The meeting in Budapest last year (December 2003) was a relation-motivated attempt to keep a brotherly fellowship in the churches in Europe, an attempt with a big question mark, as we did not know, how many churches would want to break the connections to other churches out of hurt and out of anger about the past treatment they received. As we met with all churches who were invited (except one, which yet wanted to come), we were all relieved about the hearts to stay united, to stay connected and to keep the flow of information, fellowship and input between the churches. At the same time we were sobered about what had happened in some churches and how ungodly and unloving some things had developed.

This year’s meeting in Munich was a display of God’s power and God’s sovereignty in my eyes.
As last year we met in the “old world sector” boundaries, this year we had both Scandinavia and the Baltic’s join the meeting and even had some guests from the UK, who slowly start to realize that they actually are a part of Europe geographically. All invited churches (43 churches) wanted to come and only three were not able to.
Almost all churches have stabilized; those who persevered have grown in the faith, matured tremendously, learned invaluable lessons about leadership, motivation, suffering and trust in God.
The fellowship, lessons and discussions were mature, sober and yet visionary.
The whole meeting was designed, so we would be centred around Christ. The title was “Restoring Christ’s church in Europe”.

Friday:
The Munich church did an outstanding job in serving in all different ways. Once you felt you needed something, it was right there, because somebody thought about your possible need in the weeks before. Nicole Zeidler, a non-staff Munich servant with a high-powered job, did a marvellous job in holding all the strings together and getting and providing all necessary information.
Arriving in the Meininger hostel, I was pleasantly surprised, since it was a cheap, but clean hostel right in the centre of Munich, full of teenage groups from all over Europe. I was reminded of my travelling times in my youth. And it was quite a contrast to some former red-carpet royal treatment, which has hurt the conscience of so many leaders at conferences.
As we came in the meeting room, the Munich church had put out carpets and pillows on the floor, always 6 to 8 pillows circled around a loaf of bread and a cup of wine. We heard a short lesson reminding us, why we all became Christians: We all were drawn to Christ as he was lifted up in Golgotha. We saw the final part of Gibson’s “The passion of Christ” (a wonderful and very realistic work), and were reminded, that we need to remember our personal involvement in Christ brutal death, and we need to remember, that all who eat from the one bread have become one through the power of God. The atmosphere in passing the bread and passing the cup cannot be described appropriately. It was a encouraging and unity-building first evening.

Saturday:
After a short devotional, we had a 2,5 h session, where all the churches present shared about their churches, good and bad, encouraging and sad news from 2004. One of the saddest news was the fall of the church in Marseille, France, who have given up on meeting together. On the other side, God’s hand was visible in every situation. As we looked at the list of churches in Europe
(Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Rep, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, Yugoslavia) we could not help but be amazed at God’s working over the last decade, but especially last year. We all were very determined to keep each other in our prayers.
After a short break, we heard a challenging and inspiring lesson about having and keeping Christ as Lord in our hearts. The brother who preached had no reservations to preach the Word in authority without holding back, and being very personal and vulnerable at the same time. All lessons can soon be heard at the Munich website.
For lunch the Munich brothers served a traditional Bavarian dish (Schweinshaxn mit Brezn), feeding 100 people without being noticed and being stressed. Compliment again.
In the afternoon we had two of our American brothers teach about two important topics: First “Restoring the Foundation”, a passionate plea for having the Bible as the foundation of all changes and discussions and at the same time a warning to be careful, how we restore things and do exegesis and hermeneutics, trying to catch the spirit of Jesus. Second “Restoring intimacy with Christ”, which I could not hear yet, but heard many good things about.
We enjoyed the evening together going to a mega-crowded Bavarian Christmas Market, which is located where usually the Oktoberfest is in the fall.

Sunday:
Sunday morning we prayed for quite some time in the morning.
Then we heard a sermon on “Restore Christ’s Vision”: Visionaries are not in high season right now, now seems to be more the time for cynicals. Destruction seems the theme of the year in their eyes. But what if the recent events are part of a much greater vision of God (greater than the ICOC) which is revealed right now before our eyes? We were called to regain a personal vision and to expand our vision, going from your vision for your personal relationship with Christ, expanding it to your spouse, your family, your best friends, your Family Group, your church, your country, to Europe and the world. I really enjoyed the emphasis on expanding, leaving room for people to be at different places, but not necessary stay where they are.
We ended with a presentation of the plans for 2005, the meetings, plans for the WWW, a Ministry and Teaching School and other. After the presentation we had an panel discussion about how we want to proceed in our cooperation in Europe in 2005.

As we started with focussing on Christ himself, we ended in 30 min of collective prayer, thanking God and asking for his blessings and guidance for his churches in Europe.

Thanks be most of all to God.
Thanks also to the Munich church and all who participated and helped organize this meeting.