L i s b o n / B e r l i n – On the campus of the German “Federation of Evangelical-Free Churches” (BEFG) educational centre in Elstal near Berlin, European Baptist Mission (EBM) is obtaining its own mission house for the very first time. EBM-General-Secretary Hans Guderian reported on this at sessions of the European Baptist Federation’s General Council convening in Lisbon/Portugal from 24 – 27 September. This will improve the mission’s working conditions in a major way. The house has space not only for offices, but also for a conference room, a basement chapel and a flat for mission workers during their sojourns in Germany. The house had been used by the union’s Bible school, which was forced to close its doors last summer due to declining enrollment.

Guderian added that this mission house will make possible the continuation of the tradition of the “Mission Society Neuruppin”, founded at the end of the 19^th century. That mission had also possessed its own mission house. Due to its location in the erstwhile German Democratic Republic, that mission had been forced to close its door following World War II. The building was then used for other, secular purposes. Yet GDR Baptists had under the leadership of General-Secretary Rolf Dammann continued the mission’s activities on paper. After the GDR’s peaceful revolution and the German reunification, ownership of the property was ceded to the all-German Baptist Federation, which sold it to a chain of supermarkets. The money from that sale was plowed into the construction of the Elstal campus. Guderian explained that he recently asked the German federation to give his mission access to the unused Bible school building. His request found undivided support within the Federation’s Presidium. Guderian stated: “We are especially grateful to President Emanual Brandt and General-Secretary Regina Claas for their strong support for our concern.” Brandt applauded the move: “We are very happy to latch onto a tradition which had made the missions house a primary symbol of our church movement.” The EBM will be given the building rent-free beginning in 2009 for a 30-year period. In this fashion, the “heritage of Neuruppin” will continue to serve the cause of foreign mission.

EBM enjoys the support of 26 European Baptist unions. It is active primarily in Africa, Latin America and beginning in the coming year, also in India. Guderian himself will only be able to enjoy the new house, which will begin operation in December 2008, for a short period. In January, Christoph Haus, the Federation’s head youth pastor, will become the mission’s new General-Secretary. Guderian will begin a term as church pastor in Berlin beginning in February 2009.