Why Germany?
Blog update 7/28/25
Our church (Northridge Fellowship in Rogers, MN) regularly sends teams to serve and share the love of Jesus. Some go to local neighborhood parks, some to tribal towns in our state, and some to international destinations. In each case, the ministry grew out of an initial connection there, and it often develops into a long-standing relationship. Were these locations chosen arbitrarily over all the other myriad possibilities, or did God somehow direct each connection?
I wonder about this, because in barely a month we fly to Germany with the mindset of serving and sharing the love of Jesus there. Why there—thousands of miles away? There are plenty of places right here where we could continue to do useful work. We (Cal especially) have been engaged in serving both within our church and beyond its walls here in Minnesota for many years. Why Germany and why now? What changed?
We did. We worked at careers and raised kids and made mistakes and (hopefully) learned from all of it, and finally we reached the milestone called retirement. But when we lifted our “golden years of travel” retirement trophy off its high dusty shelf and set it down on the kitchen table, its shiny finish had faded and it looked oddly unremarkable. Then God whispered, “What if this trip was more about others and less about you?” and we were undone. He started with Cal’s heartfelt dream of soaking up the Swiss Alps and gave him a week-long mission there. That felt so right that we reached out further for meaningful connections nearby—and God redirected our inquiries north into Germany. As contacts grew into promising connections with mission-minded Germans, we asked about and researched the church in Germany. What we learned helps explain the “Why.”
Germany is one of the most economically stable and educated nations in the world. But spiritually, especially in the East, it is one of the most secular. There are now more people who identify as ‘nones’ than those who say they are Roman Catholics and Protestants.
It helps to understand that the vast majority of Protestants are associated with the organization known as EKD (Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland). This federation represents a hierarchy of Lutheran, Reformed, and United churches from 20 German regions. These churches might be thought of as comparable to mainline Protestant churches in the US, often associated with a more liberal theological perspective. In contrast, the much smaller group of churches comparable to US evangelical Protestant churches are in Germany called “free churches;” these are more loosely organized and diverse, and many Germans lump them into the category of “cult.”
A recent survey showed that at the end of 2024, of the entire German population:
· Roman Catholics make up 24%
· Protestants (EKD) are 21%
· Muslims are 3.9%
· All other religious communities (including free churches) total 4.1%
· 47% identified their religion as “None”
Within the main religious groups, the percentage of members who attended church/mosque monthly:
· 6% of Roman Catholics
· 2% of Protestants
· 25% of Muslims
Mainline churches in Germany are dying. In 2024, for the fourth time in recent years, the Roman Catholic church and the Protestant (EKD) church have EACH lost over 500,000 members. The drop in church attendance has resulted in many church buildings being sold and converted into private businesses such as restaurants, fitness centers and shops.
The situation within the former East Germany is the most extreme, as shown on the map above. For over 40 years, East Germany was governed by a communist regime that systematically marginalized religion. By the time the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, what had once been a bastion of Christianity was home to millions who had never heard the gospel, never attended church, and never owned a Bible. Decades later, that legacy remains; whole generations have grown up without ever hearing the gospel. People aren’t rejecting Jesus--they’ve simply never encountered Him.
We don’t know exactly how God intends to use us there—the more we learn, the more we realize we know almost nothing about life in Germany today. Yet God seems to be directing this connection—so we will pray and go and see what He does. "Remain in me, and I will remain in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me." - John 15:4.
Here are a couple of links if you want to learn more:
‘Nones’ outnumber Catholics and Protestants in Germany for the first time, Evangelical Focus
Religion in Germany Map By State: Protestants vs Catholics vs Not Religious - Brilliant Maps
Religion in Germany Map By District (Landkreis) in 2016
Religious Affiliation in Germany by Percent in 2024