HOPE GERMANY FESTIVAL 2011
The lead-up to The Festival 2011 began with an amazing journey over the past 4 years. In 2007, God gave the D-Team (Hope Germany’s leadership team) a very precise vision: divide Germany into eight regions and pioneer churches in all eight of these regions by 2010. In 2007, Hope Germany had successfully planted churches in three, pioneered in another two while we had yet to touch ground in the remaining three. At the end of 2010 we successfully had succeeded in all 8.
Another factor shaped this year’s camp. Last summer, the D-Team prayed that God would reveal the next step in fulfilling the vision for the eight regions. When the D-Team met in February, it was in the middle of a very intense period of Godly revelation. God called Sebastian and Franziska Unger to move to Paris in summer 2012, Matthias und Yvonne Keller to move to Jerusalem in summer 2012, Kajin und Ulrike Teoh to develop "Soundfabrik" into a training institute for worship and prophecy, and gave Steffen und Ulrike Cornehl a clear vision for their ministry and professional life. Since then, Marcus and Stefanie Rose have been very busy trying to figure out what this means for their lives and how they can develop HOPE Germany into a nationwide church-planting movement that always releases people for international projects.
The Festival 2011, from June 10-13, saw 450 full-time participants and 150 visitors from all eight German regions, the Czech Republic and Canada came together in the beautiful countryside place called Grunheide. It was amazing to see all the different licence plates at the car park and realising that God’s vision has come to fruition.
When we came together on the first evening, the hall was filled with hundreds of people being overwhelmed by God's greatness. After introductions and a performance by our church’s stand-up comedians, we prayed for God’s guidance and move throughout the whole Festival. The evening’s sermon was on Paul’s message in Romans 1:16-17. Claudia Bolt, a student who was baptized last July, came on stage and shared how she was ashamed of some aspects of the gospel last year, how she overcame it and how she will learn to live by faith in the next year. At the end of her testimony, she introduced Felix Beyer, her 22-year-old team leader, who shared a similar story. It was exciting seeing four very different people at very different levels of spiritual maturity share their heart and personal experiences with Christ. The congregation realised that our God has no problem with our weaknesses and sins; only our pride. By overcoming this hurdle, we do live as saints. The evening finished with a great time of praise and worship.
Saturday began at 8:30am with worship. Stefanie Rose followed, preaching about the destructive power of sin and the delivering power of repentance. For Europeans to understand the Gospel, we have to redefine their understanding of the biblical concept of sin. Stefanie shocked the congregation when she shared how sin is fun and there are certain kinds she really enjoys. The morning concluded with more than 30 workshops addressing a variety of topics and designed for everyone; from non-believers to leaders.
In the afternoon, the whole place was filled with introductions and people connecting with one another, and cheering the soccer and volleyball players at the "Cup of GOOD HOPE". In the evening, Steffen Cornehl preached that while our society may not want to be saved in this manner, salvation by faith is still the only and most beautiful way to be saved. In the worship session afterwards, God spoke through words of knowledge and other spiritual gifts powerfully. The sick were prayed for and people accepted Jesus.
Sunday morning started with worship again, but this time, the children’s church ("Kinderland") band played and it was great seeing all the children clap and enjoy their time in the presence of God together with their parents. Sebastian Unger started his teaching about Romans 8:14, "Whoever the Spirit of God drives, those are God's children". Before starting his message, Sebastian just asked the whole congregation to pray and then he opened the floor for the whole congregation to come forward and speak whatever God had put on their hearts. After some very encouraging statements, he taught the fundamentals about the Holy Spirit. He finished his message by telling the congregation how the Holy Spirit called him and his wife to move to Paris. Later that morning, attendees could go to one of six special topics which taught about finance, worship, humility, intimacy with God, identity in Christ, and the scientific approach to the truth in relation to the Gospel.
One of the most touching moments of the Festival was the baptisms on Sunday afternoon. They were held at a small lake in the forest. It was amazing hearing the testimonies from students to businessmen; German, Malaysian and Czech. In the evening, Marcus Rose introduced the different people who had been baptized and those who had started attending church in the past year. He followed Paul’s outline for how the church is to move in being driven by the Holy Spirit and maturity in Christ. Marcus Rose was supported in his teaching by five younger leaders who added to his insights with their experiences. The Communion that night saw conversions and people deciding to serve together with us in the future.
The Festival finished on Monday with forums; guided discussion groups to enable people to serve God better in their specific profession, family and ministry situation. Kajin Teoh, Yvonne Keller, Ulrike Cornehl und Ondrej Sobotka used the last session to cast God’s vision for the next year by using the last two chapters of Romans and all the prophetic words that have been guiding us over the last months.
After the end of The Festival 2011, the team leaders from all over the country met in the afternoon. At the beginning of the Festival, Germany was divided into eight regions. Now we have cars returning to a Germany divided into 26 regions and planes fuelled for God’s work to be done across borders.
God is great.
Marcus Rose, Hope Germany
