German pastor describes 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall

Noting that 20 years are a long time, the Rev. Uwe Dittmer, who has visited the PNC as part of our global partnership with the Berlin-Brandenburg Synod of the German United Evangelical Church, said that for an 18-year-old today the fall of the Berlin Wall is like history of former centuries.

“Daily life lets us forget that we were divided.  Traveling around all Germany has become normal,” he said, “but in the minds of many elderly people, the wall still exists.”

Uwe finds that many former West Germans still think everything in East Germany (GDR) was wrong.

“It wasn’t possible to sit at a table and talk about what we would do together in the future,” he said.  “Our good experiences, which we received as a gift of God, were not interesting to West German Christians.  We do what was familiar to them.

“Many have left the church,” he said.  “Young people are seldom seen.  Worship services are mostly elderly people.  In GDR times, our sanctuary was often overcrowded with people of all ages and many students.”  

Losing people and money, means churches are closed or one pastor serves so many villages no one knows where to find him or her, Uwe said.

Copyright Pacific Northwest Conference News © December 2009