Impressions
September 2009, Essen-Kettwig: International Bible Circle
Christians of different nations, churches and Free Churches are meeting regularly to participate in the International Bibelkreis (IBK) at the congregation of the Protestant Free Church Essen-Kettwig. wortundtat visited the congregation - for the second time already - shortly before the harvest festival. Beate Bodo, IBK initiator, presented wortundtat with a donation of about € 350 and said: “Words are not enough to express my gratitude that I am allowed to live in this country when I see the pictures from India, Tanzania and Moldavia. At the same time, it is fantastic to see how we can help the poorest of the poor and that even - from our point of view - a small amount is enough to achieve something great there.” (also see captions)
September 2009, Oberstdorf: Christian guest house Bergfrieden
During the summer, wortundtat visited the Christian guest house Bergfrieden in Oberstdorf. The hosts Frieda und Roland Radke wrote after the visit: “It was certainly unusual for the ramblers and mountain bikers, who just enjoyed nature to be greeted with a presentation about the missionary-diaconal projects of wortundtat. However, we would like to be good multipliers who bring both mission and deaconship back into the awareness of our fellow human beings. We recognised that the idea had been accepted by our holiday guests, when we saw them speaking to the wortundtat representatives after the presentation to get further information about the work of the aid organisation”.
Frieda und Roland Radke, Oberstdorf (also see captions)
Discovered at the Allianz Conference – wortundtat was exhibitor!
Walking during the exhibition of various missionary organisations at the Bad Blankenburg Allianz Conference I came across the stand of wortundtat. I had not heard of the organisation before. Soon we were talking about the work they were doing. And I asked myself: Why have I never heard of them? Their background was an exciting story and I quickly knew that I myself but also our guests at the Allianzhaus had to learn more about as to who they were and their work. Last year, wortundtat participated for the second time, providing information and background details during our Bible Retreat, giving us the chance to learn more about the missionary organisation. How suitable that was for our Retreat. Christians orientate themselves on the Bible and that makes them alert and open for the hardships of the time, whether here in our own or in foreign countries. They belong together: the word and the deed!
August 2009, Lake Starnberg: wortundtat takes part in Christian Youth Camp
“Youth camps arranged by the “Word of Life organisation” - that means: 150 teens together in one place, lots of fun, sport, action and music - but also plenty of serious stuff: Bible work, practical input and challenging lectures and discussions. One of our evenings was devoted to motivating the young people to both explain and understand the term of charity and Christian love. They were truly impressed by the pictures and stories about the wortundtat projects. Many participants really felt personally addressed by what they saw and heard. One young woman felt encouraged by the lecture to go abroad and become a development aid worker and missionary. Others were motivated to get practically involved in their own environment. One of our members of staff even spontaneously took over a class sponsorship for a year. Thank you for these terrific evenings!”
Christian Gunka, Youth Camp Team
June 2009, Berlin: wortundtat at the summer festival of the Federal President
Once a year, the Federal President and his wife invite about 4,000 guests to join them at their big summer festival in the park of Schloss Bellevue in Berlin. This year, wortundtat had the opportunity of representing itself with a stand of its own. The umbrella topic set by the Federal President’s Office concerned the subject of ‘Education’. As education is very close to the heart of our aid organisation, we were able to present several projects. Interested visitors talked with us at our stand until late in the evening.
Interested visitors talked with us at our stand until late in the evening. Susanna Deichmann (left) was also able to explain the work of the organisation to the Federal President and his wife Frau Eva Luise Köhler.
The umbrella topic set by the Federal President’s Office concerned the subject of ‘Education. As education is very close to our heart, we were able to present several projects - such as the teaching material from one of the AMG Schools in India.
Once a year, the Federal President and his wife invite about 4,000 guests to join them at their big summer festival in the park of Schloss Bellevue in Berlin. This year, wortundtat had the opportunity of representing itself with a stand of its own.
May 2009, Bremen: wortundtat at the German Protestant Kirchentag in Bremen
wortundtat was an exhibitor at the 32nd Meeting of the Protestant Church in Germany (EKD), which took place in Bremen in May 2009. At the "Market of Possibilities" visitors had the chance to get an idea how energy-sapping and hard the work is which in the past was often carried out by children, who worked as stone-quarry workers in the South Indian state of Yeleswaram. In a 3 x 3 metre large stone quarry model visitors were able to break stones with a hammer, however, most gave up after only a few minutes. They soon realized what a privilege it is to be able to go to school and to receive an education. In order to give the children of stone quarry workers a similar chance, wortundtat has built a school in Yeleswaram and created opportunities to the children to achieve just that. Today, Yeleswaram has virtually no more stone quarry children - in other parts of India, however, child labour is still an everyday problem.
March 2009, Karlsruhe: wortundtat visit in primary school and youth circle
The invitation of wortundtat to attend religious studies lesson at the primary school, sounded very attractive. I regarded this as a big chance to enable the pupils of the classes 7-10 to think outside their own West European box. Daniel Parzany, who used moving pictures from Africa, India and Moldavia to introduce the work of wortundtat, also reported authentically about the Christian motivation behind the social commitment. Critical remarks such as "Deichmann is rich, he can afford it!" – were answered with the fact that just Euro 2.50 were needed to provide a child with milk for a whole month. This made the pupils aware of their own responsibility. In the evening, the youth circle had organised some entertainment. The young people immediately suggested donating the collection of the last youth church service to wortundtat. Thank you for the inspiring, challenging and encouraging impressions!
Daniel Paulus, parish deacon of the Laurentius Parish Hagsfeld
March 2009, Osthofen: Susanna Deichmann at youth event "mission 3:16"
The youth event "mission 3:16" took place in Osthofen near Worms from 20th - 21st March. We had invited a mission team from the USA and some German missions and aid organisations to act as organisers to encourage young people in the region to engage in practical charity and avow themselves as passionate Christians. We were particularly grateful for the support of Susanna Deichmann and Daniel Parzany of wortundtat. Taking part in a discussion on Saturday morning, Mrs Deichmann told the audience, how she found her spirited belief in Jesus Christ and why she is working on behalf of the poorest of the poor. In the afternoon, Mrs Deichmann and Mr Parzany held two seminars, in which they reported about the work of wortundtat. Many of the mainly young participants, who know Deichmann shoes, talked enthusiastically about Mrs Deichmann, who as a wealthy woman supports poor people from a deep conviction and her love for Jesus and that she took the time to take part in »mission 3:16«. Many thanks for this credible testimonial, which inspired many young people to think!
Daniel Weninger, dennoch-Magazin / puls e.V.
The evening went straight to my heart!
We had invited Daniel Parzany of wortundtat to the Albrecht-Bengel-Haus, Tübingen, where theology students are mentored during their university courses. The head is full of words, theological drafts, exam material … Theoretically I am fully aware that word and deed belong together. I could use a lot of words to explain this. The descriptive report, however, hit me in the heart. And that is something completely different. This evening we succeeded in walking the longest way, the one from the head to the heart.
„Word and Deed“ - they can only happen together when I am hit in the heart.
What is the purpose of our visits?
We want to remind people how privileged we are living in Western Europe. Therefore, we have a responsibility towards those people who get up in the morning not knowing how to feed their families and for whom education is a foreign word. One could write and read a lot about it. But actually one should see it with one’s own eyes. In most cases that is not possible – that is why we travel to these places so that we can report back to you and tell you about schools and aid projects – as descriptive and as detailed as possible. Why not make wortundtat your project too and invite us to your event.