Sunday, June 15, 2008

Germany

Be the first to list your church. Simply post a comment with the following short info:

Name of church
City
Website
What's the worship music like? (Contemporary, hymns, long, fast, loud etc?)
What's the speaking like? (Old school Bible, culturally relevant, by video etc?)
What's the childcare like?
What's your favorite thing?
What would you change?
Can I wear jeans?

6 comments:

Monica said...

Name of church: Chapel 1 Traditional Prodestant
City: Baumholder
Website: none
What's the worship music like? hymns
(Contemporary, hymns, long, fast, loud etc?)
What's the speaking like? (Old school Bible, culturally relevant, by video etc?) pretty much old school, we have rotating chaplains; one is methodist and the other two are southern baptist
What's the childcare like? very good--just one room, but sometimes, my children are the only ones
What's your favorite thing? uh...I don't have one...it's the only thing available
What would you change? Everything...there isn't a sense of community...the whole atmosphere could change
Can I wear jeans? absolutely

Christina said...

Name of church: Freie evangelische Gemeinde Berlin-Pankow (Evangelical Free Church Berlin-Pankow)
City: Berlin
Website: www.pankow.feg.de
What's the worship music like?: We're a new church plant, so the worship team is very small! Usually just an acoustic guitar or two and piano, but the songs are usually "contemporary," though usually a mix of older and newer contemporary (We're not too contemporary to still sing "Shout to the Lord"). Occasional hymns. We do a lot of German translations of originally-in-English songs, but also really dig some of the German writers like Albert Frey. Our music isn't flashy but we love singing.
What's the speaking like?: Hard to describe... not super old-school but not "contempohip" either. Scripture-focused but with attention to real-life application. (That is what the Bible's for, right?)
What's the childcare like?: Awesome! We probably have as many kids as adults in our church. They start out with the adults in service to sing a few songs, then we sing a children's song and they go to children's church with the awesome ladies who teach them.
What's your favorite thing?: We are one big happy family. We eat lunch together at church after service and when the weather's nice there are often picnics. Kids are a huge part of our church and our primary means of reaching new families. Although we're a small church, we're pretty diverse in terms of spiritual background, which makes Bible study and discussion very enriching.
What would you change?: We're working on increasing our level of community involvement.
Can I wear jeans?: Yep! Most people do. But you can dress up if you like too.
Important note: We're a German-speaking church. Lots of people there can speak English - including the pastor and his wife - but if you don't speak German, you might want to look for an English-speaking or international church in Berlin; there are plenty.

Anonymous said...

Name of church: ICF Berlin

City: Berlin

Website: www.icf-berlin.de

What's the worship music like? Contemporary. We have a steadily growing band that does any awesome job week in and week out. We sing a lot "Hillsong" material, as well as other upbeat, modern worship music.

What's the speaking like?
It is our goal as a church to be engaging and relevant without compromising our biblical beliefs. Our sermons are delivered in a relaxed, down-to-earth language and always strive to show how biblical principles apply to our everyday lives.

What's the childcare like?

Let me put it this way: We've had families join us primarily because of our children's ministry. We usually have a 10-15 minute input, which is presented to the kids in a fun, creative way and is framed by a play that relates the biblical story to their everyday lives. After this, the kids split up into small groups with their mentors to snack, chat and generally connect.

What's your favorite thing?
We are more than a church; we really are a family and treat each other as such. We go out together, eat, celebrate and generally share our lives with each other.

What would you change?
I know saying "nothing" sounds like a cop-out, but I'm not going to make up stuff, either. Of course, I would like to see our church continue to grow and prosper, but I think we are already well on our way and I have faith that God will allow more to happen in good time. Other than that, I, personally, am completely content.

Can I wear jeans?
Most people do, including the pastor, worship leader and producer. :)

Anonymous said...

Name of church: Reset Berlin - Member of the BFP. Contemporary Christian

www.reset-berlin.de

City: Berlin - Bundesallee 137, Friedenau

What's the worship like? Contemporary

What's the speaking like? Relevant, Inspiring, life focused, centered around growing together as a family of believers to win our city.

What's the child care like? It's pretty good, we have a children's room and a nursing mother's room with a nursery.

What's your favorite thing? I love the entire atmosphere. Everyone is incredibly nice and inviting. We eat together, watch movies sometimes after the services and everyone is really encouraged to grow as a family.

What would you change? Not much really. We absolutely love the church and the people in it.

Can I wear jeans? Please do. In fact most people do. The pastor and the rest of our staff are very laid back. This is a church unlike any you have seen.

Allow me to give a little background. I was a part of helping to plant this church in 2004. It was started by Jim Johnson, and American, who has been in Germany for 15+ years. He had a vision to start a church to reach the youth, college and young adults of the city. We started meeting in his house, moved to the associate pastors house and now into our building at Bundesallee 137. There are about 120 people that attend and the church is used during the week as a college ministry outreach center. Our building used to be a computer store and was renovated into a coffee house with complete coffee bar and wood floors with cafe tables etc. Very nice, very modern feel and has been a huge success. You can see pics online, although the churches website isn't the most up-to-date.

In Christ Alone said...

Name of church: Hannover
International Bible Church

City: Hannover, Germany

Website: www.hannoveribc.com; hannoveribc.blogspot.com

What's the worship music like? Many contemporary, with at least one traditional hymn per service. The music is not too loud/hard rock, but it does reflect a young and energetic congregation. The music, announcement, prayer, etc. time lasts about 30 minutes before the preaching starts.

What's the speaking like? The preaching is expository, meaning that we go verse by verse through a book of the Bible, week by week until we finish. That way we eventually cover all the themes and doctrines of the Bible. It is very relevant to the Christian life.

What's the childcare like? Good. We have a group for babies/pre-schoolers, another for younger school age children, and another for pre-teens and teens. The two older groups attend the worship service until the preaching is about to begin, and then go to their classes.

What's your favorite thing? Because most people are away from their home country, the church becomes a family to us. We really get to know each other and to love each other. We have a lot of fun together, too.

What would you change? It would be great to have even more brothers and sisters!

Can I wear jeans? Sure. You can also wear your "Sunday best" if that's your thing!

rutha said...

Name of church: Freie Evangelische Gemeinde (FeG)

City: Leipzig

Website: http://leizig.feg.de

What's the worship music like? mostly contemporary with a band or just gitarist, not too fast and loud, but sometimes also hymns - worshipband changes every week.

What's the speaking like? culturally relevant, but with a big bible-foundation, new and old testament, always with powerpoint (helps to follow the line if you are a visual-person..)

What's the childcare like? there are different groups from the very youngs to the older ones. i guess its pretty good.

What's your favorite thing? that the second service on sundays is at 11:30 (first at 9:30)... the coffee afterwards ... the people there ... and (most important) the speaking. helps me a lot.

What would you change? sometimes the worship.

Can I wear jeans? sure

One last thing: it is a german church, so the worship, the speaking and everything is in german - eventhough most of the (younger) people can speak english. if you look for a church in english there is one in leipzig (www.leipzig-english-church.de)