Schmitten – How can one speak about faith in such a way that it moves people? That question occupied centre stage at a conference by the Missions Department of the German Federation of Evangelical-Free Churches held at the beginning of the year in Schmitten-Dorfweil near Frankfurt/Main. Missions Director Christoph Stiba (Elstal near Berlin) reported on an ‘inability to converse about faith’ during his visits in congregations. Regional surveys carried out by the Federation had left a similar impression. It was therefore regarded as vital at the conference to relearn the ability to speak and communicate on matters of faith. Otherwise, mission efforts on the congregational level will be doomed to failure. Stiba described his views to European Baptist Press Service during the course of ‘Missions Conference 2011: Say Something! On Starting a Conversation about Faith’. The gathering intended to offer suggestions on how best to restore successful conversation on faith: ‘We have no reason to fear portraying Jesus to others.’

Jürgen Werth, Chairman of the German Evangelical Alliance and Director of the media section for the German branch of Trans World Radio (EBF), assured the conference’s 70 participants that communication only functions when the other person feels respected and loved. A person’s personality determines by as much as 85% whether his or her communication is successful – one’s topical knowledge only accounts for 15%. Werth encouraged his listeners to skip pious ‘God talk’ and portray faith in another way: ‘We need to really exert ourselves.’ Yet he conceded that the sacred can only be transmitted in everyday language to a limited degree. ‘The Bible remains the Bible. I cannot transform all of it into a language that fits Twitter.’ Werth reported that people are expressing a longing for the sacred. That is apparent when young people cheer the Pope and in the fascination that many feel for Eastern Orthodoxy. In the ensuing discussion, Werth warned Christians not to describe their world as perfect to unbelievers. ‘It isn’t true either,’ he added. ‘We have not truly resolved any of the world’s problems.’ It is therefore better to speak with unbelievers openly and honestly about our worries and questions.

Christina Brudereck (Essen), Spokesperson for Evangelism within the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland, noted that many feel a longing for the holy without expecting anything from Christianity. Christians need to understand this ‘movement of the hearts’ expressing itself in the heavy demand for angels, elves and rosaries. It is now even possible to speak about prayer on television. She spoke out in favour of a ‘dialogue evangelisation’ respecting other religious traditions. She warned of ‘Christian triumphalism’ while applauding the willingness to make errors and indulge in humour. Brudereck also criticised a pious vernacular not understood by the outside world. She cited as an example the song text ‘worthy is the lamb on the throne’. Such wording is no longer understood - a lamb on a stool sounds silly and absurd. Though this text is ‘ancient and archaic’, it is nevertheless true. But it can only be understood with extra effort. She noted that Baptist pastor Martin Luther King (1929-1968) repeatedly spoke of ‘the power in the blood of the lamb’. But he himself had demonstrated that power which overcomes all violence.

Oliver Pilnei, Director of the German Federation’s Institute for Worker and Congregational Development spoke out against a ‘stereotyped understanding of conversion’. Citing the study ‘How Adults are Converted’ developed by the theology department of the University of Greifswald, he noted that it can take up to 12 years for a person to become a Christian after receiving an initial impulse. He described as astonishing the study’s finding that 87% of churchgoers prefer the traditional worship service over against alternative, contemporary forms. Participants in the lively discussion which followed warned that Christians are in danger of losing the content of their message when it is forced to fit all the tastes of modern society.