Some 70 adults from the Free Evangelical Church (FeG) in Hamburg-Sasel gathered earlier this year for an intensive workshop day designed to revitalise the congregation's evangelistic outreach. The event was part of a longer consultation process led by the Praxisinstitut Evangelisation (Practical Institute for Evangelism), a strategic FeG initiative that helps local churches address a pressing question: how can a congregation's missionary engagement be lived out concretely, credibly, and invitingly today?
The Praxisinstitut Evangelisation, an arm of the Bund Freier evangelischer Gemeinden (FeG Germany), walks alongside individual congregations through a tailored process of assessment, training, and implementation, helping each church discover its own missional path rather than applying a one-size-fits-all formula. The Hamburg-Sasel workshop marked an early milestone in what is intended to be an ongoing journey for the congregation, following initial conversations with the church's leadership.
Using a World Café format, participants from every area of congregational life listened, shared ideas, and worked together on practical questions. Organisers described a "high level of attentiveness" from the very start, with genuine readiness across the church to take responsibility and move forward together. The day was marked by what leaders called a combination of spiritual depth and practical experience — impulses that framed evangelism as an expression of a loving posture toward non-believing neighbours, followed by intensive small-group work that produced concrete next steps. "Churches are not only inspired but enabled to find and walk their own path," the institute reported, noting that the Hamburg congregation is not starting from scratch — significant foundations are already in place for future growth. The workshop has since been evaluated and its findings will shape the congregation's continuing development.
(Originally published in German. Summary translated by CC / Connexion.)
Source: Bund Freier evangelischer Gemeinden / Christsein Heute — feg.de
