Germany: Church Planter and Discipleship Pioneer

Current VMMissions workers David and Rebekka Stutzman are open to mentoring a single person or couple interested in exploring church planting and discipleship in an urban, post-Christian setting. The Stutzmans are pioneers in their context. Learning with them would be rich preparation for a lifetime of disciple making in any context.

Assignment is a two-year term with openness to long-term service; German language study (or proficiency) required. Assignment could be effectively combined with study in Germany.

Qualifications: Prior short-term cross cultural experience and/or work with immigrants

Ministries: VMMissions’ workers David and Rebekka Stutzman, with their three young children, are church planting in the urban setting of Mannheim, where the Rhine and Neckar Rivers meet in southwest Germany. Mannheim has a large Turkish population, and is known as one of the more intercultural cities in Germany. The Stutzmans also resource a national network for persons interested living out the gospel in a culture that is increasingly uninterested, if not hostile, to traditional presentations of Christianity.

Context: Germany’s 20th century history is well-storied. Humiliated and broken into two nations following the century’s two great wars, Germany rose from literal ashes to become the strongest economy of the European Union. Germany’s strength makes it the key leader in the many crises facing the EU today from wide-spread unemployment, Greece’s failing economy, Russia’s aggression, the rise of terrorism, to the ongoing refugee crisis. Whether to redeem a xenophobic history or to overcome population decline, Germany is leading the world in the embrace of refugees, particularly from Syria, Iraq and Eritrea.

Home of Martin Luther’s Protestant Reformation, today Germany is largely post-Christian. One-third of the population claims to be not religious and two-thirds claim to be Christian, but most only nominally so. How Germany’s welcome of largely Muslim refugees into its post-Christian, secular culture will change Germany is unknown. But this great confluence presents an historical opportunity for gospel witness.

Contact Jason Showalter to learn more about this assignment.