Activity Report of My Visit to Germany 2012

BRIEF ACTIVITY REPORT ON THE MINISTRIES AT GERMANY

BY S. ASAP SINGH

Dear Prayer Partners in Christ Jesus,

First of all I would like to thank you for remembering me in your valuable prayers in this visit to Germany. I have had several good experiences on raising volunteers in YMCA and approaching the youth in an effective manner. The Lord was so faithful in managing the severe cold climate and I enjoyed a lot having fellowship with several new people and introduced about our ministries in India. First of all I would like to give a brief report on the activities I involved in the period of 25-10-2012 to 19-11-2012.

25 Oct 2012 – I reached Stuttgart at 10:30 am, where Marianna Clauss received me and took me to CVJM office at Esslingen. She gave me a brief orientation on the office and activities of YMCA. I stayed with Mr. Stefan and Lennart in the YMCA apartment. In the night there was a program called “New Comers’ Abend” in which people from other areas who were shifted in the last months were invited for that. They conducted several programs; I introduced myself in the gathering. The main purpose is to make the young adults to be the active volunteers in the YMCA activities.

26 Oct 2012, Marianne gave an activity orientation of YMCA generally and the area of concentration on the ministry there. That evening we left to Waldstatten for the annual volunteer’s training for a week. I stayed with about 30 teenagers and staff of YMCA. We returned from Waldstatten on 2nd November 2012. During these days of training I watched the process of their teaching and the methodology they used. I spoke with the youths; they asked me several doubts concerning India and our ministries. In the last day of training, a time was separated for me to introduce about our works in India which followed by the questions from the students and staff. Afterwards I gave an invitation for them to come to India for short or long term internship to India. I will be giving the things I observed, which are good for us even to practice among our youths separately.

3rd Nov 2012 – I had a privilege of visiting Tubingen with Mr. Stefan, who took me to the historic Tubingen University and the important places of Tubingen.

4th Nov 2012 – I accompanied with Mr. Dennins and Larissa for the Sunday church service to one of the ancient Lutheran churches in Esslingen. I was with their family for the whole day they took me to various places in Stuttgart. Dennis was the team leader for the August 2011, YMCA team to India and he was asking the welfare and present status of our ministries in the evening.

5th – 9th November 2012 – I was taken to various YMCA activities in the evenings, mostly in the mornings I went with various people to see places and families who are associated with the Y.

Monday: I attended the YMCA staff meeting in the morning and answered the question asked by the staff and introduced myself and explained the purpose of my visit. In the afternoon I was taken to “Juno” youth club in a separate building where I met the students aged 10-14. I participated in the youth activities of playing and games. In the night I went Mr. Dennis house for the “Volunteers Bible Study Group,” where I introduced myself and gave contribution to the topic of the day “Prophets in the Old Testament,” there was a discussion at the end of the teaching by Fransiska.

Tuesday: I had a meeting with Mrs. Gabrielle in the morning, she asked me the feedback of the volunteers’ training and discussed about the YMCA and IGL works in India. She also promised me to come to India soon. In the afternoon I was taken to “Kinderhaus – Agapeadia” to see the children in the after school programs. There was 30 children aged between 7-12 participated in the games, most of them are from different country backgrounds. They asked me questions concerning India. In the night “International Deutch Abend (IDA),” in which the people of other country background were invited (mostly of students). I gave an introduction about myself; we had a topic to discuss on that day “Growing old in Germany.” The program was mainly to display the love of God among the foreigners staying in Esslingen areas.

Wednesday: in the morning there was a weekly staff prayer meeting, all the staff of YMCA gathered for the prayer and Mrs. Gabrielle delivered the word of God with them.  After the meeting there were discussions on YMCA works and developments. In the evening I was taken to “Juno” for a special youth gathering in which I conducted a quiz program for the high school students who attended the youth program. All the programs ending up with food and fun which is one of the approaches among the youths.

Thursday: in the afternoon there was a program at “Makkarias” another youth club which had 10-14 years school students. I attended the program and introduced and gave a testimony with the students there. In evening I met with Mr. Solomon Benjamin (Kassel), who enquired about IGL and YMCA works and its processes. In the meeting Marianne was also presented and explained the purpose of my visit with him. In the night I attended the “Alpha Curs” which was conducted on the topic of “Does God Heals today?” a Medical doctor gave teaching on that issue. After the teaching there was a discussion session. Late that night I asked questions concerning that program to Mr. Michael, the son of Mr. Gehard Pross. He gave me the apt answers and enquired about our ministries to me.

Friday: Morning I went with Mr. Udo, for sightseeing to Esslingen town. He explained me the important buildings and places with clarity. In the evening there was a special meeting in “Kinderhaus,” in which special programs and circus were held. I introduced with the new people whom I met and participated in the special program conducted by the children. In the night I participated the “Tensing” youth program, I joined along with the youths there for the games and singing programs. This also had various creative programs such as Music, Technology, Dance, Drama and Singing programs. Along with all the programs the spiritual emphasis was given as the essential element.

10th November 2012 – Mr. Rudiger Wandell took me to Switzerland for some tourist places; also we visited the lake of Konstanz in the evening.

11th November 2012 – We participated in the YMCA service, I introduced me to several new people and enjoyed their fellowship. In the evening I met with the parents of Mr. Sebastian (Who is in Salem), they asked about our ministries and shared about their coming to India in this December. In the night we had a program called “India Evening” in which I gave a special show of our ministries. The PP presentation and Videos were shown, there were about 15 of them participated. I answered their various questions regarding our ministries in Salem. I made use of the 90 minutes given to me to explain our Evangelism, Medical, Child Care and Community development projects with them. At the end some of them received our booklets and pamphlets.

12-15 November 2012: I was in Munich and stayed with Bro. Jeremias and Melanie.

Monday: At 1:10 p.m I started my travel to Munich in a train and reached at 3:30, Mr. Joe welcomed me in the train station and took me to YMCA building. He introduced me to his staff and gave broachers about the YMCA Works there. There was a brief meeting lasted 30 minutes, he also asked the welfare of you and all whom he knows in India. In the night I was taken into Mr. Sebastian’s house, were we had a Bible Study group of 10 youngsters. I shared my testimony and briefly about IGL ministries in India and Srilanka. It was followed by a prayer and bible study from Matthew 25.

Tuesday: In the morning Mr. Werner, the former president of YMCA Munich took me to sightseeing of Munich town. He showed me various churches and buildings in Munich and its importances. In the evening I was taken to an “Afterschool program” I met various levels of students and introduced about myself. Also I involved in the games with the teenagers. In the late evening I went for an “Interns Program”, where I met 20 interns staying in YMCA for their training and volunteer ship. They were exited of hearing about India and our ministries. I showed some pictures and power point to the gathered people there. In the night I was with a young college students gathering, in which I shared about our ministries and gave a brief message on the theme “God’s Chosen People,” after message they asked me questions on my sharing and our ministries. Some were interested to visit India in the future to see our activities.

Wednesday: I was with Mr. Jeremias and Melenie, who took me to BMW car museum in the morning; also they took me to Olympic Park at Munich. In the evening I visited a children program outside of the town, after introducing myself I shared a story from the Bible. The program ended with some indoor games. In the night I visited the Parents of Martin, and explained about his health and activities in India. They were happy of his recovery from sickness; his sister expressed her desire of visiting India in June 2013.

Thursday: in the morning I was in a “Breakfast Feeding” program in St. Matthew’s Lutheran church. I met Pastor Thomas who explained the purpose of feeding the old age and poor people, once in a week. After the program I met Mr. Joe, who interacted with me concerning the experiences in Germany. He also asked the update of IGL ministries in Salem. He also explained about the future programs and present activities through YMCA Munich. The meeting lasted about 70 minutes. After the lunch in the afternoon I returned to Esslingen. About 7:30 in the evening I attended “Christian Scout” program. Mr. Konrad Toppler explained about the activities of Scouts briefly.

16th November 2012 - I Met with Mr. Valerian in the morning who gave an overview and steps of volunteers’ development in YMCA Esslingen. He also answered the questions asked by me concerning youth spiritual development. In that afternoon we left for the YMCA half yearly volunteers’ retreat to 40 kilometers away from Esslingen to a retreat center. Mr. Praveen McKanzie of Pune YMCA also accompanied with us, I stayed with Mr. Stefan in a separate room. In the night we had an initial meeting in which I was interviewed before 250 volunteers of YMCA. I answered about my experiences and ministries I am involving in IGL India. I answered the seven asked questions, which was a brief introduction for everyone.

17th November 2012: The volunteers retreat was on its progress, I had talked with various people. Pr. Richard from Gana, Africa; was the main speaker for the retreat. I spoke with him about IGL ministries and the brief statistics of our ministries with him. He was impressed of our works and promised to pray for our ministries. The day went on with lots of activities, group discussions, sermons and games. In the night there was a special time to talk with various people and had a united snacks from the participants.

18th November 2012: There was a united Sunday service in which Mr. Richard spoke from Act 9:1-10 the life changing experience of Paul. At the end of the service the leaders of YMCA Esslingen thanked all the foreign guests including me. I thanked them in turn and gave the welcome call to see the IGL and YMCA works in India. That night I had farewell dinner in Sis Marianne’s house; she invited the key people in the YMCA as well to have fellowship dinner with them.

19th November 2012 – I started my travel from Stuttgart at 6.00 a.m, and reached Chennai by 1.00 a.m.

Note: Almost every day I had food on various homes for lunch and dinner, they showed me love and concern towards me. Also they proved that they love IGL and YMCA works in India by their talks. I enjoyed my time with the YMCA family; and extended your greetings and welcome call to India to see our ministerial activities. They also promised that they will be praying for our works in their daily prayers. I once again thank you for choosing me to have such experience with people who are well developed in all the areas.

Evaluation(Critical and Analytical Report on German Visit: Oct – Nov 2012)

Greetings to you in Jesus’ Name. I thank the Lord Almighty for His grace and guidance in my ministerial visit to Germany (25th October – 20th November 2012). I went there with the purpose of looking the YMCA works and the way of modern approach towards the younger generations. It was so helpful for me to see and learn several things, and observe lots of examples for the youth ministries in India. Since it was my first any overseas trip, it was a great opportunity for me follow Western cultures, especially in Germany. Initially it was so hard for me to adjust the cold weather, yet I was able to cope up with that gradually. The people over there were so good in caring me, though they never knew me before. It increased my curiosity of being like a European for a while in following everything.

As far as the food I enjoyed the variety of Swabian and Bavarian items. It is not spicy, yet so delicious. Mostly they eat different kinds of breads with butter / cheese / jam and creams. It is hard to find hot and heat food varieties in the breakfast and dinner. Sometimes the friends who invited me to their homes prepared Indian food. I always preferred some different varieties and something new. Lot of times I had Spechlers, Lincer (dall), Moutashen … etc food. I enjoyed having them; to be honest I never had any physical problems for my entire stay.

There are lots of cultural differences, every feast had wine party. Almost in all the occasions I could see that, also it was amazing to hear that very less Germans are addicted in drinking alcohol. There is no big gap between the genders, the teenagers are so close in playing, fun, touching, studying and discussing together. I did not see sexual intention in their interaction. The personal freedom is very high in German culture so that, even the children don’t bother about the elders in asking questions. It is also sad to see that lot of young girls (more than boys, as for my observation) smoke in the public. I enquired many young people that they stay separately from their families. Wearing shoes inside the home or church is not a big problem. There were lots of young teenagers had girl/boyfriends, and shared their love expressions on the streets. I could feel all these things as cultural differences with personal freedom and sometimes away from the boundary of family limits. These cultural differences did not have much impact on me. I felt them good as far as the culture is concerned.

To compare them with Indian culture, India is not much open towards gender freedom in interaction. Drinking alcohol counted as evil practice (generally). Family gets more importance for unity and fellowship, caring parents in their old age is the responsibility of children. But as far as the German perspective, mostly they don’t depend on the family; though there is lot of affection within them. The children are so bright in their learning; it is probably due to the activity based teaching methods. I found very less of lectures, lot of creativity in teaching which makes them to question everything. Almost everywhere I went the children / teenagers / youth or any group of people asked lots of questions about my talk and about India generally.

I was impressed a lot by the younger generation and their openness to one another. Generally all the people are so fast in doing things and in walk. Due to their seriousness and fast nature they get angry easily with the sojourners in the roads. The habit of cleanliness and orderliness must be appreciated. They keep the wastes with themselves, till they find the dustbin. All the public transportation, streets and houses found clean in all times. I also found among the teenagers in the “Grund Kurs,” the habit of sharing the food. I was welcomed by many YMCA related families for lunch / dinner and they enquired several things about Indian ministries and welfare of the leaders here. In every gatherings lot of time given to talk with others, sharing food and snacks. I found the greatness of love in fellowship with others; almost they never talked bad about others (backbiting), just enjoyed having fun and making jokes. All the meetings were conducted on time and in schedule. I learnt a lot concerning punctuality in time management. The worship services in the church are more silent and in devotion mode. I did not find clapping of hands and emotional expressions.

As for the Spiritual life, I found chapels and devotion rooms in many houses. There was a small chapel in the room I stayed; sometimes I found my roommate going there and praying to the Lord. They don’t show spirituality in their speech but in action. Every Friday some of friends invited for breakfast, talk and ended with praying for one another. In churches, people had passionate devotion towards the Lord but not much emotion was shown. I understood German spirituality is not much to do with what we speak but what we react on things. Fellowship, sports, fun, games and feasts are also part of spirituality through which one can display the love of God to the people. I learn to have stronger fellowship the people and friends, in St. Matthew’s church at Munich a breakfast was arranged for the under privileged people, at the end the gospel was preached to them. Spirituality and evangelism is not limited to the boundary of the church but through sports and feeding. I saw lot of people interested in listening my testimonies and praising God for things happened in my life. It all shows that German Spirituality is more to do with the life than mere talk; I learnt a lot through their lives.

Moreover, I learnt through the lifestyle of many Christians who had closure relationship towards the Lord. Especially I learnt from Pr. Richard Aidoo, the guest speaker for the three days volunteers’ retreat. He had a great passion towards the Lord and His words, as he was preaching he was so exited of God and His love towards Him. It impressed me a lot, to have a closure and continual relationship with the Lord. On the other hand I was bit worried of looking many young people enjoying their life and leisure times in the restaurants instead of the Church. The traditional / old churches have very less regular members; perhaps the churches are huge in size. Though I was sad on the one side but I was much encouraged by the YMCA, which gives primary importance to the spiritual life in every actions. I also had a time of closure relationship with the Lord in the free times in reading, praying and spending times in preparing sermons. Above all I developed trusting the Lord throughout the stay, I was able to go on the streets, train stations and other places with my little knowledge in English. It was very hard to find people speaking English normally; neither had I found the sign boards in English.

Even though I missed my family for a month, but I did not count my days. It could be because of the easier way of communication through Skype. But my wife missed me a lot, which she expressed me on my every day talk. The Lord was so good to me in leading and guiding me to have a lonely international journey, for which I was little worried initially. But the Lord had guided me with His presence. There was snowfall on 28th of October, the temperature gone down to minus on those three days but I enjoyed a lot in that strange weather. Generally all whom I met were so good in caring me so that I never felt others so strange. Overall I became more thankful to the Lord for the way He guided me.

I observed the following things in the stay of almost a month in YMCA’s Germany. These principles will probably be useful in any circumstances, especially in approaching the youth.

1. Giving spiritual emphasis in all doings whether on sports, games or food.
2. The teaching methodology with lot of creative activities, very less lectures and lots of activities to make learning more interesting.
3. Separating time for questions / discussions and thinking the subjects in their dimensions. Every time asking their feedback on the discussions.
4. Including fun / games / sports as part of teaching so that the youth learn always with the refreshed mentality. Allowing them to practice their freedom in giving their opinions.
5. Being examples in punctuality / cleanliness / orderliness before the trainees (The annual volunteers’ training was 100 % punctual in time and schedule which impressed me a lot)
   
6. Training the youths in an orderly way, with proper curriculum and materials. (It is followed in YMCA Esslingen; the volunteers’ development has two steps “Grund Kurs” for the beginners and “Aufpau Kurs” for the advanced level.  Each had different subjects and different activities).
7. Engaging the different level of people with different programs (Children, Youth and Young Adults); Training them constantly, without a gap.
8. Encouraging the youths through words and deeds.
9. Giving lots of time to talk with one another, having fun with the participants.
10. Fellowship, food sharing, with giving importance to Christian spirituality and unity.
11. Almost all the programs had a time of food; I was impressed by some of the following entirely new programs.

We can create some of the programs with different contexts.

1. New Comers’ Evening (Inviting the new comers to a region and informing about our works and programs)
2. International German Evening (IDA), inviting the international people/students for Christian fellowship.
3. Makarias/Juno Youth Special programs, every week.
4. Bible Study Groups in different homes, having YMCA as the uniting element.
5. Sports festivals, Cricket / Volley Ball inviting key players and making them to share their testimonies.
6. Raising funds for the “Youth Development” works through government / donations from the leading people.
7. Developing the people to have the mind of generosity, to give; not to receive always.

These are some of the things I observed from the Esslingen and Munich YMCA’s and should be taken as lessons to Indian ministries as well. I thank the Lord for all His goodness towards me in the past days. I firmly believe that He had led me and guided me in all through my ministerial stay in Germany; I never had any physical problems. I also thank Rev. Samuel D Stephens for selecting me to have broad practical exposure on YMCA works at Esslingen and Munich. I submit my heartfelt gratitude to Gabrielle, Marianne Clauss, and all the staff of YMCA Esslingen. It is also my pleasure to see Mr. Joe and YMCA team in Munich. I give my special thanks to Mr. Jeremias & Melenie, Mr. Dennis & Larissa, Mr. Stefan and Mr. Lennart for hosting me in their homes just like one of their family members. Last but not least I thank the IGL and YMCA family in Salem for their valuable prayers to accomplish the task which God had entrusted on me.

Thanking You All,

In Christ,

S. ASAP SINGH

For your further comments,

asapsingh@gmail.com