Working with Aussiedler

MBH: You have been a Mennonite Brethren Missions/Services missionary to Germany for 36 years?

John: That's correct. We were called in 1960 to pastor a small MB church in Neustadt on the Weinstrasse. We were there six years. Then, after two years of seminary in Fresno, Calif., we were 14 years in Lage in northern Germany and four years in church planting in Bielefeld. In 1987, we were called to Korntal to the School of Missions which George W. Peters had built up. I was co-ordinator of the school for three years until they could find a new president. In 1991 I was asked by the group of Aussiedler churches to help start a Bible seminary called Bibelseminar Bonn. Most of my time during the week is in this school, but on weekends I am invited to teach the Bible in various churches.

MBH: What were the differences among the people that you worked with?

John: The people in Neustadt on the Weinstrasse had no knowledge about Mennonites. In Lage they were mostly people with Mennonite backgrounds who had lived for a generation in South America. They had somewhat of a different culture from the native Germans, so when we were evangelizing, we were asking native Germans to join a foreign church. Nevertheless, through the years more and more native Germans did become Christians and join.

Then the people from Russia came. Aussiedler or Umsiedler (the terms mean the same thing) are people that return from Russia. They went to Russia by invitation of the Russian government 200 years ago--about 100,000 of them, 55% Protestants, 35% Catholics and 10% Mennonites.

During the last 25 years, more than 1.5 million Russian Germans have come back to Germany. About 75-80% call themselves Protestants or Catholics. About 250-300 thousand call themselves Baptists or Mennonites, but only about a quarter of them profess to be born-again Christians; the rest are ethnic Mennonites or ethnic Baptists (including children and adults who attend but are not members of the church). At least half of those who call themselves Baptists have Mennonite names. When the first born-again Christians came in 1970-74, they usually joined existing Mennonite, MB and Baptist churches. But when the first ministers came to Germany, they said they would build their own churches. Of the 80,000 thousand Baptists/Mennonites, maybe 10,000 have joined existing churches; the others have created 250-300 new churches. So we have in Germany today about 50 MB churches which are not related to the churches that MBM/S has been working with. More that half of the 250 new churches work independently; they do not belong to any association or conference.

MBH: Could you tell us a little about church life?

John: When these Christians come to Germany, they go to the mayor or to the Protestant or Catholic pastor asking for a room where they can assemble. Once there's a group of 50 people, they ask some brother close by to administer the Lord's Supper and baptize. As soon as a leader is found, the group will become an independent church, MB, Mennonite or Baptist. They usually call the leader "Aeltester" (elder), not pastor.

Next, most churches will soon have a choir. People usually are in church 20-30 minutes early. The choir sings one or two songs before church starts and four to eight during the service, and there will be almost as many songs sung by the congregation.

Very soon after coming together, they start Sunday school. It's Bible teaching to children, but it's on Sunday afternoon or weekdays. They believe on Sunday morning everybody has to be in one spot in the worship service.

In the worship service, there are two or three sermons. They believe that no minister can reach everybody; one brother will speak to some people, and the other will reach others. They are very punctual. The leader of the sevice (not always the Aeltester) will start on the dot of 10 o'clock. They might have a service of an-hour-and-a-half or two hours, but they will quit on time. Most of the churches have Sunday morning and evening services, and both are evangelistic. Many of the children, young people and adult relatives are not Christians yet, so they count on having non-Christians in every service. Usually a sermon will close with an invitation to accept the Lord, and attention will be drawn to the return of Jesus: He will come soon. Are you ready? MBH: What kind of music do they sing?

John: They sing many of the songs that we used to sing here in Canada, but the choirs usually sing more modern songs that German Christians used to sing 30-40 years ago.

MBH: What about the younger generation? Is there contemporary music as we know it?

John: Usually not. But some of the churches that have been 20 or more years in Germany have groups that would like to have a guitar and other instruments. That sometimes creates tension, and the elders have a great responsibility to handle it wisely. Sometimes young people that have been in Bible schools don't feel at home anymore in their church, but that is not yet a great problem.

MBH: Do the younger generation generally stay with the Aussiedler culture?

John: Some young people want to be like German young people or German Christian young people. But even if they leave to start their own congregation, they seldom become part of a native German church. They will stay separate, but they will not be as strict on some of the rules and the culture. The process of becoming part of the German culture is only beginning as far as church life is concerned. In everyday life, especially in their work, the Aussiedler are in the forefront. They are industrious, conscientious, honest. In Russia, the communists didn't like the Christians, but they liked the Christians as workers. So, in Germany the Aussiedler have a very good reputation, but that is changing somewhat. The early people came because they were persecuted, but there is no persecution in Russia anymore. Today you have many Aussiedler who don't call themselves Christians.

More and more, the Aussiedler churches see the million other Umsiedler as their mission field. They have come to realize that they cannot be a mission force for native Germans yet, but the other Aussiedler have the same language, culture and problems. In addition, many Umsiedler churches realize that they have a debt towards their neighbours in Russia. Every year in the summer, groups of Aussiedler young people go back to Russia and help the Russian churches with camps, youth work and church planting. A German worker usually has 4-6 weeks of holiday, and many go for this period to Russia to do mission work.

MBH: What kind of jobs do the Aussiedler have?

John: Most are blue-collar workers, but there are nurses and engineers, and some doctors. There is a lower unemployment rate among Aussiedler than among the average German population because they accept almost any type of work.

MBH: The Aussiedler are relatively well off financially?

John: They are frugal, and they like to work, and usually the Christians don't drink. Most of them are able to buy a car very soon, and they build their own houses. Sometimes people think that the government is dumping money on the Aussiedler. That is not quite true, especially during the last 10-15 years. The earlier Aussiedler were usually people who had been in Germany during the war and had become German citizens, so the German government gave them the back benefits they would have gotten. But that is not done anymore. Much of the money that the Aussiedler get they get because they have large famillies, but that is also available to any native German.

MBH: What kind of conference structures do they have?

John: About 50-60% work independently. There is a conference of Mennonite churches. There is also a group of churches called Vereinigung (Association), sometimes Friedensstimme. Most of those who call themselves MBs are working with a group of 60 churches of which about half have various Baptist names. Together they call themselves Bruderschaft (Brotherhood).

Each grouping has a periodical, annual conferences and bi-annual meetings for brethren; they discuss issues like law and grace, head covering, missions, the charismatic movement. They also have seminars for preaching brethren (every two weeks for three years, four brethren from each church would meet to listen to lectures, read books and do a little writing), conductors, youth workers, Sunday school workers. Some of them believe that it is not biblical to have a resident Bible school, that the local church is responsible to train its own workers.

There is another group of churches called Bund Taufgesinnter Gemeinden (BTG, Union of Anabaptist Churches), started 5 years ago. There were 8 churches with 2000 members; today there are 18 churches with 5000 members. It's the smallest group with the highest goals. That's the group that started the Bible school we work with. Originally half of them were MBs and half were Baptists. They have a good periodical.

MBH: There is no direct link between the Umsiedler churches and the Mennonite Brethren churches started by MBM/S in the last 30-40 years? John: It is too bad, but so far there's hardly any organizational connection. Most of the MBM/S churches have some Aussiedler. The AMBD conference, which is the Mennonite Brethren conference related to MBM/S, has about 1,500 members, and almost half are Aussiedler, but organizationally they are not linked to the Aussiedler churches.

MBH: How large is the Bibelseminar Bonn where you are teaching? John: We started four years ago with 15 students; now there are 60, with five full-time faculty. Some MB professors from North America--David Ewert, Abraham Friesen, Peter J. Klassen, Hans Kasdorf--and some Baptists have been there to teach, usually for a one-week block. I am the registrar, Heinrich Loewen is the director of the school, but the other full-time faculty are Umsiedler who had their education in Germany or America.

MBH: How is this school funded?

John: The school started out as fully responsible to the BTG. The leadership of the conference was also the leadership of the school. Today the school is incorporated but is still responsible to the church group. Each church gives support to the school, but that doesn't cover the costs, so there is an agency to get additional money. This comes from individual Christians who give small sums and some businessmen who give large sums. The leadership of the school thinks it's not good if too much money comes from too few people.

MBH: Are the Umsiedler churches concentrated in particular areas? John: Originally they tried to go where some Aussiedler had already settled, but about ten years ago the German government decided to scatter them. Unfortunately, most are in areas that used to be revival areas 100-200 years ago. So wherever there were many native German Christians, there are also many Aussiedler churches, and there are other areas where there are no free churches at all.

MBH: When did you come back to Canada?

John: We came back this year in the middle of July and return to Germany at the beginning of November. Usually we come home every three years for about six weeks. But this year our regular missionary involvement with MBM/S came to a close (we are going back under the retiree volunteer program), and MBM/S asked us to stay home longer and visit various churches. MBH: If you retire, will you return to Canada?

John: Many people ask us that, and we do not have a final answer. Our children are in Germany; my mother and other relatives are here. We would like to stay in Germany as long as our ministry is asked for.

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