For more than twenty years, André and Olga Pritzkau have been serving as church planters in Berlin, Germany. Now they are moving just southwest of the capital to a city called Potsdam where they plan to start a new church. Both born to German parents in Russia, they moved to Germany with their families in the 1970s while they were young children.
Eric: How did you become church planters in Berlin?
André: In 2000, we returned to Germany after studying for four years at Columbia Bible College in Abbotsford, BC, Canada. At that time, Lawrence and Selma Warkentin, former missionaries with Multiply for decades, got in touch with us, connected us with the church plant in Berlin, and even mentored us in the beginning phases. The mentoring and the support from Multiply in North America were crucial factors in confirming our calling and helping us in our first steps in church planting.
Eric: Why are you leaving the church in Berlin for Potsdam?
André: Our church in Berlin is sending us! It is not easy to leave behind all these dear friends, and yet it is great to see more communities of faith arise in more German cities. So, on the one hand it is saying goodbye, but on the other it is joining God together in seeing more churches planted. And the Berlin church is joining us in that mission.
Olga: Part of the challenge is journeying with our children and coming alongside them as young adults. Our youngest is studying in Berlin and will stay with the Berlin church. Our second son is finishing his studies in Berlin and is serving the church as a trainee on the leadership team. Our eldest is living and studying in Canada. We are blessed to see our children walking with the Lord and serving him with their gifts.
Eric: Do you know anyone in Potsdam?
André: We are making connections with leaders of existing churches in Potsdam, and we are getting to know the city and its people. It has been very good for us to get to know other churches and church leaders and to learn from their experiences in serving the people of Potsdam. It is very important for us to hear from them about what God is doing in the city. That will help us to understand what God wants to do next, where he wants to go from here and what our part can be in that process.
Eric: What is the state of the Church in Germany and what is the general attitude toward the Gospel?
André: As with Berlin, Potsdam is in, what used to be called East Germany which was under communist control for forty years. The indoctrination of atheism left its mark on the people. Most would say that the Gospel is irrelevant today; it’s outdated by science, and nobody needs it. Churches here today are struggling to live out the Gospel in ways that are relevant for unchurched people.
Eric: How will you make a difference in Potsdam?
Olga: We intend to live our Christian lives right in front of the people in our new neighborhood. We are excited to see what pathways and people of peace God is already preparing in Potsdam. We are praying for people, and we believe that God is already preparing their hearts to be touched with the Gospel. Our prayer is that people would turn to Jesus, becoming disciples, and touching others with their lives and stories of transformation, so that others in turn will feel drawn to become disciples of Jesus. We invite you to pray with us, that we would allow God to show us how he intends to bring this about.
Eric: In your newsletters, you often talk about prayer walks. What have your prayer walks in Potsdam looked like?
André: On our prayer walks, we listen to God as we walk, and we observe the city and the people, and we get an impression of what is happening spiritually and socially in Potsdam. They also do something within us—they allow God to give us a heart for the lost and for the people of Potsdam. We want to know how to get involved, how to serve, how to build relationships.
Eric: In your latest newsletter, you talked about one walk in Potsdam called the Priesterweg. Can you tell us about that?
Olga: Priesterweg is German for the priest’s path. It’s a beautiful trail between two neighborhoods in the eastern part of Potsdam. We were there on a prayer walk recently and an older lady approached us. She had no idea that we were church planters, but she told us the story of the Priesterweg, explaining to us that the pastor who formerly lived nearby would always walk along this path to the next village to serve the people there.
André: After hearing the lady’s story, we continued to pray as we walked this path, and we asked ourselves a few questions: What if today is the time for a new narrative? What if God wants to come again to this part of Potsdam and not go away? What if God wants to live among the people here and have them hear the Gospel? What if God sees these people with eyes of compassion and he wants to write a new story about the Priesterweg? Please pray with us into that new story.
SERVE
Are you inspired by the faithfulness of workers like André and Olga? Where is God calling you to serve? How is he inviting you to join his mission today? To explore service opportunities with Multiply, go to multiply.net/serve
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