarchist and nazi kingdoms, administerd justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of angry witchcraft demonstrators, quenched the fury of the flames of agression and escaped the edge of the Sword and the flying stones, whose weakness was turned to strenght and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies" (Hebr. 11, 32-34 in the New Berlin Translation)

Thanks again to all of you who joined us in prayer! We would not have been able to cope with all of this pressure and potential for violence without your help.

It is our desire that Berlin would become a city of light and that May in Berlin would be the month where God is meeting people. Feel free to join us in Berlin in prayer and action and feel free to pass these good news on to others who care about our nation.

Just in case you did not notice. We published a great Calendar with pictures from Berlin. Because 2005 is already somewhat started we reduced the price from 11.99 Euro to 2.99. You can order it at the Down to Earth Shop or email me if you cannot handle the German registration procedure (sorry for that!)

Berliners are a bit crazy. Sitting outside and enjoying icecream while the temperature is just a little above freezing. However now it looks as if spring is finally, finally coming.

In the last few weeks Berlin Newspapers seem to have discovered "faith" as a topic. BZ paper has started a series about "What the Bible means to you!" and interviews prominent Berliners to find out how the Bible has helped them in their lives. And yesterday another paper published a long article about a man who brings peace and reconcilliation to Africa. His favorite "tool" is prayer. The paper reported about it without sarcasm, very open and positive. Interessting.

A friend just redesigned this blog for me. Hope you like it.

A friend wrote: "At this time of the year we celebrate with you the awesome fact that the Creator of 100 billion trillion suns took on a body like ours to live
humbly among us, revealing the glory of His person and inviting us to
share it all with Him as co-heirs forever."
I also celebrate the fact, that God is a God who answers prayer. Some of my favorite prayer answers for Berlin in 2004 were
- much less violence at May Day than in the years before
- two planned terror attacks that were discovered beforehand
- improvement in Berlins economy (growth for the first time since 2000 and more job training places for young people!)
Merry Christmas to all of you!

Toilets and Refomation

My friend Marc wrote in his weblog about intimate details of the reformation. Probably only a dutchman can do this....well...I still call him friend...

"Strange, when we were in Wittenberg last week, we couldn't find a toilet. But just one week before Reformation Day German archeaologists did a groundbreaking discovery: they found the lavatory where Martin Luther launched the Reformation of the Christian church in the 16th Century. The stone room is in a newly-unearthed annex to Luther's house in Wittenberg.

MartinlutherLuther is quoted as saying he was 'in cloaca', or in the sewer, when he was inspired to argue that salvation is granted because of faith, not deeds. The scholar suffered from constipation and spent many hours in contemplation on the toilet seat.

What makes the find even more fitting is that at the time faecal language was often used to denigrate the devil, such as "I shit on the devil" or "I break wind on the devil", Professor Stefan Rhein, director of the Luther Memorial Foundation, said. "It was not a very polite time. And in keeping with this, neither was Luther very polite."

Dr Martin Treu, a theologian and Luther expert based in Wittenberg, said that unfortunately "we still don't know what was used for wiping in those days." The paper of the time, he says, would have been too expensive and critically, "too stiff" for the purpose. Future visitors to Wittenberg's Martin Luther museum will be able to view the new find, though structural concerns mean they will not be free to test its qualities as a toilet."

Every day you can see a new picture of Berlin...the city in all its diversity.

Every day you can see a new picture of Berlin...the city in all its diversity.

On Saturday "Jesus Day" will take place in Berlin. We hope that 30 - 50.000 Christians will come together to worship, pray and proclaim Jesus....

We have almost published a great BERLIN CALENDAR. Almost, because it will take another two or three days until we receive the Calendar from the printer. But you can have a look at it on the Web already. The calendar is bilingual (the quotes and days of the week are both in English and in German). So it is a great gift for Berlin lovers. You can order it at our shop or if that is too complicated (sorry, it is in German) you can send an Email to dte@chrismedia24.de and we will send the calendar to you - anywhere on planet earth (if you pay!).
The great thing is that this calendar is also supporting the network Together for Berlin - For every calendar sold 2 Euro (about 2,20 $) go to support this network.

If you want to know more about what God is doing in Europe and worldwide have a look at Joel News. Well researched and written in a clear and witty style it informs you about some of Gods actions around the globe.

I have just finished writing my latest book and am working on corrections and changes and will publish it in September. The process of writing started with the question why God did not get stresed out in Creation week although he had a lot to do. Looking deeply into the patterns of how God structured his activities and breaks during creation week I discoverd that he made room for everything that is necessary for a good and healthy life....and wrote about it.
So far only a handful of people have read the German manuscript and their feedback is overwhelming and positive. All find it inspiring, personal, helpful, practical and several have begun to already implement the tipps and suggestions I made into their lives.
Mark van der Woude, the edtior of Joel News who is able to read German (and what is more even understand German humor) just sent me his feedback:

"Just want to let you know that I'm now halfway your book. So that's a moment
to celebrate with a good cup of coffee. And you can take a coffee as wel if
you want, stretch your legs, shout "YES LORD" en then continue reading.

What I like so far: more or less everything, the principles, the tips, your
sense of humor. And for me it's a good excercise to read German.

Would it be something for the Dutch market: sure, and I would add: not just
for the Christians, there are many people who are spiritualitic and/or
creative and who would be interested to tune in to the rhythms of the
Creator and his creation. What are your thoughts about this? Could you reach
a wider group of readers in Germany?

Personal application: still in reflection phase. While reading I'm making a
mindmap, when I'm finished I want to go through it more systematically and
try to aplly it to my situation and really road-test it.

Now my coffee."

I guess that now I should start looking for English language publishers, too! If you have and contacts, ideas and suggestions, please let me know.

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

Joel News International is distributed weekly by e-mail on the basis of an annual donation. For more information about Joel News see http://www.joelnews.org/frontpage.htm


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.

Every year on April 30 / May 1 there are riots in the streets of Berlin. Anarchists fight with the police and right wing supporters...usually there is a lot of physical and material damage. This year we decided to send prayer teams on site as well as pray in churches and prayer rooms for a more peaceful day.
I went there around 22.30 with one oy my friends and there were other prayer teams which had prayed before us. First everything was quiet but after midnight young people started to provoke the police and to my utter disgust around one or two thousand people immediately gathered to welcome this "spectacle" and to cheer for the anarchists. We continued to pray until the police set and end to the scene and then we went home. Next day we went again to pray in the srttes of Berlin.
The news reports were encouraging. Although there still was violence it was far less than in the previous years.
Newspapers reported:
- The police did a real good job and was praised by everybody for acting wisely and efficiently
- The riots were greatly hindered and ineffective and everybody sees a change now coming and the newspaper said that the ritual has been broken...
- Nor one policemen had to stay in hospital- only slight injuries..
- Only one car burned, no shops plundered!!! Hallelujah!
- Still people tried to fight with the police but couldn't really do much harm!)
Looking closely at the outcome and at the time the riots occurred it was always when we had "a week point" - not enough manpower in prayer - because in the late hours we didn't have enough people to pray on spot. On Monday we will evaluate the effectiveness of our prayer strategy and try to learn for next time to be even better prepared.

The organizers of the loveparade announced that this years love parade wonīt be. They cancelled it due to lack of funds. Sponsors were no longer willing to support an event that is associated with drugs and alcohol. Some people try to save it....or export it to other cities, but it does not really look as if this will succeed.

The Berlin prayer mail now has 180 subscritions for the German and 34 subscriptions for the English edition. Many of the print the prayer mail and hand it out in their churches and prayer groups. Join us in prayer (info on the homepage).

This year we hope to see even less violence on May day, the "traditional" day for riots, on the streets of Berlin than in the previous year. We want to see these "traditions" broken. We want to pray in homes and churches and also be out in the streets and bring peace and blessing.

Paul Gordon Chandler wrote a book called God's Global Mosaic: What We Can Learn from Christians Around the World

I wonder if he wrote something about Christians in Germany.

Berlin is praying once again. The young folks from 24-7 prayer Berlin have organized yet another week of around the clock prayer. This time in East Berlin. Great!

Ricardo Semler the author of Maverick writes in The seven day weekend (p. 205): " We donīt pretend that organizations, cooperatives or even communes can be run without leaders. Human anthropological history proves otherwise. We want people to self-manage as intensely as possible, leaving leadership to those whose talent resides in helping others to get where they want to." I wish many Christian leaders would say the same.

At Christen in Berlin you find numerous infos on what happens in Berlin and you can even sell stuff. YOu only need to be able to understand German...sorry for that.

Marc, a friend of mine just sent out a report on a conference in Norway, where I was too and felt very much inspired by what I saw and heard...also for my own city Berlin. So here it comes.

"I just returned from Norway, where I was part of several DAWN-related
consultations, and hang out with our Connect Europe friends in Oslo. Some
encouraging observations:

1. In Norway the prayer movement and the DAWN movement (of which many church
streams are part of) seem to be partnering quite effectively together. In a
joined 'What is God saying to Norway' meeting the leaders heard God say that
He wants the emerging generation for Himself, and that it's time to train a
whole generation of new church planters.

2. DAWN missionary Berna Salcedo shared that in Latin America 90% (!) of the
new churches are being planted by people under 25 years old. He commented:
"The young people really want to be challenged. If I spend one day with a
young guy and teach him how to plant a church, he will do it the next day."
And another observation: "The more time you take to teach people, the less
likely they will do it. It's best to just lauch out and learn on the way."

3. Bergen has currently one of the most promising city reaching initiatives,
based on the Lighthouse prayer evangelism strategy in which Christians adopt
their area in prayer, practical care and sharing Jesus. They started it off
with bonfires on the seven mountaintops surrounding the city, where
Christians prayed and worshipped throughout the night and blessed every area
of the city. As a result, the city is opening up for what the church has to
contribute. The local newspaper opened with this headline: 'Bergen is chosen
by God'.

4. Several Norwegian leaders confessed their prejudice and wrong attitudes
and reconciled with each other.

5. Andres Jones challenged us by stating that the fastest growing church is
that of the churchless Christians. Many people (and especially 'cultural
creatives' like the new media folks) leave church because they want to grow
spiritually and the church is limiting that. They rather connect and
interact with people who see life as a journey with Jesus and each other.
For the same reason new agers and other spiritual seekers don't feel
attracted to church. They think Christians are immature and unspiritual, and
cannot really engage with their questions and pursuit of a relevant
lifestyle. An MTV communications officer said that 99.7% percent of their
viewers is interested in God and spirituality, and although they are very
open for input, it never crossed their mind to ask the church.

6. The main lesson from the over-marketed 'revivals' in Argentina and Cali:
never focus on just prayer and unity whitout also multiplying leaders and
churches. The nations where prayer, unity and saturation church planting go
together, are doing best at the moment, even in Europe.

7. In Oslo 20 churches prayed and worshipped around the clock for a whole
week. A good setting to hang out and strategize with some of them. They exposed me to their way
of doing house church (rather turbo house church). A great meal with
chicken, then communion and confessing sins, and finally moving into worship
and prophetic dance until midnight. Who said house church was boring?

More detailed reports and impressions on Marcs Messages

Photo album at:
Marcs Messages

Be blessed and be a blessing!
Marc van der Woude

....the preparations for 40 days of fasting and prayer for our land are going full swing.

We had 20.000 pre-orders for the short flyer (with a short summary of the prayer
requests) and have between 10 and 1000 orders for it every day as well as numerous
orders for the full booklet - and we still have about 40 days to go before it starts.

It is the first time so many different prayer initiatives (more than 40) come together to
call for prayer in our nation.

So this is pretty cool.

Here in Berlin we are quite excited, too...in the past years berlin was considered a basketcase, but recently one of the big german newspapers (die Welt) devoted 10 pages of its Paper to "Good stories from Berlin!" Thatīs cool.

Wanna find out where new "postmodern" churches are springing up around the world? Have a look at new churches

The internet portal Christen in Berlin is becoming more and more active. Unfortunately it is only available in German...so far...

Tuesday, January 13, 2004
Exploring the Unsearchable One
To be somebody
Is to listen and to learn
To think and to feel
To seek and to find
To explore and to dream

To be somebody
Is to break limitations and human borders
To lay firm foundations
For creative life and growing freedom
In exploring the Unsearchable One
To live in the great mystery
Which the life with God is
That life is too great
To thrive in narrow rooms
And square opinions

In touching the Unsearchable One
Great powers are released
Bringing health to our entire being
Teaching us to live a holistic life

(Written during Andrew Jones' teaching session at the DAWN Conference in Bergen, Norway 13.01.04)


# posted by Erling @ 18:26
VON ERLING...siehe unten....By ERLING Thu, a man I recently met at a DAWN conference in Norway.

Someone from John Paul Jacksons Team hat a prophetic word for Berlin (and Paris).
A NEW outpouring of the Holy Spirit is coming. A holy fire will burn through your city streets and a powerful wave of prophetic evangelism will pierce holes through the darkness there. The Spirit says: "Arise, shine, for your light has come!" (IS: 60:1). It is pretty old (Oct. 2, 2002)...welll not quite as old as Isaiah...but I found it very interessting, hope inspiring and challenging (who is going to do prophetic evangelism...I guess it is us...).

Happy new year and all of Godīs blessings to you! Much love, Kerstin Hack (the one who writes this blog!)

The Catholic church in Berlin (with about 150.000 Members) has run into 104 Million Euro debt and has now written a letter to all of their members asking them for money. Some of them are supportive, others are pretty angry, wondering why this developement was not seen earlier (one does not simply run into debt out of nowhere...). Others know that much of the costs had to do with the reunification...many church buildings in East Berlin were (and are) in a bad state...
It will be interessting to see what comes out of this dilema.

Berlin has helped to inspire a national prayer project called "40 days of prayer and fasting for our land" - I am helping to collect info for the broshure going with it.

Learned some interessting new statistics.
1/3 of the Berlin population moved to Berlin since the wall came down (1989)...
In South Germany 50 % of the population is voluntarily active in social organizations, clubs etc. In Berlin only 24 %. Guess there is room for growth.

Christians from Wales have done some deep thinking about Transformation of their land. Quite inspiring.