2017 SPRING GERMANY REPORT
THE LORD’S UP-TO-DATE MOVE IN GERMANY
The Lord’s Sovereign Move in 2015
In 2015 the Lord sovereignly moved approximately one million refugees from the Middle East through Turkey and southeastern Europe primarily to Germany. The saints in the Lord’s recovery responded to this migration first by the distribution of gospel tracts and other materials available through Rhema to the migrants as they passed through Greece. By the end of 2015 most of the migrating refugees had arrived in Germany.
The Follow-up in 2016
In January 2016 approximately 200 FTTA and FTTL trainees and serving ones labored in Germany to contact the refugees. During this first gospel trip the visiting saints contacted and established initial connections with many refugees. From February through June, seven two-week follow-up gospel trips were carried out to continue to contact the new ones, to shepherd them, and to connect them with the local saints in the homes. During the later follow-up gospel trips, trainings were conducted in each of the four cities—Frankfurt, Dusseldorf, Berlin, and Stuttgart—to establish the new believers in the truth and in the healthy life practices. Overall, nearly 1,000 saints from both Europe and overseas joined in to care for the new contacts in Germany. The one accord among the participating saints was both the strong foundation and the top enjoyment of each gospel trip. In addition, saints all over the earth joined together to pray for the Lord’s blessing on these gospel trips and gave to meet the financial need.
From September through November 2016 three one-month follow-up trips focused on shepherding the new ones contacted in the first half of the year. Approximately 100 saints both from Europe and overseas joined in for the shepherding labor. One of the highlights in this stage of the labor is that many of the ones who have been saved and baptized and are attending the new believers’ meetings are the warm doors to invite others to meet with us. As a result, additional new contacts have been gained, and many baptisms have resulted through those who were gained during these past several months. Furthermore, the four churches have now begun to labor on the campuses with the burden to gain the local German young people. Bible distribution tables have been set up next to key campuses, and the Lord is beginning to bring some promising young ones to us.
Visits from Full-time Trainees in January and February 2017
In January and February 2017 trainees from both FTTA (Anaheim) and FTTT (Taipei) came to Germany for gospel preaching, shepherding, and perfecting. This time the overseas saints were also sent to Munich and the Hamburg area, where relatively large clusters of saints are already living and meeting. Once again, the labor of these visiting trainees was rewarded with a strong response from both refugees and typical German and foreign students on several key campuses.
2017—THE CURRENT NEED GOING FORWARD
Although the Lord has done much in the past year, the brothers feel that we are now at an important stage in the Lord’s move in Germany. There are areas that we feel are on the Lord’s heart and require some consideration in His Body for 2017:
- For the first half of 2017, we will continue with month-long follow-up trips for gospel preaching, shepherding, and Those who are able to come for a minimum of one month will be utilized in several key cities to perfect and equip key contacts among the refugees and students to enable them to propagate and shepherd others among their communities. This is a great need at this stage of the work, especially with the refugees. In addition, we will continue to increase our labor and focus on the college campuses for the gaining of typical German young people and seeking international students. We believe that the Lord will increase His move among students in the months and years ahead. Information and registration for these month-long follow-up trips can be found at Germany.Lebensstrom.de.
- A second focus will be on Bible As 2017 is the 500th anniversary of the Reformation begun by Martin Luther, there is a strong burden to complete what Luther began. Luther translated the Bible from Greek into German. This allowed the Word to be opened up for the first time to the common people, and we want to complete our brother’s work by distributing the interpreted Bible, the Recovery Version. We propose that during 2017 we would distribute throughout Europe hundreds of thousands of Recovery Versions of the New Testament in the European languages that are currently available, which include English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian. Because of this momentous anniversary, people will be particularly aware of the Bible this year, especially in Germany. In the week following the ITERO in Leipzig, Germany, we will cover the top 70 campuses throughout Germany with Bible distribution. Our experience shows that each time we go out with the free New Testament, approximately half of the people who receive one ask for further contact. We believe that this is because of people’s respect for the Bible and their desire to understand it. We are burdened to get this ministry into the hands of as many seeking Europeans as possible.
We propose to distribute Bibles in Germany via advertising and the internet throughout the year, as well as by direct distribution at certain events and during the week following the 2017 autumn ITERO in Leipzig. This effort will require IT and administrative personnel, especially German-speakers. The work will begin immediately and continue throughout 2017. More information and registration for the Bible distribution and other events that will follow the autumn ITERO can be found at ITERO2017.amanatrust.org.uk.
In order to print hundreds of thousands of New Testaments for free distribution in Europe after the fall ITERO in October 2007, Living Stream Ministry (LSM) will need to place an order by the end of March 2017. Those who wish to give to meet this urgent need can direct their giving to LSM.
- The most important focus for the rest of 2017 and beyond is the emigration of burdened saints for the practical strengthening and building up of the local churches in six key cities in There are several categories for potential emigrating ones: current full-time serving ones; experienced campus workers; students; those who are self-employed or taking secular jobs; retirees who are able to support themselves. “Some can emigrate to Europe to live the Lord (The World Situation and the Direction of the Lord’s Move, p. 46). This was Brother Lee’s clear burden, and in light of the current world situation, this burden endures and has even increased among us today. Emigrating saints who can already speak some German will be especially valuable. The churches in Germany are small, and the need for pillars is great. Many more open homes are needed to receive the new students and refugees into the practical church life. It is anticipated that those who emigrate to Germany will be asked to participate in a brief emigration training to equip them to live and serve among the German people. Information and an application for emigrating to Germany and all of Europe can be found at lordsmove.org.
May the Lord continue to advance in His move in Germany through the prayer and fellowship of the Body.
For information regarding spring follow-up trips to Germany, please visit germany.lebensstrom.de
For information regarding October blending trips, European Conferences, and Bible distribution, please visit ITERO2017.amanatrust.org.uk
For information regarding emigrating to Europe, please visit lordsmove.org
A video presentation of this fellowship is available on the LSM Webcast website.
Written Reports and a Supplemental Outline
May the Lord intensify His move in Germany and in all of Europe through the coordination of His Body.
