Max and Claire Rothe serve in Chemnitz, Germany. Prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall, Chemnitz was part of East Germany and was known as Karl Marx Stadt, a strong indication of its communist and atheistic past. Max and Claire serve their post-communist community through their work with BLessing Church, a local church located in a lower-income neighborhood off of Lessing Square. It's in this strategic location that their church serves as a light to the poor and vulnerable population who live and congregate in that area. Max and Claire are committed to discipleship, building relationships, and caring for the practical and spiritual needs of their community as they work to see lives transformed by the hope and love only found in Jesus Christ. The Rothes are also part of the Greater Europe Mission (GEM) agency. In addition to their work with the local church, Claire serves GEM by discipling the children of other GEM missionaries, much as she did when she served with Josiah Venture.
In 1997, Tim & Linda Kelly were sent out to plant a church in Germany. In 2011, the church completed building its current location of worship and registered as Freie Evangelische Bibelgemeinde Meine (Free Evangelical Bible Church in Meine).
The church has trained pastors in Kazakhstan, continued to reach out to their own community with the gospel, and been a light to other regions of Germany by posting Tim’s sermons online. Additionally, Grace Church of DuPage has conducted marriage conferences and a Biblical Counseling conference at Freie Evangelische Bibelgemeinde Meine.
Tim is currently teaching Hermeneutics and the Pastoral Epistles at the European Bible Training Center in Berlin and Zurich. These bible training centers are associated with The Master’s Academy, a ministry of the Master’s Seminary located in Sun Valley, California. Tim has also taught these subjects at the Baptist Theological Seminary in Armenia.
Updates & Prayer Requests
As the new year approaches, we rejoice with our Global Partners in the work the Lord has done through their ministries and through His Church. We hope your heart is encouraged by looking back on some of these stories from 2019.
The Freie Evangelishce Biblgemeinde in Meine Germany is celebrating a couple exciting new manifestations of the Lord’s work this last month. They recently planted a church in a neighboring town. Below are some pictures from the dedication service and the commissioning of two elders for this church.
A few weeks ago, we had our quarterly prayer meeting in the Fireside room. If you were unable to join us, please consider praying on your own time or inviting others to join you in lifting up these requests before the Lord.
There are many factors that can make it difficult for us to feel connected to our global partners overseas. It has been a goal of the Global Outreach Team to address some of those challenges through regular prayer updates, quarterly corporate prayer meetings, and opportunities to meet with our global partners when they are visiting.