Berlin – At least for a day, a small Baptist congregation in Berlin contained Europe’s biggest pulpit. On 23 January, Germany’s second major television channel (ZDF) broadcast the worship service of the 130-member Peace Church (Friedenskirche) congregation in Berlin-Charlottenburg. Over a million watched Pastor Hendrik Kissel’s sermon entitled 'Peace and the Strength to Start Anew'. More than 600 responses were sent to ZDF offices. Kissel told European Baptist Press Service that emails and calls from across the globe were still reaching his congregation days later. 'People were praying on the phone and weeping callers were given counsel,' he reported. 'I never expected a reaction like this.'

The TV audience seemed particularly impressed by the church’s contemporary design, the true-to-life sermon and a large wall painting behind the pulpit. It portrays Jesus entering Berlin on a donkey through Brandenburg Gate. In its introduction to the service, ZDF described the arrival of Jesus on the painting as 'making the Berlin Wall quake while the victory goddess Victoria is no longer able to keep the horses of her quadriga under control'. The painting aptly describes the congregation’s efforts in the German capital; it reveals a message which even today provokes change and astonishment. Kissel spoke in his sermon of the 'unimaginable abandon with which Jesus questioned the traditions of his day, making decisive change possible'. He noted that God’s Spirit sometimes brings people into a state of 'healthy unrest'. They then refuse to tolerate life-threatening conditions and start the search for alternatives: 'God is with those who are on-the-move. But he is also with those who have grown weary.'

Moderator for the service was Julia Grundmann, a member of the congregation. She is also media spokesperson for Germany’s Federation of Evangelical-Free Churches.