W u s t e r m a r k – The Baptist churches of Germany, Austria and Switzerland want to help integrate foreign Christians into their own communities. The General-Secretaries and Presidents of these three unions discussed opportunities and remaining difficulties during sessions recently convened in Elstal near Berlin. Emanuel Brandt (Hamburg), President of Germany’s “Federation of Evangelical-Free Churches” (BEFG), stated: “Jointly proclaiming Christ with other cultures in one’s own country is an urgent issue which we must address.” The discussion included critical remarks on whether the support of émigré congregations meeting in their own language or cultural groups cements or demolishes divisions. Germany’s General-Secretary Regina Claas (Elstal) responded: “We must give each other space for our differences, but we must also seek and cultivate that which binds us together.” Walter Klimt (Vienna), General-Secretary of the Austrian Union, stated that we should not only ask how we can help international and foreign-speaking congregations in our own countries, but recognise the contribution that international people bring to local congregations. He observed from his own experience that international communities and groups can enrich the faith experience of home-grown congregations. Some Austrian congregations are strongly international – the congregation in Graz alone is home to 20 nationalities. General-Secretary Stefan Gisiger (Thalwil) from the Swiss Union praised the church-planting efforts of the American Southern Baptist IMB mission in Switzerland. They encourage home-grown congrega­tions to view themselves through the eyes of a foreign mission society – which has led to constructive changes.

All three sides commented positively on these annual sessions and for the additional opportunities to meet. This includes this year’s Baptist World Alliance-sponsored youth confe­rence in Leipzig as well as the meeting in Amsterdam, where in 2009 European Baptists will celebrate the 400^th anniversary of the founding of the first European Baptist congregation.

The German BEFG includes 20 independent congregations of émigré background as well as 120 church groups and initiatives holding some worship services in a foreign language. Switzerland has five congregations with services in foreign languages; the Austrian Union has seven Romanian-speaking congregations as well as four other congregations with special programmes for foreigners.