Tonight I fly to Berlin for our second Connect Europe gathering this year. We will meet up with 37 reformation-wired emerging leaders from 10 nations, looking forward to hear from God together, share stories and build friendship around His purposes for Europe. If you have time, say a prayer for the preparation team, for inspiration, protection and good health.

Had a relaxed preparation day with the team. We decided to not work with a fixed program or central agenda, but let Jesus lead us organically throughout the weekend. For some the word organic means lack of organisation and direction. For me it means two things:

a. Recognizing that Jesus builds His church. Therefore being sensitive to what God's Spirit is saying and doing and intentionally allowing/expecting Him to lead us corporately, which in practice means an open interaction between those who facilitate and provide direction and the group. It is not a matter of being un-organized (it honours God to organize things well), but of flexibility in structures, and holding them lightly, so God can shape things the way He wants.

b. Being aware that people are in different stages in their spiritual journey and that therefore you cannot assume that 'one size fits all'; it's a matter of recognizing this, giving space to diversity, and a more coaching style of leadership.

Tim Elmore calls this style of leadership that marks today's emerging generation that of the poet-gardener. The poet discerns purpose and the gardener develops people. The key values are connection and growth. A gardener things organically: he is aware of the seasons of God, that different crops might need different kinds of soil and attention to grow.

Andreas and Christine took us for dinner up to the Fernsehturm (television tower) at Alexanderplatz, an architectural and political symbol of the former GDR. The funny thing is that the 368 meter high building, erected in 1969, had a 'design error' that made the commies a bit uncomfortable: on bright days the sun would display a cross on the ball of the tower, a sign of hope pointing to a better future.

These days you can take the elevator up to a restaurant with an astounding view over the city. The floor of the restaurant moves slowly, so you get to see the whole city several times before you finish your plate.

To gain a better understanding of God's purposes with cities, and how Christians can make a difference, Kerstin Hack guided us on an afternoon excursion through Berlin. Kerstin is a creative out-of-the-box thinker and one of the initiators of the city-wide prayer initiative for Berlin. She told some cool stories of how praying Christians influenced the course of events in the city. Around the May 1 demonstrations this year, she courageously positioned herself with a small prayer team in between hundreds of anarchists on the one side and hundreds of neonazis on the other. A head-on violent collision was miraculously prevented.



During the excursion it started snowing again, and it was soooooo cold that I escaped the group halfway to get a glühwein on the Christmas market.

We stay in the youth guesthouse of the Berlin City Mission, a centrally located colourful glass and concrete building with spacey rooms, a foyer where you can hang out and excellent food. The meeting hall is so big that we divided it in two areas: one for presentation and discussion, and another for prayer and artistic expressions.

At the start of a weekend like this we always take time for personal introductions and to tell the Connect story. Of the 38 participants 26 haven't been involved in a Connect gathering before, so we intentionally give people an overview of the journey so far, with an open invitation to join in and shape the process. Below the pictures of the previous Europe-wide meetings in Herrnhut (2002), Geneva (2004) and Prague (2005).

Matt Redman and Jason Upton couldn't make it to the meeting, so we compiled an 'organic' worship band, a Norwegian-German-Portuguese partnership, with Renni (vocals & guitar), Anne-Maria (violin), Martin (piano), Nuno (guitar), Jeff (drum) and Helena (dance). Ronald from the Netherlands brought a song that he wrote several years ago, but never performed. God told him that he had to save this song until he would join an international meeting of younger leaders, then the time would be right to sing it. Special. (Click on the link below for the text.)

Download we_will_stand_accords.doc

Today I held a presentation on the state of the church in Europe, starting with a mildly ironic description of our current effectiveness, then explaining why the church needs a reformation, and finally introducing several emerging, quite out-of-the-box expressions of church and ministry. Everyone contributed to this time of storytelling, and I was encouraged by the fact that most of us are actively pursuing new ways, like house church, monastic communities, Postmodern/EPIC conversations, café/pub church, houses of prayer and boilerrooms, mobile/nomadic companies of friends, virtual communities, liquid varieties of church, kids church, youth church, marriage transformation groups, active leisure and spiritual formation groups, indigenous church, and tribal outreach among new agers and neopagans.

Over lunch I joined a conversation on the abuse of tithing in local churches, and godly financial priorities. In the afternoon there were workshops on coaching, organic church and storytelling.

Download church_is_bigger_than_you_think_light.ppt

In the evening we went out to a cosy restaurant with fireplace for an early Christmas dinner. The portions were too small for me, but we had a great time.

Today we prayed extensively for the nations in Europe represented at this gathering. In four different corners we prayed first for the participants from the Netherlands, Belgium, England and Portugal. Each nation had a big flip-over paper on which we could write or draw prophetic impressions and encouragements. In the afternoon we prayed for Germany, the largest contingent, and in the evening for Norway, Finland, Hungary and Romania. A creative time of 'body ministry', of which Nuno from Portugal made some pictures. And Andy from England taught us how to 'prayer wrestle'.

Heard many excellent stories today. Andy from England shared about his plans to start a movement of young people reading Scripture in public places. Just imagine three people coming together in places like the McDonald's, a local pub, the library at school, the park, the metro, etc, to read the Bible together, discuss the implication for their life, and pray for each other. After all, it's the most normal thing to do, and it can inspire non-Christians to also grab a Bible and join in.

It links in to a Scripture God gave us for this gathering - Matthew 22, in which Jesus compares the Kingdom to a king who threw a party for his friends. But no-one was interested to come, they were all too busy minding their own things. Then the king told his servants to go into the streets and invite everyone who wanted to come to the party. Many Christians are so busy with their internal church activities, that they don't notice that the King already sent his servants into the streets to find the poor and needy. We're in a season of grace for the unchurched and unreligious to be invited to the King's table.

When Heidi and I brainstormed about the Berlin gathering last September, we came up with an unconventional theme, linking the German soil to Kingdom DNA and multiplication: 'The potato conspiracy'. So we asked everyone to bring a potato from his/her own country and do something creative with it (a story, poem, song, prophetic act, or any other form of art, serious or funny) that we could learn from.



Tonight we broke up in small groups to share our stories, and it was hilarious. Kersti from Norway made a stamp in the form of a heart, and because Ben, our youngest participant turned 15 this weekend, we initiated him in the Order of the Jolly Good Potato. I also gave a short presentation on the basics of organic gardening, or what organic church planters can learn from the potato.

Download the_potato_conspiracy_light.ppt

Last night some celebrated Ben's birthday, while others watched the night movie 'Luther' in one of the seminar rooms. This intriguing movie shows the boldness of a man who spoke out against idolatry in the church, but couldn't prevent his reformation to turn into a massive bloodshed, killing over a 100,000 peasants. The sober lesson: what started in the Spirit, can end up in the flesh, especially when it gets messed up with politics.

Today we evaluated our time together, revisited some topics, and I shared some plans we pencilled in for the next season. Andi led us in a free-style meditation time. The rest of the day I hang out with Chris and Marja from Romania, Niina and Gabi, and Nuno and Itaguarra from Portugal.



Download what_is_connect_europe.ppt

Gabi mailed me some of the pictures she made in Berlin. On the left Chris and Marja, Dutch missionaries to Romania. Then the German architecture that Gabi admires but doesn't make me tick, a cup a glühwein in the local Kneipe, and a bread with pork meat and onion on the Christkindlmarkt. Click on the pictures to enlarge.