English

Der Berliner Blatt
The Stoddards' Life and Ministry in Berlin

The Miracle of New Birth

Dear Friends and Family,

Though it may be the end of the calendar year here in Berlin, it is a time of fresh beginnings and new life for us and our team in Pankow. As is typical for this season, the weather dreary and gray, but the spiritual atmosphere feels like Spring. It may sound very strange to be writing like this around Christmas but let us explain and we think you will understand. New life is in the air.

A baby church is born
On December 5th we celebrated our first church service in Pankow. Ken, our team leader preached an interactive sermon, David led the worship and there was a time of prayer and sharing. The kids had their own program too. Everyone agreed that it was a big success, not because it was so professional but because it was so refreshingly personal. It really seemed like family. We think about 21 adults were there, 3 teenagers and 8 kids. We praise God for this new beginning!

Two baby Christians have been born
Has anyone ever come up to you and asked you: "How can I become a Christian?" 99% of us have never experienced anything like that. But it just happened 3 weeks ago, here, in hardened atheistic Pankow. Janin is a lady who was part of the Gospel Choir workshop last June. Since then, she has been taking an English class with one of our teammates, Jay Eastman. One day she asked Jay if she could meet with him because she and her roommate, Sabine, wanted to find out more about becoming Christians. They met and that very day both women embraced Christ as their Lord and Savior. Their stories are breath-taking accounts of how a sovereign God pursued them even in their hard-core atheistic environment with little to no Christian witness at all. Both of them started to doubt the fact that there was no God when He intervened in their lives in miraculous ways. What struck them about one person they knew back in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) was this person's peace, joy and hope at the funeral of a lost loved one. Janin had gone into churches to pray all by herself because she felt there must be a God. Later, she prayed that a gospel choir would start in Pankow…and lo and behold, our team did just that!
Janin and Sabine have begun to grow in their new faith. Attending church was rather traumatic for them at first. The pastor spoke about the resurrection and the new heaven and the new earth. After the service, they said, horrified: "How can you all sit there so quietly and unmoved by such great and wonderful truths? " Their questions and observations are humbling. They cried tears of both sadness and joy when they read in Genesis that God walked though the garden looking for Adam and Eve after they had sinned, asking: "Adam where are you?" Their hearts were moved by a loving God who pursued them.

A child is born
Let Sabine and Janin's excitement be contagious as we consider again the wonder of Christmas. God sent Jesus to walk through the garden of this sinful world, seeking the lost, calling each and everyone of them by name, unto himself. May we never stop marveling at this truth: God, the sovereign Creator of the universe asks us: "Where are you?" because he wants a restored relationship with us. During this Christmas season let us respond to Him with gladness and humility. He deserves all our worship because He alone can give New Life.

Wishing you a wonderful Christmas,

David and Eowyn Stoddard in Berlin, Germany