In Bad Waldsee

It’s late at night again, but I’ve got to write otherwise all the past events will become too much to write about. Right now I’m sitting in bed in my hotel room in Bad Waldsee in southern Germany. But more on that later.

Last weekend was our youth group weekend retreat. Okay, maybe I should tell you what the situation is with youth group and such. I don’t think I’ve done that yet…
The Pabst don’t all attend the same church; the parents have decided to stay in the Landeskirche (the “state” evangelical church) instead of breaking away and joining an independent church like many others are doing. The Landeskirche is very old, very traditional, and often lacks the spirituality that exists in independent churches (like West Coast). However, the Pabsts parents have deep roots in the Landeskirche and feel it is their duty to remain and allow their strong faith to encourage others.
In previous years (when Miriam was here), the Pabst children attended a youth group in the neighbouring village which is run through Encounter Christ (EC), working within the body of the state evangelical church. This went well, but only offered a mid-week youth meeting; Sundays was still the boring, unspiritual, traditional Sunday service. Meanwhile, Anna was drawn to another church in Würzburg through their worship band, and started to make friends there and get involved in the production of their bi-monthly youth services. Last year, she decided that she couldn’t keep splitting herself between two churches, and decided to join FeG Würzburg (Freie Evangelische Gemeinde Würzburg >>Free Evangelical Congregation Würzburg). Sam decided to stay in the old youth group. Jonathan isn’t really sure where he belongs yet, and isn’t regularly attending one single church. Benjamin, now a teenager, is starting to attend the teen group at FeG.
I decided to join FeG Würzburg. Although somewhat of a practical choice because Anna also goes there and often drives, I also felt that it was the right place for me to be. The Pabsts suggested that I could try out some other churches to see what I would like (such as a church with good worship, which FeG kinda lacks), I knew that I am only here for a limited time and I didn’t want to waste time searching for the “perfect” church. Besides, I already had made some friends in the youth at FeG and it was starting to feel like family. Is there a “better” church in Würzburg? Something more similar to West Coast? Maybe. But I also welcome the idea of spending half a year in a church that is different than what I am normally used to. It doesn’t have to be like West Coast to be good. It doesn’t have to be like West Coast so that I feel at home. And it certainly doesn’t have to be like West Coast for me to feel the presence of God.
FeG has a strong youth group, with a teen group (13-15), an older teen group (16-20), and then a college & career group (20-you get married). They have a youth pastor called Dirk, who is a very cool guy and a great speaker. Very easy to understand and very real. The older teen group, which I attend, has about 25 regular attendees and another 10-15 others who come, but not every week. Every second week we have Ingo (don’t ask me why it’s called that) much like Core, with worship, a speaker, games, etc. and every Thursday we have bible study. There are about four different bile studies, and the house group that I’m part of is led by this guy called Daniel and his girlfriend Rebecca. Very cool people. I always find bible studies good; it’s a good bunch of youth who aren’t afraid to voice their thoughts or ask questions. We have good discussions. Every week we meet in someone else’s house, as we’re all spread around a large land area.
A bit more about the church itself: We are about 350 people and meet in our own building. A very nice, new building, complete with large sanctuary, commercial kitchen, two large meeting rooms, plenty of smaller meeting rooms, and a sweet café in the basement where the youth usually meet. Nice sound equipment, nice visual equipment, good print publications…you get the feeling that this church is well established and is in a good financial position. But you don’t get the feeling of wealthy snobbery. By no means. Sunday services are pretty traditional, with an intro song, a welcome by the meeting leader, a block of worship songs, announcements, another song, the sermon,…etc. It disturbed me the first few Sundays, how their seemed to be so little room for the spontaneity of the Holy Spirit, but I’ve gotten used to it now. I still think the style stifles the spirituality of the church, and I don’t agree with it, but I’ve come to accept it. Again, something that is different from West Coast.
But yes, this youth retreat.
We (the older teen group) met on Friday at 5:00 and headed to a Christian retreat centre in Heiligenstadt, 90 minutes drive south-east of Würzburg. Close to Bamberg, for those of you who know Germany. We were all in a big house/cabin, with dorm-style bedrooms (but very nice ones), big kitchen, and meeting room. Our leaders specifically only planned three meetings to give us plenty of time to relax and be together. Most of the weekend was spent playing ping-pong, swimming in the local pool, sleeping, playing ping-pong, eating, and playing ping-pong. Good times. It really was a great opportunity for me to get to know many people better, and I’m thankful that God has already richly blessed me with the relationships that I’ve been able to build in the last six weeks. We were their until Sunday afternoon.
Last Friday we had one of those bi-monthly youth services. Called ‘HomeRun’ and organized and put on by the FeG youth, it is a big youth service for all the youth in the Würzburger area. This is a big event; all stops pulled out. Worship band, theatre production, choir performance, video, sermon; all packed into one night. The place was full, the sermon was top-notch, and the presence of God was there. I can hardly wait till the next one. I wish we had something like this at West Coast.
I thank God so much that I have been able to find a good church. It was a big question mark for me when I came to Germany and again God has provided. I already know that of all the things that I’m experiencing here, I will most miss the people that I have met at FeG.

But, I’m not leaving for a long time yet. I was going to write about why I’m in a hotel room in southern Germany, but it’s almost 1 in the morning, and I desperately need to get some shut-eye before tomorrow. I guess you’ll have to wait a few more days…stay tuned!