IBC Bremen Sermons

Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, you are God's building.
(1 Corinthians 3:5-9 NKJV)

ILLUSTRATION: Have one person come and try to move a table. Show how much s/he struggles with moving the table.

You know, it is difficult to do some things alone. As you have seen here, some things just can't be done by one person. But when we work together, we can do alot.

(Show another person coming to help and move the table.)

Just as this team was able to move a big table, as churches we can work together and overcome big obstacles, big problems, and do more for God's kingdom.

This is one of the reasons we join together in an International Baptist Convention. Many people in this room have an international marriage, and thus their children come from an international family. In the same way, our church is the result of an international marriage. The German church here and the International Baptist Convention came together to start this church eight years ago. Together, these two groups have done more than they could have done alone.

Today is called International Baptist Convention Day. No, this is no April Fool's joke. It is a day we can take to talk to you about mission and how YOU have helped increase God's kingdom. Together you have done more together with other IBC churches than you could do alone.

The International Baptist Convention started with two churches in Wiesbaden and Frankfurt in 1957. Since then, it has gone through many changes. At first most of the churches were serving the American military in Germany. Then as the Berlin Wall came down and the Soviet Empire broke up, there were other churches started in large English-speaking centers. At present, there are 65 IBC in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Most churches have an average membership of 50. Some are much smaller and some are much larger. No matter the size, we work together in an International Baptist Convention. We give 8% of our tithes and offerings to this convention.

So someone may ask why? Why do we give to this Convention and why do we work together? We work together in this convention because we need each others. There are other churches just like us who are reaching out to internationals in their communities and each church needs support.

IBC Bremen is one church associated with a group of churches in Northern Germany. These churches are in Bielefeld, Berlin, Celle, Hamburg and two churches in Hannover (International Christian Church and Hannover International Bible Church). Together we work together as a regional group of churches for prayer support and training. For example, when we finished our Purpose-Driven Life campaign, we helped IBC Berlin this spring reach out to other people with their 40 Days of Purpose. They used our material. So we worked together and accomplished more.

In Hamburg, they came together with us and helped with our retreat. We came to them and helped with their retreat. So we worked together and accomplished alot.

Here in Bremen, we have hosted a Ladies Breakfast and the women from Hannover and Celle came together. So we fellowshiped together and made new friendships.

In Göttingen, we are working together as a region of churches to help start a new IBC church. They have been meeting together for a year. I hope that IBC Bremen can help financially and and in prayer with this new church.

Which brings me to another way we are working together. You are planting churches with other IBC churches. When you give your offering and that 8% goes to the IBC, some of it goes to help plant churches. Here are some new church plants that have started in the last year.

Along with Göttingen, we have new churches in:

Darmstadt, Germany
Ramstein, Germany
Nuremberg, Germany
A German-speaking church in Lachau, Germany
and Oslo, Norway


What has the IBC done for you and me lately? Together, we have done alot. For example, we have:

Provided funds to plant new native-speaking churches in Moldova in cooperation with the European Baptist Federation.

Helped IBC churches find pastors

Helped several churches who have challenges and controversy.

Helped volunteers assist churches with leadership training, evangelism, discipleship, preaching, and family life seminars. (One of these volunteers will come and lead our retreat this summer.)

Provided scholarships for pastors and leaders to attend IBC events.

Published a International Baptist Convention New Testament to be used for evangelism. Heike's testimony is in the New Testament.

Enabled partner churches and groups to provide training and practical help for other IBC churches.

Helped provide support for conferences for women, men, singles, and youth.

Through special offerings taken together we have:

Assisted victims of earthquakes, tsunamis, and hurricanes
Assisted with financial support of pastors in Bulgaria
Provided funds for planting churches in Middle East
Supported missionaries serving around the world
Assisted two IBC churches to refurbish their church facilities

IBC Bremen is doing alot. While we cannot do much alone, together with other churches in the International Baptist Convention, we can do alot. As we take this day to remember the International Baptist Convention, what can we do as church? What more can you do for the International Baptist Convention?

WAYS WE CAN WORK TOGETHER

1. Continue to pray for the churches in the International Baptist Convention.

We are small, and many churches have no pastor that they can fully support, if any pastor at all. We need to be praying for our fellow churches. Bielefeld and ICC Hannover have no pastor. Berlin spent almost three years looking for a pastor and have now decided to use a pastor team. IBC Bremen is blessed on this point. You can subscribe to a CareNet prayer newsletter by email and begin being informed about prayer requests. You can begin to pray every week for other churches in our Convention.

2. Continue to give financially to the International Baptist Convention.

We may be small, but many are smaller. We are just above the average for attendance. But for our size, we give quite a bit of money. Some like to complain that other IBC churches give far more, and some do. For our size, considering the make-up of our church, we give a substantial amount of money. We are in the top third of the churches who give to the IBC. We need to continue this example. One area where I think we can give more financially to the IBC is to our fellow church in Göttingen. I believe that we should support our friends not just in words and prayers but with actions, or financial transactions.

3. Continue to support missions in the International Baptist Convention.

How do you do that you say? You do that by supporting the Convention when it helps churches start churches. Churches plant churches. We should be involved in planting churches. Hannover has taken the lead in our area and we should help. The Convention has a goal of planting churches in major gateway cities in the world. Our region of churches in Northern Germany want to start new International Baptist churches in Leipzig, Rostock, Flensberg, just to name a few.

I believe we can help other churches as well. I spoke with a man last fall. He knows someone who left his church in Bulgaria to go back to Ghana. We have no IBC churches in Ghana. We will be giving to a missions project in Ghana in May. I think that this church can do more than just support a project in Ghana. I think we know enough people who can connect with others and start a church in southern Ghana. I don't care if there are enough churches. Ghana will get more international. The UN Secretary-General is Ghanian. That is very international. So I believe we can help churches plant churches all over the world. Maybe we can't start it completely on our own. But we can work together with others and start a church there.

4. Continue to support unity in our Convention

Now he who plants and he who waters are one

Unity is very important. It is the point of this passage. We need to work together with others. We may do different things than other churches, and we may do it in different ways. But we can always work together. We need to support the events when they are near the area. For example, I am proud that we are sending a group of ladies to the Ladies retreat in Cuxhaven. I am looking forward to hosting other events where other IBC churches can come together. We can share ideas and we can share our resources. We will also share the rewards. When we work together, we can more than when we work alone.