Mark's Blog

We left Hans and Aans van Erp on Friday to drive to Hildesheim/Hannover, Germany.  Going to these cities is like going home for Sherrylee and me.  Hannover was our home from 1973-1979 and the place where all of our children were born.  But as is often the case, going “home”  to a place you have left is never really possible.  The conflict between nostalgia and reality brings with it some pain as well as a lot of joy.

The painful part is that the church we planted in Hannover in 1973 no longer exists. It grew from nothing to perhaps 80+ in the first 25 years and was truly one of the largest and best churches of Christ in Europe, but then the devil got a foot in the door. I don’t know whether it started with jealousy in the leadership or in the failure of some key marriages, but within about five years, the church fell apart.  Most of the members are in other churches, so they did not lose faith; nevertheless, the sudden demise–even though we had not been a part of the church officially since 1979–makes me sad.

The good news is that the church of Christ in Hildesheim and the church in Peine were both daughter churches of Hannover, and the daughters live on and are doing very well.  Randy and Katie Smelser, sent by the independent Christian church,  have a wonderful group in Peine, which includes several former Hannover members.

The story of the work in Hildesheim starts many years ago when we lived in Hannover. We actually organized some attempts to make contacts in Hildesheim during the 1970s. Then in the 80s, we worked together with the Hannover church to conduct yearly LST projects in Hildesheim. No group was meeting there regularly, but several of the Hannover members began a Bible study group in Hildesheim with some of the LST readers and their friends.

I don’t know which year it was that Don Roehrkasse and Randy Smelser  both left their work in Hannover to begin the works in Peine and Hildesheim, but it has been probably about 15 years ago–maybe twenty.  A great spirit of cooperation existed then between the three churches and continues today between Peine and Hildesheim who have quarterly combined services to support each other.

Sherrylee and worshipped in Hildesheim on Sunday, Sherry teaching the children’s class and I preached. I used the story of the possessed man in Mark 5 and set it parallel to our own story described in Ephesians 2.  One German man was telling me afterwards that the healed man in Mark 5 was the first missionary sent by Jesus. I had never thought of that, but Jesus did send him to his home to tell his family and friends what Jesus had done for him.  Check that thought out and see what you think.

The Hildesheim church is full of young people, has several complete young families, and there were at least two different sets of seekers that had begun attending recently.  I had the feeling that the group was alive and reaching out–that’s probably redundant, isn’t it!  Alive churches are always reaching out. 

Just as we were ready to leave a German couple who are dear friends of ours wanted to talk with us unter vier Augen (under four eyes= privately).  I thought to myself, “Oh no, what is going wrong in their life?? Please, Lord, not them!”  I gladly repented of my Euro-pessimism as they talked to us about wanting to use their retirement years for God and what opportunities did we know of and what would we recommend.  I loved that conversation because it represents a boldness and maturity of faith in these German Christians that we don’t often see in Christians anywhere.

God is working in Germany and in Europe. He is working slowly and patiently, but if we abandon His work here, then we will miss out on the opportunity to be His servants, His vessels here. I’m glad that we have been a part of the European work for forty years now. In spite of the heartache and the wish that the harvest would come sooner, I’m glad that we and the Roehrkasses and the Smelsers and the Brazles and the Sullivans and the Wilsons, and the many others of our time, and those who came to Europe before us–and especially for those who are coming now after us, I am thrilled to have been used by God in Europe.