April / May 2025
Recently I assisted Cherry as she taught the children at our church plant in Potsdam a couple weeks ago. The theme for the week was that God can bring down the walls we set up between Him and each other. I was reminded of Ephesians as I was listening to her teach, that in Christ the wall of hostility has come down.
Ephesians 2:12-16
12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.
I was reminded in this moment that hostility is what causes us to put up walls.
While walls serve different functions, we normally erect walls for one of two reasons. We use walls to either protect, or confine. We had the opportunity last year to visit my brother and his family in China. He took us to see the Great Wall. It was breathtaking to see one of the great wonders of the world and the lengths that ancient peoples took to protect themselves from invading armies. Walls serve a good purpose in that they can protect us from danger.
Living in Berlin, we are very aware of the other way in which walls can be used to confine. For almost 30 years the Berlin Wall stood as a line of demarcation for opposing ideologies and systems of government. Even today the effects of the wall are seen in the architecture, culture, and mindsets of those who live in either an east or west ‘Kiez’ (neighborhood) in our city. The Berlin Wall was built to confine, to keep people from escaping, and to ‘protect’ its citizens from the dangers of the west. Even though only small fragments of it stand today, the effects of the oppression it brought even to this day lingers over our city in the spiritual oppression that still grips this city.
Two walls, two different functions, but one goal, we erect walls to separate.
Walls are meant to divide hostile parties and separate us from those we oppose. It’s why as I heard Cherry speak to these children I was thankful, because even though we live in a world that seems to be increasingly hostile to our God and one another, we can be sure that peace is coming. There is One who kills hostility and makes enemies, friends. One who has reconciled us to God, so that we can also learn to love our enemies. Jesus takes bad people who were once far off and brings them near by His own blood.
It was in this moment that I remembered once again why we are here. Our hope is simply to be agents of reconciliation that work for the ceasing of hostilities, because in Christ we have found peace. May we be people who work for the destruction of hostile walls. People who work for the peace of the nations, that He might create in Himself one new man. Please pray with us to this end, that our feet would be swift to bring the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the peoples of our city who desperately need reconciliation with our God and one another.
If you would like to know more in depth about how we have been working to this end over the past year and how we plan to work for this purpose in the coming year, we encourage you to read our annual report. You can find this at the link below.
Ministry Update
We have just finished a busy couple months of outreaches and efforts to proclaim the gospel in our city. At Easter, we participated with other believers in a city-wide outreach to testify to Christ on public plazas across our city. This year we provided a coffee station on one of the main plaza with a resource table and kids area. We have many conversations with Muslims and Germans during the weekend.
This past week we had special camps for youth and kids. A team from Cedarville University helped lead these camps, where we had 39 teens and 30 children under our care for the weekend. Speakers at each of these events gave strong gospel presentations and it was encouraging to see especially at the kids camp hosted at our church that many of the parents stuck around to hear the lessons. Almost all of these families were unchurched, and a couple of the families attended our church service and BBQ on Sunday.
We also had our women’s retreat in May and look forward to our men’s advance this month. We are excited at the increased attendance on Sundays as well as the number of people desiring to be baptized and join our membership. We plan to have a baptism service this coming Sunday at a nearby lake and it has been so encouraging going through our baptism class and hearing the testimonies of those who will confess Christ this weekend.
Cherry and the girls continue to pour into the children at our church plant where there is a great need at this time (see the video below of the kids breaking down the wall:) I (Chad) continue to serve in the church plant Sunday mornings to provide pastoral assistance to Franz our church planter and help lead our services at CrossWay in Berlin in the afternoons through preaching, teaching and participating with the worship team.
I also continue work with two regular outreaches during the week. One on Monday nights to refugees and immigrants trying to learn the German language at our Sprachcafe and on Tuesday afternoons with an after-school program to elementary children in a socially depressed area of our city. Both of these opportunities seek to go after those who have experienced the hostility of wars in their home lands and the hostility of domestic abuse right here in our own city.
Life Update
I had the opportunity to go with my fellow elders to Edinburgh a couple weeks ago for a pastors conference. The conference was for churches across Europe, Africa, Asia, and North America and we are looking forward as a church to joining this network of churches to work together for gospel growth that grows healthy churches. We had a great time together in a beautiful city.
Cherry and I had the opportunity to get ‘away’ in our city by staying at a local hotel for a couple of nights last month. We had fun walking around the city we love and trying some new food. The many breaks from school in May and June have given us opportunities to spend time together and with friends as well. Here are some highlights!
Prayer Update
We have several big decisions we need to make as a church in the coming months as we prepare for the fall regarding our meeting location, additions to leadership, and the hope to plant a new church. We would ask you to pray that we would have wisdom and discernment on these things.
Please pray for those being baptized on Sunday, we have noticed that many times after someone takes this step that they encounter spiritual warfare. You can pray for (Noah, Nancy, Fiona, Maryam, Noomi, and Destiny).
Please continue to pray for our family, especially the girls as they finish up a tough year of school. Especially for their Math grades!:)
Please pray for two new families that arrived this month to work with Turks and Arabs in our city as the transition into life here in Berlin.
Thank you once again if you made it to the end of this update. You are a blessing to us and we thank you for your partnership with us for the gospel in Germany.