# Reformation 2 Germany



## Sebastian Heck (May 19, 2007)

We, that is a small team of Reformed folks, are in the process of speading a vision for bringing the Reformation, or rather - a reformation - back to Germany.

There's two of us pursuing Ph.D.'s right now. What we envision is a three-part ministry: church planting (with which we will, D.V., begin two years from now in Heidelberg); publishing (again, D.V, this will be in conjunction with Ligonier Ministries, but also others); and theological education and training.

The crux of the matter is that we want to plant clearly confessional P&R churches that can multiply because they rely on the normal means of grace in terms of their philosophy of ministry. The publishing (books and a magazine) will be confessional as well. Germany at this point has no clear confessional presence. In fact, Germany has only about 2% evangelicals, about 5-7% of the population attending church on Sunday (mostly Catholics!), and an optimistic estimate of the Reformed community: they will ALL fit into any average size PCA church building together. Of these couple hundred Reformed folks, the larger portion will be Reformed Baptists, then some Ref. charismatics, and then whatever is left - if any! you do the math! - will be Presbyterian, or rather, Reformed.

Germany is a sad place to be these days - but also an exciting place to be for a Calvinist! Things are so tough, I sometimes wonder how any survive in ministry except for Calvinists and pragmatics.

All of this means that we need all the help we can get.
We will never establish a Reformed church in Germany without outside help. We need prayer partners. We need finances. We need "manpower" (missionaries; preferably German-speaking). We are looking for partnerships.
Right now, we have good contacts with PCA folks, mainly via Mission to the World, some individual churches. What we are looking for is potential church partnerships - meaning, churches who care about the "land of the reformation" and want to get involved in some ways, not least of them financially. We are looking for donors, but also for people who might be called to come to the field. Also, if any of you are involved in publishing Reformed literature and can imagine partnering with us, that would be appreciated. I guess, this is kind of a Macedonian call.

If you want to find out more about what's going on in Germany, please don't hesitate to ask me. I am in the midst of it in Germany. Please also visit http://reformation2germany.wordpress.com where we introduce our vision to English-speaking folks.

I am looking forward to hearing your comments, questions and suggestions.


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## Sebastian Heck (May 19, 2007)

trevorjohnson said:


> There are already reformed churches in Germany. Reformed Baptist. They are confessional in that they go by the 1689 it looks like.
> 
> Have you contaced them? They might help you. I am sure they could steer you well, give you lists of contacts and might even help you plant a "Reformed" church.
> 
> ...



Thanks for the links. Except for Hannover Int'l Church I know/am in contact with all of these, of course. I did not say or mean to say that there is nothing in terms of Reformed presence, but what I am talking about is the establishment of a Presbyterian church. The Reformed churches we have (maybe 8-10 or so?) are individual congregations with no link whatsoever, certainly not in a Presbyterian sense. And they all are quite diverse, to say the least, in what they understand "Reformed" to mean. There is only one, the BERG in Gießen which is confessionally Presbyterian and then there is one adhering to the LBC. That's it!
Along with the churches we are seeking to plant, we want to establish a PCA-like (meaning, P&R) denomination.


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## VirginiaHuguenot (May 19, 2007)

May the Lord bless your work and grant revival and reformation again to the land of Luther.


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## Davidius (May 19, 2007)

Hey Sebsatian,

Remember me from the GPTS conference? Did you still want me to try my hand at translating some literature for you? Also, I'm very interested in at least doing short-term work and helping out with interpreting if I can.


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## Sebastian Heck (May 21, 2007)

CarolinaCalvinist said:


> Hey Sebsatian,
> 
> Remember me from the GPTS conference? Did you still want me to try my hand at translating some literature for you? Also, I'm very interested in at least doing short-term work and helping out with interpreting if I can.



Hey David,
no, I don't remember because I wasn't at the GPTS conference. No one invited me...!  You might be thinking of someone else - maybe Sacha Walicord or someone? But you did write me am email before - in German! You said you wanted to enlist for church planting in Germany...? ;-)


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## Mayflower (May 21, 2007)

Dear Sabastian,

Does the next link help (if you can read German ?):

http://www.altreformiert.de/


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## Mayflower (May 21, 2007)

Mayflower said:


> Dear Sabastian,
> 
> Does the next link help (if you can read German ?):
> 
> http://www.altreformiert.de/



I also would like to added :
Friends of the heidelberger.

http://www.svvhed.org/german/

For if you can read dutch : http://www.svvhed.org/

This is an organisation from Dutch reformed theologions and pastors, who have an heart for Germany. Alot of books from dutch puriteins (Nadere reformatie) like Hellenbroek , W. Brakel & Thomas Boston have been transelated into german.

Iam almost sure they can help you, because they have contact with reformed presbyterian churches in Germany !


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## Davidius (May 21, 2007)

Sebastian Heck said:


> Hey David,
> no, I don't remember because I wasn't at the GPTS conference. No one invited me...!  You might be thinking of someone else - maybe Sacha Walicord or someone? But you did write me am email before - in German! You said you wanted to enlist for church planting in Germany...? ;-)



Yes, I remember you! I must have gotten the names mixed up. I did meet Sacha and one other guy at the conference. I'm glad to hear that you'll be working with them. I suppose I assumed that that would be the case when I saw their setup and spoke some with them. Your English is so good that I couldn't imagine them needing my help with translation! But maybe I have Sacha's e-mail address somewhere. Or could you send it to me in a PM?


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## Raj (May 21, 2007)

*sad to know the condition of Germany*

Dear brothers I am sad to know the condition of Germany. The country which led others in knowledge of God's word and took initiative to fight the mistakes of the then Church, is today suffering and asking 'come over and help us".

Perhaps, for this reason God's word teaches us that we teach our faith to our Children all the time and our God's faithfulness to the next generations, so that they don't turn their back to God or get invoved in false philosophies.

But thanks be to God who always uses His people for the reneval of HIS covenant. I believe as some of you are taking initiative to stand for the Truth and for His body, the Lord shall give you victory. 

May we all, humbly join in prayer and support for this good endeavor.

God bless your attempts. 

Lets go again back to the Bible.......to teach, remind, encourage, correct and warn... amen


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## SRoper (May 21, 2007)

We have a missionary in Berlin who attends Lukas Gemeinde. Are you familiar with the church?


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## Sebastian Heck (May 24, 2007)

SRoper said:


> We have a missionary in Berlin who attends Lukas Gemeinde. Are you familiar with the church?



Yes, I am. The partnership with the Lukasgemeinde is, In my humble opinion, kind of an uneasy allegiance, because, clearly, this is no confessional or even broadly Reformed church. I fully understand the "missiological" reasons that lead to this partnership, but just don't agree with the theological reasons. I am in good contact with the team of missionaries in Berlin though.


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## Sebastian Heck (May 24, 2007)

Mayflower said:


> I also would like to added :
> Friends of the heidelberger.
> 
> http://www.svvhed.org/german/
> ...



Mayflower, of course I speak German. I AM German! I have recently established contact with the SVVHED. Pray something will come of it! Thanks! 

I don't have much contact with the "Altreformierte", but from my vantage point there doesn't seem to be much life. Also, they are in all kinds of ecumenical relations, truly gone liberal as well, it seems.


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## Mayflower (May 24, 2007)

Sebastian Heck said:


> Mayflower, of course I speak German. I AM German! I have recently established contact with the SVVHED. Pray something will come of it! Thanks! .



Great to know brother your passion for germany!

If you are german and read german, what do you think about Dr. H.F Kohlbrugge ? As far as know his writtings are not known in engelish, but here in the Netherlands, i almost all his writtings ha been transelated in dutch !
His commentary on Romans 7 is great !


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## yeutter (May 25, 2007)

If my memory is correct the Eureka Classis explored sending a missionary to Germany several years [maybe 20 yrs.] ago. Have you made contact with them?


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