January 2021 — The Gfeller Family

Yesterday, I was invited by a friend to visit a family we both worked with in a refugee camp over a year ago. I used to play soccer with the boys in the carpark located under their accommodation. The family fled to Germany with their six children from Syria about the same time our family arrived. This family has since moved into a small village about an hour from Berlin.

To be honest, when I found out how far their new home was and that it is also winter break here in Berlin, part of me wished I could stay home. I had been looking forward to spending some time with my family from the busyness of the past couple weeks, but I’ve learned to trust my friend for his instincts in knowing when someone needs to be encouraged, so we set out for the little Dorf of Lindow.

As we arrived in the little East German village, it was evident that remnants of the GDR still remained as we passed the stone-faced looks of residents suspicious of what my Arabic friend and I were doing in their corner of the world. I soon realized that this would be a tough place for a Middle Eastern family to build a home.

As we searched for the right address, we were happy to find a familiar face walking down the street, Mahmoud, the families 10-year-old son who led us to the old Soviet style housing complex that his family lived in. We soon found ourselves in the family’s apartment. It was a nice spacious apartment, the size of which would have cost 3 or 4 times as much in Berlin, and it soon became apparent why the family had moved to this quiet place and attempted to isolate themselves from the hardships they had found in Berlin.

But had they found the escape they had hoped for? We would soon find out the affect that isolation has on created beings who are meant for fellowship. The toll of the move was evident in the eyes of all, but especially the kids. It was a look of hopelessness, that what they hoped for had not been realized and in a desire to escape the hardships of what they were facing they had just run farther away from a place of contentment.

As we sat there the effects of isolation were in full display by how they were all seeking to distract themselves in different ways from the reality of their situation. The blue glare of the tv and electronic devices fixated them on a false reality that begged for their attention, but then as we began to talk something special happened. Dead eyes and emotionless faces soon began to break into smiles and laughter.

Our desire to see and hear them turned a cold, meaningless time into warm, meaningful fellowship. They met our desire to encourage them, with their own. They invited us to dinner and soon I was once again reminded of how this culture reflects the culture of the kingdom by lovingly welcoming everyone to the table. It was a reminder to me of how we are made for relationships and why it was so important for us to come. That finding the path to joy is understanding that fellowship is what we really need.

My heart hurt for them, because I knew that what they were searching for couldn’t be found in a new apartment or town. Ultimately, what this family needed was the fellowship of the King, to know the God that holds everything together and to recognize the One who has made a way for us once again to enter into His fellowship.

I hope to continue encouraging them to this end, so that they may recognize that through Jesus they can have true contentment and true joy. May this always be our desire to help others recognize that fellowship is what we need, that even in the midst of a pandemic there is a loving God that is always ready to welcome us with open arms.

'the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. '
1 John 1:2-3

Ministry Update

We have continued in Reinickendorf even through the harshest parts of the lockdown. We are currently meeting in small groups of 2-3 kids and this has created a warm environment to build deeper relationships. Recently, we have started to make our way through the Bible with videos by the Bible Project (Das Bibel Projekt.)

We have recently seen some new open doors for outreach as well. Two weeks ago, I dropped off some winter coats at the refugee camp we work in. We have been limited in access, because of Corona restrictions, but I happened to see the director of the camp and the children’s director. They have been overwhelmed with trying to organize homeschooling for 65 children in the camp and they invited me to bring volunteers in to connect with families to support them in this way. We will be seeking to connect believers with refugee families in this way over the coming weeks.

Our church is also currently planning an addiction recovery ministry in partnership with another church in the city. While there are many recovery programs in Berlin, there are no Biblically based programs and in a city like Berlin, we see a tremendous opportunity to support the church in Berlin as well as reach out to unbelievers through this avenue. Please pray that this may be a means of seeing chains of addiction unshackled by the glorious grace that is offered in Christ.

We have a number of new initiatives that we are seeking to build up believers with among our church family as we enter the new year. All these are designed to bring believers together for the purpose of encouraging and equipping one another to maturity. This is the focus of our sermon series right now in pursuing disciplines that mark the life of a believer.

We are also starting a discipleship study in Mark Dever’s Discipleship book and we have 30 individuals from our church who will be meeting regularly over the next two and a half months to learn together how we can pursue making disciples in Christ who present Him to the nations.

Family Update

Quinn and Gracie are currently in Homeschool as the schools in Berlin have closed due to high Covid case numbers. Cherry has spent a tremendous amount of time over the past month supporting and helping the girls organize the endless stream of work that is being sent to them by their teachers. We are looking forward to breaking out of this reality that has at times felt suffocating over the past year with lockdowns and restrictions.

Cherry has learned to cut our hair and with the barbershops being closed down I was starting to look like a chia pet, so I am thankful she was able to give me a trim before I preached on Sunday! She did a great job!:

With the girls being on winter break this week, we are looking forward to driving up to the best, and really only, Mexican restaurant in the city and the girls are excited about spending some time with friends.

I turn 40 this month and I feel every day of it! Years of playing, coaching and officiating sports have taken their toll and I recently have had a lot of hip and back pain. I would greatly appreciate your prayers through the next couple months with the weather and Covid restrictions that amplify this problem.

Prayer Update

Please pray for new outreach initiatives in the refugee camp and with plans to start an addiction recovery program.

Please pray for new initiatives within our church designed to build up believers into mature disciples of Christ.

Please pray for my hip and back pain. Wisdom on next steps.

Please pray for an Afghani brother in Christ, who lost is job in November and his landlord is illegally trying to evict him.
Please pray for our community as we have begun the process of presenting and examining me as a recommendation for an elder in our community, specifically that we would have unity as a body in understanding if this is God’s will for our church.