Alsbach-Hähnlein, Darmstadt, Germany [CD-EUD]. On Saturday October 8 and for another 16 appointments between Saturday and Wednesday, the new evangelistic series transmitted by the Euro-Africa Division Media Center, STIMME DER HOFFNUNG, started. More than eight thousand people were able to watch this new series, Faith Simple, every night, and many more will be contacted to join the 466 official meeting locations spread around the secularized German-speaking countries (Germany, Austria, Switzerland and one church in Luxemburg), over the next two months.
The series is reaching out largely to two age groups (20+ and 40+) and aims to speak to the postmodern mind. The series is oriented towards debating some of the most important questions that today’s generation is called to face.
The program is divided in 4 main parts. The first is the presentation of a story set in New York where two people, a woman and a man, realize that their encounter will wind up changing their lives. Their story will further develop during each evening in the series. The purpose of the movie is to introduce the audience to a specific theme.
In the second part, two pastors of different ages, representing the two different age groups, present short
sermons (10–15 minutes each) on the topic of each evangelistic night. In their short sermons Matthias Müller and Klaus Popa expand on some of the questions that arise in the story. The sermons will be presented with the New York City mindset, trying to move the pastoral presentation away from the pulpit and onto the street.
The third part of the evening program is planned as a live discussion of the evening topic during the broadcast on HOPE Channel in the presence of special guests. There will also be ample opportunities for live group discussions in local settings. There are about 250 churches, many of them being small; and 215 small groups participating in the series.
In the fourth part, after the program, which will be broadcast on HOPE Channel (English live translation only via Internet), the churches or local places are invited to continue the discussion of the topic of the night (or other items of shared interest) around the table.
Some of the topics that will be discussed give a glimpse of the whole outreach platform: Living through crises; Comfort in times of sorrow; Praying – Placing an order with the universe?; The Beginning - Beautiful old world; When life is fading out; This I believe - God is there; The ultimate freedom - The world coming to an end?; Golden moments - A life-changing decision. And so on.
This huge evangelistic project requires strong teamwork, not only to present the topics, but also to face the thousands of contacts that are generated.
Since the beginning of October the web page for the event has already had about 40,000 visitors. Each night there are around 10.000 page views on the web site.
During the first night, and also during the following two nights, more than 7.500 people participated indirectly from the 466 sites around the German-speaking countries. More than 1000 are not Adventists. About 700 people watched the program via streaming. “We do not know how many people are sitting at those computers” said Pastor Müller, one of the speakers “It must be at least one, maybe more per computer.” After the broadcast, there are about 150-200 people for one hour chatting with the discussion guests and the pastors. “This is very tough,” said Pastor Müller. The first night the phone-counseling-hotline was totally exhausted. Each night about ten pastors are in contact on the phones with people that need spiritual support. “I would like to thank God that everything is working fine. I’m happy that we ultimately made it to this point despite all the challenges we faced.”
But Pastor Müller is especially happy that so many churches and home Bible groups in Germany, Austria and Switzerland joined the effort. This is considerably more than in any earlier NET/Satellite event of the past years. In fact there is an unknown number of people watching at the TV set at home. “It is the first time that we broadcast an evangelistic series, which can be received at home. We think that several thousand are watching at home each night” said Pastor Müller.
“It is great that we have HOPE Channel (the Seventh-day Adventist TV channel),” added Pastor Müller, “otherwise we would not have a chance to reach the homes of an unknown number of people. Technically-speaking by satellite alone we reach about 15 million homes in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Now we are trying to motivate people to watch it not only at home but to visit one of the churches or Bible groups for discussion, since talking to each other is a major concept of this series.” The series will end on December 3. More figures and results are expected. But the beginning seems to support this aim.
“We have received some very encouraging reports on the outstanding quality of the program, skeptical people now being positive, depressed people now seeing hope. And there are, of course, some critics, too” conclude Pastor Müller.
The evangelistic series is broadcasted live on ASTRA satellite in German (Hope Channel) and live-streamed via Internet in German translated into English.
