I just returned from a week in Postdam, Germany spending time with our global partner, Steffen Weil, and his mittendrin team. Mittendrin means “in the center of it” in German, and is the name of their 4-yr old church plant located right in the center of the city. What a great week of listening, learning and gaining perspective on their vision to reach into their city with Gospel-influence over many sectors of culture – arts, medicine, education, athletics, small business, government, and beyond.
2nd Home
You may be familiar with Zweitwohnsitz (German for “2nd home”), the coffee shop that is an integral part of their vision for reaching into Potsdam. We produced a video a couple years ago where Steffen spoke of their dream for people to “get a great cup of coffee” as well as the possibility of a conversation that might explore faith in a new way.
What a privilege to experience this first-hand this past week. I can vouch for the great cup of coffee (great lattes, too) and heard that Trip Advisor rates Zweitwohnsitz as the fourth best place to eat in Potsdam! I had a number of conversations with “not-yet-believers” – including one atheist friend of Steffen’s in particular who comes to mittendrin’s services pretty regularly. He feels comfortable in both the coffee shop and the club where mittendrin meets weekly, and we can be praying that these relational touches lead him to a personal relationship with Christ.
Reaching Into Our City
We have the same vision for reaching into our neighborhoods and our city with the hope that only comes from the Gospel. We don’t run a coffee shop, but our desire is that each of us would be intentional in sowing the seeds of the Gospel wherever we live, work and play. We do have a number of partnerships – what we sometimes call “on-ramps” to living on mission, and each of us live in a neighborhood with a mission field right at our door step.
How might God be calling you to live out the Gospel wherever you are?
Brian Petak
