German preachers conference welcomes 1,000 European church leaders

More than 1,000 pastors and lay preachers assembled for the fifth biennial Preachers Conference in Lemgo, Germany, May 25-28. Heinrich Derksen, president of Southwestern Seminary’s partner seminary Bibelseminar Bonn (BSB) in Bonn, Germany, served as one of the conference’s hosts alongside Southwestern, the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention, and the Forum of Evangelical Free Churches, an organization comprising roughly 100 Russian German Baptist and Mennonite churches. These various parties united under the motto, “Preach the Word … the ONE Gospel for the whole world.”

The goal of the conference was the strengthening of lay preachers and pastors in their ministries through solid, faithful teaching as well as fellowship and spiritual encouragement. BSB, therefore, was an appropriate host because, as Derksen writes on the school’s website, “Our hearts are burdened with assisting both full-time and lay ministers as they seek to better understand the Word of God, to develop their gifts and abilities, and to serve God in their communities, churches and around the world.”

The idea for the conference originated in 2007 when Southwestern President Paige Patterson suggested to Pastor Nikolai Reimer (whose church hosted the conference this year) that a meeting be held for pastors and lay preachers in Europe. A preachers conference has been held every two years since then, and many European countries have been represented on each occasion.

Frank Page, president of the SBC Executive Committee; Robert Jeffress, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas; and Patterson all spoke at the conference as representatives of the Southern Baptist Convention. During an interview with Walter Risto, pastor of a growing evangelical church in Germany and a Southwestern graduate (Advanced Master of Divinity, 2008), each of the SBC leaders expressed his excitement and gratitude regarding what God is doing through the Russian German churches and the partnership between Southwestern and BSB.

“Sharing Christ personally and as a church is key,” Page said during his time on the platform. “I am here because ‘Ich liebe Deutschland.’”

Acknowledging the difficulties that believers often face as they engage culture with the Gospel, Jeffress said, “It is worth it to stand up for God’s Word in a growing opposition culture. Because it’s about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Building on this theme, Patterson utilized his time behind the pulpit to preach a sermon on the Holy Spirit, teaching that He provides the strength and wisdom necessary for evangelism. Noting the vast experience Patterson and his wife, First Lady Dorothy Patterson, have in evangelizing the lost, Andy Wiebe, student dean and lecturer at BSB, says, “Dr. Patterson and his wife, Dorothy, are a living testimony of what The Holy Spirit will do if Christians are willing to be used by Him.”

Wiebe also noted that Bible students consistently share Christ on market squares in Cologne and Bonn. In addition to “great” evangelistic conversations and prayers, students have also handed out several hundred Bibles.

Such acts, as well as the preachers conference itself, all serve BSB’s purpose of impacting their region with the Gospel. “Because we believe that God has placed us in a unique and strategic place in central Europe,” Derksen says, “we want to faithfully fulfill our role in reaching this part of the world with the good news of Jesus Christ.”