First Weekend in Berlin

The Rock/Berlin church has services on Saturdays at 6 p.m. This past Saturday saw approximately 40+ people sitting on sofas (the service is advertised as the Sofa Service) and other living room furniture as worship music began the service. The song list included ones in German and English.
Most of the congregation can speak some English, and all but two spoke German. Several of the folks came from other countries. The message was presented in German this week. Translation into English was available for the two that needed it. Other weeks when Pastor Dave teaches in English, someone translates into German.
The people were very friendly and hung out afterwards to fellowship. Twice a month the church offers a potluck meal after the service and a snack on the other weeks. Often they will show a movie for entertainment when the meal is over.
We helped clean up after the meal. A Baptist church rents the space on Sundays, so we must leave the place in good shape. Cleanup includes sweeping and mopping and dishes. They never use paper plates, but fortunately they have a good dishwasher.
We were done with everything around 10p.m. and then went with a few people to a cafe for a snack and to talk. It was just after midnight when we arrived home.

Sunday morning found us at the home of an American couple, the Shafers, that have been here since 2002 but are headed back to the states to live. We were invited for brunch and to meet a missionary with Campus Crusade. Claudia is a German who attended The Rock for a while before God called her into ministry. So even though the Rock is a young church they have already sent someone into fulltime ministry.
Another reason for the brunch was to look at the Shafers furniture for anything we could use. The missionaries pass their possessions to others as needed.

Today was a pretty peaceful day. We spent some time traveling on the tram and saw a little of West Berlin and went grocery shopping. Being the capital of Germany, Berlin is a city of almost 4 million people, so there is a lot to see and do.