Update: Mannheim, Germany Feasibility Study

Team Mannheim: Blake, Kim, Susanne, Bob & Carol,
Nathan and Jeremy

Thanks for your prayers for us last week as we traveled to Mannheim. With help from church leaders from Darmstadt, Ramstein and Frankfurt Oberursel, we had a very productive and exciting experience! 

In reviewing the overall results of the Feasibility Study, the single word that comes to mind most is “positive.” It seemed that each of the meetings had a positive tone. The people we talked to from the various student ministries, Studenten für Christus, Student Misison Deutschland, Katholischen Hochschulgemeinde, and the Stadtmission Mannheim were all very positive.

We met with pastors Andale Weber from Haus des Herrn, and Pastor Walter Clark from Rhine River Baptist, who were also generally positive, but seasoned with the recognition that the work is difficult and the commitments must be long-term and enduring through the difficult times that will inevitably be faced. We heard more than once of previous efforts to begin new works in the city that had failed to gain a foothold.

During our time in Mannheim, we were not able to include input from the professional/business side of the expatriate community. We simply were unable to make the vital connections necessary and set up appointments. We are going to follow up with supplemental visits to connect with the international business community. Some of those meetings will be through new leads we discovered last week, others will be "cold calls" to places of business and industry. If you know someone in Mannheim who works for SAP, John Deere, BASF Chemicals, Roche Pharmaceuticals, or another international company, please pass that information along!  This certainly needs to be completed and entered into the mix as we consider future steps in the city.

Our final evaluation after last week's visit gave the city a green light, but we recognize that this is only a preliminary result. The addition of information from the professional realm will certainly provide further insight, and may alter the conclusions.

One conclusion that seems evident is that it will not be possible for us (Bob & Carol) to do this new plant in Mannheim while still fully engaged in Darmstadt. We will need to seek a new church planter, or an associate to help in Darmstadt to free us for Mannheim.

Thanks for your prayers for us!