Easter Egg Hunt

Official Watermark Easter Egg Hunt Video from Watermark Freiburg on Vimeo.

As a finale to our Servolution, we held a city-wide Easter Egg Hunt.  We had 12,000 American easter eggs (had to be imported), which were filled with toys or candy.  Cornerstone Church in Blue Springs, MO, USA sent a team of willing volunteers that worked with our church to stuff eggs, prepare for the Easter Sunday Carnival and stuff mailboxes with nearly 8000 invitations. We had a lot of fun together!

After we setup for the Egg Hunt we watched as a few people trickled in here and there.  It was a bit disheartening at first... all that work for so little people.  But we knew this was what God wanted us to do.  About 15 minutes before the Egg Hunt was supposed to start people started coming in droves from all directions!  All told, we saw about 1000 people show up... over 500 kids!  It was amazing!!!

And the most significant part of the entire Easter Egg Hunt: at least 6 people came to Christ as a direct result.  And we have now gained a reputation in the community for being a church that gives with no strings attached... just like Jesus did!  A local school has even asked that we help them renovate some of their playground equipment because we've earned such a good reputation through serving.  It pays rich dividends to obey what God tells you to do!

You can see more info on our Servolution by checking out this post.

Servolution Challenge

Over the past month Watermark did a Servolution Challenge.  Robin and I had in our hearts to take personal finances (and that of a few of our friends) and give every adult that wanted to participate €40.  Their mission was to multiply it and go creatively serve our city.  We had 60 people accept the challenge!

We even got some positive press coverage from the regional newspaper (which is not normal for independent churches).  And at least two other churches (in other parts of Germany) and one nation-wide campus ministry are going to do their own version of our Servolution Challenge!

Here is a quick synopsis of SOME (not all) of the things they did:

• Gave Christmas presents, school supplies, books, clothes and house shoes to needy children.
• Gave an after school program craft supplies .
• Served volunteer firefighters breakfast.
• Presented nursing home residents with roses.
• Served staff NICU nurses breakfast.
• Baked goodies for local school teachers.
• Baked homemade cookies & muffins for a halfway house (last phase before their final release from prison) and then left flowers and 10 envelopes with IKEA gift certificates.
• Handed out chocolate to the homeless guys in the city.
• Took chocolate bars to the cleaning staff of the trains.
• Delivered toys, games, Hula hoops and sidewalk chalk for a program that works with children.
• Homeless people were given diapers, food and toiletries.
• Helped a single unemployed mother of 3 with train cards for her kids, household items and helped her find a job!
• Bought people at a homeless shelter groceries and household items.
• Bought cooking utensils and a vent for a youth home so the youth can cook without a smoke-filled room.
• Bought groceries for a known beggar who has 7 children to care for.
• Handed out free train tickets at the station.
• Put a case of Starbucks coffee in the fridge for hospital staff with encouraging sayings attached.
• One team went around the city and gave flower bouquets and Cokes to all of the toilet cleaning staff at the businesses and restaurants.
• Served a crowded refugee home by playing games with their children. They caught soap bubbles, drew w/sidewalk chalk, and painted. They talked with all of the parents and gave them coffee, chocolate, toys, pens and food.
• Gave out board games to non-profit group that volunteers to watch intercultural children after school.
• Gave a bag with bread, drink, eggs and flowers to a begging woman.
• Gave a man with a big hole in his leg a bag with food, antiseptic compresses and a train ticket home.
• Gave an unemployed shepherd a bag with dog food, some muffins and a drink.
• Served some “punks” soft drinks and cinnamon rolls.
• Gave workers of a special bus with a coke and some pretzels.
• Delivered a bag of dog food to another group of “punks” sitting with a dog.

Thanks to all those that gave and those that prayed!  Keep up the good work... you ARE making a HUGE difference!

A special thanks to Phil Burton and City Mission Kaiserslautern for helping birth this vision in us and for being cheerleaders along the way!

PS. As a grand finale we did a city-wide American Easter Egg Hunt for Freiburg.  More info & a video in our next post.

Don't get derailed!

Last Sunday we started our Servolution at Watermark.  For those that aren't familiar with this term, a Servolution is a church revolution through serving.  It fits perfectly one of our four core values: being missional and serving others with no strings attached.  In that service we gave 40 EUR to every teen and adult that committed to use it to serve someone that wouldn't or couldn't serve them in return.  God put it on our hearts months ago to do this, and we were happy to do so.

In the hopes of getting many people involved, we sought to create some buzz by posting many Facebook messages, and getting our team to do the same.

One of our staff members posted both a picture and a quick thought about it.  One of the guys that lives in her dorm posted a response to it on her Facebook Wall... he said it was a stupid idea and it was just a scam to make money.  She explained in more detail what we were trying to accomplish, and our heart to be a church that serves.  But he then posted a short clip from our initial fundraising video for the church launch (almost two years ago)... one in which I gave the expected budget and asked for people to get involved.  She was so upset that she removed his comment from her Wall and continued the conversation with him privately.

It was really frustrating to us... we took out over 3500 EUR from our personal savings (and some donations from three of our close friends in the USA) to make this happen (including our kids' tuition and next month's rent).  And here was someone with absolutely no clue trashing what we had put our heart and soul into.  Robin made the statement: "We PAY a lot of money just for the privilege of pastoring this church!"

But God reminded me of something my mentor says, "It's the guy with the football that everyone wants to tackle."  We have to understand that if we try to get out of the box and shake things up, there WILL be opposition!  Small people with small dreams will always try to crush the big dreams of others.  That shouldn't ever stop us (or even slow us down) in our pursuit of God's purpose for our lives.

I saw this so clearly a few years ago... in 2 Samuel 5:17 it says that as soon as David saw the realization of his God-given dream of becoming king, their enemies - the Philistines - brought their entire army to wipe him off the face of the planet.  There will always be opposition.  And the bigger the dream, the greater the opposition.


In the end this whole thing only made us more determined to do what God has called us to do.  We don't have time to worry about our critics or what others would say.  We need to stay on task: reaching the unreached of Freiburg and helping them find and fulfill their purpose in God's plan.

My encouragement to you today... don't let the opinions of others or their belittling comments derail you from pursuing God and taking risks for Him.  There is much to be done and little time to do it!
May God strengthen your heart and bless the effort you put into finding and completing His mission for your life!

Thoughts on Church Planting and Church Government

When it came time to setup the legal association for Watermark, we followed the ARC (http://relatedchurches.com) model within a European context.  This means we have an internal Council and an external Board. The Council consists of seasoned believers within our church that are "on-board" with the vision and core values, and are able to think out of the box.  They have no voting rights, but are there to help me think through issues we are facing and offer suggestions.

The Board is made up of voting members (from other European cities). They are all seasoned ministers that are well-respected and that I've known for a long time (and that know me and my heart well).  I explained to them at length what we had in our heart to create and how we wanted to proceed to make sure they understood clearly before I asked them to be on our Board.

I learned a long time ago not to have people in your church be your voting members until you've firmly established who you are, both as a team and as a church. You need to have freedom to be able to tweak the vision, core values, etc. As you find what works for you, and you get a better idea of who are your "seed planted in good ground" people (Mark 4:8), you can begin to add people within your church to the "voting membership". 

I've seen good pastors in Germany get voted out because of a manipulator that is power hungry. I believe most church splits are caused by those that are "planted in rocky soil" (Mark 4:5-6), meaning they get involved quickly with a lot of excitement, but when times get tough, they try to steer the church in the direction of what makes them comfortable, or keeps them in the spotlight (or in a position of authority). They are totally with you until you do something they don't like.

People that have a vote need to be people that are mature enough to understand what God is calling you and your church to become, confident enough to challenge you (when necessary), and humble enough to pray it out (rather than fight/manipulate) and make decisions that are in the best interests of the church. 

And if anyone ever tells you they want to be in the voting membership, you DON'T WANT them in the voting membership!  You want people that will make decisions based on those that haven't yet come through the doors.  You want people who vote that understand it's not about them, but about those that are far from God (those that Jesus misses most).

I tell my team and my church that if they have a problem with me they are welcome to contact my Board and take it up with them. I am submitted to my Board, and will adjust, if necessary.

Not traditional enough?

We had a visit a few weeks ago by a German lady that doesn’t attend any church… and hasn’t since she was young.  She and her wife live on our street.  Her wife loves the church and comes when she doesn’t have to work.

After the church service, she talked with Robin about our church.  She asked why we aren’t more “traditional”.  This lady wasn’t offended, but she thinks a church service should be more like what she was used to in the Catholic Church of her childhood.

Which brings up the “why” question… why aren’t we more traditional? 

I believe my wife gave her an amazing answer… 

Robin told her that I grew up in the Catholic Church and she grew up in the Episcopal Church, with all the traditions, liturgical chants, etc.  None of that meant anything to her until she had an encounter with Jesus.  She never encountered Him in the church she grew up in (nor did I).

But once she went back to her old church, she was amazed at all the Scripture they used.  There was so much there that could have led her to a relationship with Christ.  But it never meant anything to her because the church and its style were so far removed from her daily life.

The reason for our style of church services is so that a normal person off the street can completely connect with Jesus without having had a church background.  Our church is designed to be accessible to the common man, woman and child.

We want people to experience God in all His wonder and grace and build relationships with authentic Christians.  We want people to experience a God that is holy, but is absolutely loving… a God that isn’t afraid of fun, and that wants to be involved in our daily lives.

And it’s working!

Encouraged, yet frustrated…

As with any startup church, one of the biggest issues is finances.  And especially with a church like ours that is focused on reaching the unchurched and the “de-churched” (those that have walked away from traditional churches), we have to fight the typical stereotype that churches only want people’s money.  This has been a frustration for us, but we knew this was a part of church planting.

But in the things that truly count – people committing their life to Christ, changed lives and people getting excited about using their gifts to impact Freiburg – Watermark is doing really well.  Last Sunday we saw one of our church neighbors give her heart to Christ.  She was invited by one of our team the week before.

And the week before that, a man that told me he is NOT a believer came to church because an angel appeared to him in a dream and told him to come visit our church.  He loved it!  He took a bunch of business cards and said he would invite all of his friends.  He came back last week and was just as excited.

Please continue to pray for Watermark… God is doing great things here and we’re excited to be a part of it!

Miraculous week at Watermark!

This past week was amazing!  A week ago Sunday one of our newest team members asked us to pray for her knee.  She had torn her ACL through a bicycle crash and was told she needed surgery.  She was hobbling around with a stiff brace.

Well, we prayed for her and then she went to a specialist.  He told her he couldn’t find the tear.  He saw the other doctor’s report, with precise description of the damage, but couldn’t find any damage on the newer MRI.  He basically said, “Have a great life… you don’t need me!”

And then some of our team prayed for a lady that had such bad arthritis pain in her arm that it had become unusable.  This is especially bad because she needs to be able to use her arm for the retirement home where she volunteers. So she asked us to pray for her Wednesday night at our Bible study.

She awoke Thursday morning with no pain in that arm whatsoever!

And on Sunday morning, one of our team members was having a lot of headache pain and concentration problems because of a concussion he’d received the week before.  When we prayed for him, he said the pain was instantly gone!

But the wildest thing was that a visitor came on Sunday that had been invited by one of our team.  I had the strangest conversation with this man.

He told me that he didn’t believe Jesus was “the way”.  He instead believed in “the truth”… a universal truth that is overarching, whatever you want to call it.  He felt that Jesus was someone who showed us how to know “the truth”.

Anyway, on Saturday night he had a dream where an angel appeared to him.  The angel revealed to him that he should go to Watermark on Sunday.

He told me he LOVED the service.  Since he’s a musician, he really connected with our worship team (all professional musicians!).  And apparently my message on what love REALLY is connected with what he’s been “feeling” lately.  As he said, “Love is just another expression of the truth.”  God is so creative in reaching people far from Him!

And then he told me he had grabbed a bunch of business cards and was bringing all of his friends!

Keep praying… you’re helping us change the spiritual landscape here in Freiburg, where less than 1% of the population has a personal relationship with Christ, or attend a life-giving church.

Changed little lives

At Watermark we are highly focused on children’s ministry.  They will get high quality resources and leaders. When it comes to a choice between buying something for our kids and buying sound equipment, we always default to purchasing stuff for our kids.  This is paying off richly!!!  In the past six weeks, three kids have come to Christ!

One of them is a high-energy little guy… a happy go lucky, fun little dude named Alex.  But sometimes he is also an EGR child (Extra Grace Required).  He and his little sister live across the street from the church building, and their mom and dad take turns coming with them… sometimes the children even come by themselves.

One afternoon as Robin was praying for Alex, God showed her a glimpse of what his life could look like.  She pictured him as an adult and what he would tell someone about how he came to Christ.  

She pictured him as a young adult telling about this church that started across the street from where he lived.  He said, “I don’t even remember anyone’s name there, but that’s where people loved me and were happy to see me!  I gave my heart to Christ and I’ve never been the same since!”

Actually, last Sunday, Alex did give his heart to Christ!  And his sister did so the week before.

Pictures from last Sunday

We had a lot of fun last Sunday looking at many of the things people think a Christian is.  We used a lot of props to represent these things.  And Daniel made the perfect illustration of what many people think a real Christian should look like!

Be sure to come back this weekend to see part 2 of “What it means to be a Christian”!

Wir hatten letzten Sonntag riesen Spaß, als wir uns angeschaut haben, was viele Menschen denken, was einen Christen ausmacht.

Wir haben das, ohne es respektlos erscheinen zu lassen, veranschaulicht. Daniel hat das perfekt illustriert, was viele Menschen denken, wie ein echter Christ aussehen müsse!

Sei dieses Wochenende wieder dabei um dir Teil 2 von "Was es bedeutet, ein Christ zu sein!" anzuschauen!

Who we’re reaching… (from Robin)

In our opening service we had a large number of visitors.  One lady was forced to go to her mom's Catholic church as a child and, therefore, hated church. 

She lived as a prostitute for a couple of years and was until now an alcoholic and drug addict.  When she got our postcard in her mailbox, she felt like it was a "sign" from God.  She knew that she had to come on Sunday. 

When Jon spoke about the type of people that Jesus hung out with, her heart was overwhelmed.  She thought... maybe this Jesus isn't mad at me after all I've done. 

She feels very unworthy to have anything to do with "church people", or God for that matter.  She was so excited that there is the opportunity for a new start to life that she asked me to pray with her two times... just so she could make sure that she was saved! 

She was just hyper from all that God did on Sunday and said that still on Thursday "something is happening" to me.  She is so excited that she is dragging her boyfriend to church with her this Sunday (and anyone else that she can find). 

I just wanted to share this with you because she is why we do what we do.  Remember back to when you first gave your heart to Christ!  Let's just keep loving Jesus together... it's contagious!

We did it!

I just wanted to give you a quick update on yesterday’s opening service.

In the last month our team distributed 5000 invitations (flyers) in both the city center (with a piece of chocolate) and in our neighborhood mailboxes.  With our limited budget, we could only afford 5000, and we distributed them by hand.  We had 104 people in attendance… about 60% students.  And not counting the 35 that were helping us, that gives us a success rate on the flyers of 1.4% (5 times the normal success rate of direct mail in America).  We also used a lot of Facebook marketing.  To see some of the artwork we used & pics of the launch service, click here: http://picasaweb.google.com/jandrperrin/WatermarkFreiburg#

Another thing that was very successful was to invite the church neighbors to a free grill party at our building two weeks before the launch.  We told them we wanted to introduce ourselves and let them know that we were here to give, not take from the community.  It opened some great opportunities for conversation.  One guy and I had a long conversation about what a church should look like.  I explained that if it is to represent the biblical Jesus, it should be “ridiculously generous”.  He said that was an interesting thought… he also brought his family to the opening service and said he loved it!

There were a few minor technical glitches, but the service was a huge success!  Afterward we had some amazing conversations with both neighbors and other visitors.  As a matter of fact, when asked what she thought, one young lady told one of our team members, “There is not one thing I can think of that I would change about this church!” 

The best part is that one lady gave her heart to Christ!!!  (There could have been more, but we haven’t heard back from our team members yet.)  When she received our postcard, she said to herself: “This is a sign from God that He hasn’t forgotten about me!”  She is fighting an addiction to alcohol and drugs.  And she cried the entire service.

I want to thank those of you that have prayed, given and supported what God has asked us to do.  It is humbling to be a part of what God is doing here in Freiburg, Germany.  We were told what we accomplished couldn’t be done: “You can’t expect that many people to show up.” “No one will come to Christ for a long time.”  “This city is full of empty churches… what makes you think you can fill yours?”

It has been an exhausting journey, but totally worth it.  And as I told our team, it is an awesome privilege to be able to introduce Christ to people that are far from Him.  I can’t say enough how proud I am of our team.  I would unashamedly put our team up against any church planting team in the world!

Der Wert der Kinder (Mitarbeitertreffen am 5.September 2010)

Kinder sind von Bedeutung für Gott

In Markus 9,33-37 und 10,13-16 lesen wir, dass obwohl die Jünger Jesu Kinder als Ablenkung ansehen, sie für Jesus wichtig sind. In Markus 10 steht, dass Jesus aufgebracht ist, weil die Jünger sowohl die Kinder als auch die Eltern weggescheucht haben. Denkt mal darüber nach...es muss schon einiges passieren, damit Jesus ärgerlich wird. Was haben sie angestellt? Sie haben versucht die Kindern von Jesus fernzuhalten. Kinder sind Gott nicht nur wichtig, sondern unheimlich wertvoll.  Wenn sie Gott schon so unglaublich wertvoll sind, dann sollten sie uns genau so wertvoll sein!

Die Investition in Kinder ist eine Investition in die Zukunft

Kinder sind eher bereit ihr Herz Jesus Christus zu übergeben mehr als jede andere Altersgruppe. Ihre geistliche Weltsicht entwickelt sich immer noch. Die Arbeit mit Kindern ist vergleichbar mit der Arbeit mit Lehm, die Arbeit mit Erwachsenen vergleichbar mit der Arbeit mit Statuen. Natürlich ist jede Bekehrung ein Fest, egal wer, egal wann. Wenn sich jedoch ein Kind für Jesus entscheidet, dann kann ein ganzes Leben die Welt beeinflussen!

Wir investieren in Kinder

Weil Gott so einen großen Wert auf Kinder legt, wollen auch wir einen Schwerpunkt unserer Gemeindearbeit auf den Kinderdienst legen. Der Kinderdienst soll viele Ressourcen und nur die besten Mitarbeiter bekommen, deshalb stecken wir viel Kraft, Energie und Werbung in unseren Kinderdienst. Mein größtes Gebetsanliegen ist keine Rock´n´Roll Lobpreisband, obwohl ich natürlich eine große Leidenschaft dafür habe, sondern für Menschen, die uns helfen Gottes Liebe den Kindern weiter zu geben.

Eins unser Motto´s wird lauten: Wir dienen Kindern...Punkt!  Und nur nebenbei erwähnt, wir haben auch Gottesdienste für Erwachsene ;)

We have a building!!!!

We finally signed the building lease!  This picture gives you an idea of how big it is.  It used to be a fitness training center for kids.  We’re in the rezoning process right now.

It even came with a homeless guy that lives outside, next to the building!  It was quite a shock to us.  We believe the lawyer that was there with us took care of it.  But we’ll get him help, if needed ;-)

We still need about $11,000 USD before our launch date (Oct 24) in order to prepare for the precious people God will send us.  If you feel God would have you invest in unchurched people in Freiburg, you can donate through our website.

Please also pray with us for wisdom, favor and creativity as we prepare for an amazing church launch!  If you’re interested in being a part of the Launch Team, please contact us!

Launch Team Meeting – 29-Aug-2010

Here is the mp3 of the Launch Team Meeting from last Sunday’s meeting… “What is a life worth?” (with translation)

Hier ist die mp3 von der Launch Team Meeting der am letzten Sonntag stattfand… “Was ist ein Leben eigentlich Wert?” (mit Übersetzung)

http://watermarkfreiburg.de/upload/LaunchTeamMtgs/Launch_Team_mtg_290810.mp3

No strings attached!

One of the things I’ve been processing lately is the importance of serving people as Jesus did… with no strings attached.

Then Jesus arrived from Nazareth, anointed by God with the Holy Spirit, ready for action. He went through the country helping people and healing everyone who was beaten down by the Devil. He was able to do all this because God was with him.
                                                                              Acts 10:38

So often churches use what many refer to as “bait and switch” tactics: You invite someone over for dinner or a party, and then spend the evening “witnessing” to them.  Or they invite someone to a party or some other kind of fun activity, but they have to attend a church service first.  At the very least there is an expectation that they come to a service at a later date. 

But what would it look like if a church served and loved people with no strings attached?  If it just served people in order to live as Jesus did?  If it helped people, counseled people, fed people, performed weddings, etc. just because it is the right thing to do?

I think it would help the world around us lower its defenses when it comes to Christianity.  It would make it easier to engage people on spiritual topics.  It might even open the door for people far from God to come check out a church.  And we want Watermark to be that church!

Ein sicherer Ort

Super Neuigkeiten: Gott hat ein Wunder für Camila getan. Die Freiburger Uni hatte ihr eigentlich gesagt, dass es überhaupt keine Möglichkeit gibt dieses Jahr ihr Studium anzufangen, da sie noch weitere Credits in einem Kurs in Heidelberg sammeln müsse, um zugangsberechtigt zu sein. Camila hat jedoch eine Email erhalten in der steht, dass sie doch akzeptiert wird. Das heißt, dass Camila hier in Freiburg bleiben kann und uns weiterhin bei der Gemeindegründung helfen wird. Gibt es einen besseren Weg die Gemeinde anzufangen als mit der Macht Gottes?

Unser Team besteht zur Zeit aus 15 Leuten, außerdem sind 8 weitere Personen am überlegen entweder sich selbst zu engagieren oder sammeln Geld, um sich uns hier in Deutschland anzuschließen. 

Was das Gebäude betrifft...wir treffen uns mit einem Architekten, um zu sehen inwieweit das Gebäude für unsere Zwecke umgebaut werden muss, so dass wir es als Gemeinde benutzen können. Soweit sieht es ganz gut aus. Es scheint so als ob uns der Baumeister wohlgesonnen ist. Er hat uns ein paar Vorschläge gegeben, die uns helfen, die Erlaubnis für das Gebäude zu bekommen. Trotzdem müssen wir noch viele Spenden sammeln, aber Gott schenkt uns Gunst überall wohin wir uns wenden!

Zum Schluss hier noch ein kleines Protokoll vom letzten Treffen, für jene, die es nicht geschafft haben zu kommen.

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Eph. 4:11-12, 16 (Hoffnung für Alle)

11 Einige hat er zu Aposteln gemacht, einige reden in Gottes Auftrag prophetisch, und andere gewinnen Menschen für Christus. Wieder andere leiten die Gemeinde oder unterweisen sie im Glauben. 12 Sie alle sollen die Christen für ihren Dienst ausrüsten, damit die Gemeinde Jesu aufgebaut und vollendet wird…… 16 Er versorgt den Leib und verbindet die Körperteile miteinander. Jedes Einzelne leistet seinen Beitrag. So wächst der Leib und wird aufgebaut in Liebe.

• Gemeinden wachsen und erfüllen ihre Berufung, wenn alle Personen involviert sind. Beachte: "Jedes Einzelne leistet seinen Beitrag..."
• Viele Gemeinden haben ihren Schwerpunkt auf dem Pastor und seinen/ihren Gaben. Watermarks Fokus liegt auf den Menschen, es geht nicht um Robin und mich!
  • Denn unsere Aufgabe ist es, euch zu helfen euren Platz zu finden und euch dabei zu helfen, eure Gaben für Gottes Ehre einzusetzen.
  • Wir werden mit euch Hand in Hand arbeiten, unser Fokus liegt aber auf unserer Vision und unseren Werten, Menschen zu befähigen und ihnen zu helfen ihre Gaben für das Königreich Gottes zu gebrauchen.
• Wir wollen Leben verändern. Deshalb fragen wir uns nicht, was wir von ihnen bekommen, sondern was wir ihnen geben können.
• Mit diesem Gedanken im Hinterkopf wollen wir nun über unsere Werte/Grundsätze sprechen...wir wollen, dass die Gemeinde ein sicherer Ort ist, um die Beziehung zu Gott zu erforschen.
  • Wir müssen uns vorstellen, wie es sich anfühlt als Besucher in eine Gemeinde zu kommen, insbesondere, wenn man normalerweise in keine Gemeinde geht oder an traditionelle Gottesdienste gewöhnt ist. Wie fühlen sich die Menschen wenn sie in die Gemeinde kommen, was denken sie? Welche Ängste und Hoffnungen haben sie?
  • Wir wollen "Benutzer-freundlich" sein. Das alte MS DOS Programm war schwer bedienbar, es sei denn man war ein Programmierer. Seit Windows und MAC Programmen kann nun wirklich jeder einen Computer benutzen...das meinen wir, wenn wir sagen die Gemeinde soll "Benutzer-freundlich" sein. Wir wollen das Watermark eine Gemeinde ist, mit der jeder - unabhängig vom Hintergrund oder Erfahrung- gerne in Kontakt kommt und jeder eine Beziehung zu Gott finden kann. Deshalb müssen wir folgende Punkte neu überdenken:
    • Sprache
    • Image (Aussehen, Atmosphäre, etc.)
    • Schilder („Toiletten“, „Kinderkirche“, „Krabbelstube“, etc.)
    • Einstellung - das Leben von vielen ist ein einziges Durcheinander, besonders von denen die keine Beziehung zu Christus haben. Wir müssen barmherzig und gnädig sein. Wir müssen uns daran erinnern, dass wir alle eine Entwicklung machen und alle Probleme haben.
  • Wir wollen die freundlichste Gemeinde der Stadt sein. Das hilft uns "klebend" zu bleiben, denn wegen Beziehungen bleiben Menschen "kleben"! 

A safe place

Awesome news: God worked a miracle for CM.  The Freiburg Uni had told her there was absolutely no way she would be accepted as a student this year… that she would have to take additional classes in Heidelberg for a year first.  She just received an email saying she would be accepted.  That means she will be here to help us launch the church.  What better way to start a church than with a display of God’s power?!?!

And our Launch Team is now up to 15 people, with an additional 8 people that are either considering getting involved or are raising money to be able to join us here.

Concerning the building… we are meeting with an architect to see what needs to be upgraded in order for us to be able to use it as a church building.  So far, things are looking good.  We seem to have favor with the Zoning Commissioner (Baumeister).  He gave us a couple of suggestions to help get the permit for the building.  We still need to raise a lot of money, but God is giving us favor everywhere we turn.

Finally, for those that weren’t able to make the meeting last Sunday night, here are the notes from the meeting (we didn’t record it).

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Eph 4:11-12, 16 (NLT) 11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers.12 Their responsibility is to equip God's people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ…. 16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

· Churches grow and fulfill their destiny when every person gets involved.  Notice: “As each part does its special work…”

· Many churches are focused around the pastor and his/her gifts.  Watermark is in the business of building people; it’s not all about Robin and me!

• Our job is to help you find your place and help you use your gifts to God’s glory.
• We’ll be working alongside you; but our job isn’t so much to do the work as it is to keep our focus on the vision and values, to train people, and to help them use their gifts for God’s Kingdom.
• We’re in the business of changed lives. It MUST BE about what we can put into them, not what we can get out of them.
• With that in mind, let’s start looking at our core values… the first one we want to talk about is “Being a safe place to investigate a relationship with God”
  • We need to think through what it would be like to be a first-time visitor in a church… esp. if you’ve not used to church, or are used to a traditional church.  What are unchurched people thinking/feeling when they come in?  What fears/hopes do they have?
  • We need to be “user-friendly”!  Old DOS computer programs were difficult to use unless you were a programmer.  But since Windows and Mac operating systems came along, now anyone can use a computer… this is what we mean by user-friendly!  We want Watermark to be a church that anyone – regardless of their background or experience – can connect with and find / develop a relationship with God.
  • This means rethinking / redefining our
    • Language
    • Brand (look, feel, etc)
    • Signage – Toilets, children’s church and nursery areas,
    • Attitude – People’s lives are messy… especially those that don’t have a relationship with Christ.  We need to be grace-giving.  We have to remember that we are all in process and have issues we’re working through.
  • We want to be the friendliest church in town.  This helps us become “sticky”... it’s relationships that cause people to stick!

Evolving websites...

As we said, this blog will record the thoughts we’re processing as we head into our first church plant in Germany.  Two main website thoughts today:

1. As our church plant transitions out of the initial fundraising phase into the recruiting and branding/marketing phase, we need to adjust our website.  Up to this point the website has been a lot about us, since investors need to buy in to the leader before they’ll seriously consider supporting a church plant.  We still need to raise a large amount of funds just to launch the church, but it’s time to start looking at the people God has called us to reach.

So we’re changing our website focus from investors to our target audience: young adults and young families.  We don’t want this to be a personality-driven church... it needs to be a Christ-centered, people-driven church.  This means it must be about more than just the Perrin Family.  Which also means that our website has to change.  You should start noticing some of these changes soon.

2. Our ministry website needs to change... as we look to attract more shareholders in the corporate vision, we have to step it up in  the area of our personal ministry website.  Six months ago I grew tired of the “nice and clean, just like everyone else” look of our website, so I changed to a more grunge theme.  But recently I stepped back and looked at it through the eyes of a potential investor. 

I realized that the Perrin Ministries Website may look cool to a younger crowd (at least that is what I was shooting for), but it doesn’t reflect someone who wants to be taken seriously by international investors.  This means you’ll be noticing some changes in the Perrin Ministries website as well.

Gemeinde Stil

Ich habe kürzlich mit einem Pastor über die Art von Gemeinde, die wir in Freiburg gründen wollen, gesprochen. Ich habe ihm erklärt, dass die Gemeinde ein sicherer Platz sein soll, um die eigene Beziehung zu Gott zu erforschen. Das ist einer unserer Grundsätze.

Er meinte, dass das Evangelium an sich eine offensive Botschaft ist. Ich habe ihm zugesichert, dass ich Ihn verstanden habe. Jesus selbst hat sehr deutlich gemacht, dass Er der einzige Weg ist. Viele Gemeinde nutzen aber genau das als Entschuldigung, um zu erklären warum Nichtgläubige ihre Gottesdienste nicht besuchen (oder nicht wiederkommen wenn sie sie besucht haben), wenn es im Grunde vielmehr die Art bzw. der Stil von Dienst ist den sie anbieten.

Ich will keineswegs implizieren, dass wir besser sind als andere Gemeinden, sondern unseren Auftrag, zu dem Gott uns berufen hat, unterstreichen: Die Ungläubigen erreichen!

Wir alle wollen so sein wie Jesus...es gab einen Grund dafür, dass Prostitutierte, Steuersammler (Mafia) und andere "Sünder" sich in seiner Nähe wohlgefühlt haben. Er war gütig, annehmend und authenisch genug um mit ihnen in Kontakt zu kommen. Genau das dürfen wir niemals vergessen!

Wir werden die Botschaft des Evangeliums nicht kompromittieren! Gleichzeitig bin ich aber definitiv nicht mit einem Dienst einverstanden, der eine verlorene Person vergrault. Wir werden keine Ausreden für unseren Art von Gemeinde, zu der Gott uns berufen hat, machen. Wenn jede Gemeinde (Gruppe von Gläubigen) genau das ist, zu dem Gott sie berufen hat, dann können wir Freiburg verändern!

Style issues

I was talking with a pastor recently about the type of church we are planting in Freiburg.  I explained how one of our core values is for our church to be a safe place to investigate a relationship with God.

He said, “Well, the Gospel itself is an offensive message.”  I told him that I understood what He meant.  Jesus was quite clear that He is the only way.  But so many churches use this an excuse to explain why the unchurched aren’t visiting their services (or coming back if they do visit), when it’s really the style of ministry they offer.  I don’t want to imply that we’re better than other churches, it’s just that we’re laser-focused on who God has called us to reach –- the unchurched!

We all want to be like Jesus... well there was a reason that prostitutes, tax collectors (mafia) and other “sinners” felt comfortable around Him.  He was gracious, accepting and authentic enough to connect with them.  We must never forget this!

We will not compromise the message of the Gospel!  But I am absolutely NOT okay with having a ministry style that scares off a lost person.  We will not make excuses for the type of church God has called us to be.  When each church (group of believers) is being what God has called it to be, we can change Freiburg!