Day Four - Rostock & Barth

It turned out that the B&B that we stayed in last night belong to the secretary (Karl-Heinz Jersak) of the Baptist church in Bad Doberan. After breakfast he kindly brought us to see the new church they are building in the town. We were so glad for them to see how they are growing and willing to take this step of faith. When completed they will have excellent facilities.
After stopping to look at a hotel that may be suitable accommodation for a future team visit, we arrived on the outskirts of Rostock. We visited a man who Victor and the team had made contact with earlier in the year. He didn't invite us in, but accepted an invitation from Victor to a Creation-Evolution lecture that will be held in the Rostock University next Tuesday night It is very interesting that this lecture entitled "Can a professor of biology believe in God?" has created so much interest. It featured this week on a magazine programme on national television. As the hall only holds 500, the organises are thinking of asking believers to stay away so as to provide more room for non-Christians. Being a former communist land, such an event seems to be the talk of the city.
We also took time to tour the area of the city where FEG/ECM propose to plant a church. We then had some time to do a quick tour of the city centre and buy some presents.
After lunch we got in the car again to drive further north east to the coastal town of Barth (about 1 hour from Rostock) where Timo and Tamara Frommer live (Timo is Pastor of the FEG there). This couple would be in the same age group as myself so we found that we had a lot in common. It was really great to be able to meet a young couple living and working in a church in the east and to be able to listen to them talk about the challenges they face
Again and again we hear about issues such as - high unemployment and the fact that many towns and cities have lost between a quarter and a third of their of their population because they moved to the west after the fall of the wall. Many young people continue to leave the east in search of work in the west. Also as far as their attitude to spiritual things goes, it's not necessarily the case that they don't believe in God but they have never really sat down and taken the time to think about questions such as, "is there a God, why am I here, or what happens after I die?" Much wisdom and experience is needed to know how to present the Gospel to such people effectively.
Tonight we are staying in a little quiet guesthouse in the centre of Barth. Tomorrow morning we will leave early for the drive back to Schwerin were we will take part with around 60 others in the FEG churches 'Day of Prayer'.