Ohio Church Planter Travels to Germany in New IMB-Send Network Partnership

Church planters spent a week in Frankfurt, Germany, with Send Network Global Vision Trips.

By Stephanie Heading, Managing Editor

Send Network Ohio Church Planter Nick Abraham recently traveled to Germany as part of a new Send Network partnership with the International Mission Board (IMB) -- Church Planter Global Vision Trips. 

Abraham pastors Reformation Bible Church, a one-year-old church plant in Navarre, near Canton, and when he heard about this initiative for church planters, it piqued his interest.

“I had never been on any kind of cross-cultural mission trip,” said Abraham. “I never wanted to go somewhere on a ‘Christian vacation.’ I wanted it to be purposeful and meaningful.”

“I had never been on any kind of cross-cultural mission trip”

Send Network is partnering with the International Mission Board to mobilize church planters to experience the nations. The 2023 trips are scheduled for five international locations: Lahore, Pakistan; Frankfurt, Germany; Delhi, India; Sofia, Bulgaria; and Mumbai, India.

Abraham found Frankfurt, Germany intriguing because of the secularization of its society. “I wanted to go see and learn how church planters there are reaching people in a secular society.” 

Abraham applied for the Germany trip and was excited when he was selected as one of six church planters from the United States traveling to Frankfort, Germany, spending a week meeting with IMB pastors and church planters. 

“At Send Network, one of our values is Seek First the Kingdom, and that means taking the gospel beyond North America,” said Mike Laughrun, Send Network director of global engagement. 

“At Send Network, one of our values is Seek First the Kingdom, and that means taking the gospel beyond North America."

“We had a very full week,” said Abraham. The group met with pastors and church planters in Frankfurt, as well as working with the substantial number of refugees in Germany. They also walked around Frankfurt, conducting a survey to meet people. While he enjoyed meeting the locals, Abraham did admit that sometimes he experienced a language barrier.

“In Germany, only forty-five percent of the German population are German,” Abraham noted. “The rest of the country are from the nations. It shocked me. It was fascinating that the nations are all in Germany.”

In addition to the nations living in Germany, Abraham also learned that church culture in Germany is quite different from the United States. “The typical church there has thirty to forty people, and a mega-church has about two hundred people,” he said. “Only one or two people a year come to church and get saved, but that is joyfully celebrated.”

The work is slow in Frankfurt because less than one percent of the population are evangelical. “The majority in Frankfurt don’t know Jesus and don’t know anyone who knows Jesus.”

However, despite the dire statistics, church planters in Frankfurt have developed a strategy to reach the lost. “They do not have events, like block parties, because if they did, no one would come. They are doing the slow work of cultivating relationships with those around them,” said Abraham.

Seeing the gospel shared in the secularized German culture helped Abraham coalesce his thoughts about reaching his community in Navarre. “Our culture is not there yet, but we can see it heading there. We are rapidly secularizing here. The gospel is the need people have, so we need to be creative in connecting the dots for them.”

Abraham believes his week in Frankfurt is affecting his work at Reformation Bible Church, Navarre, even as he is “still mentally unpacking” the experience. “We have planted, but we need to be engaging our community with the gospel. We need to think about things in a different way. ‘Let’s have an event’ does not get what we want,” he said. “It is not so much about us having an event. We need to live our message and engage with people God has put in front of us. It is longer and slower but seeing it in Frankfurt was helpful.”

"We have planted, but we need to be engaging our community with the gospel. We need to think about things in a different way."

While Abraham hopes to be busy sharing the gospel in Navarre, he and his church are also planning to lend a hand in Frankfurt. “Our desire is to partner with them—not just send them money. We want real partnerships that go both ways. We want to have a heart for the nations, and we want to start thinking about missions now.”