O For a Global Tongue to Sing: Why German Evangelicals Are Praising God in English

English is the first thing you notice at Hillsong Berlin. The church was meeting at the Kino in der Kulturbrauerei—a movie theater in a historic brewery, just one tram stop from the last standing section of the Berlin Wall—but on Sunday night the sign out front said, “Welcome Home.” A smiling cadre of young, fashionable, and diverse volunteers from around the world greeted people in accented English.

Inside, the entire service is in English, including the sermon and all the worship songs. Participants sing “Wake,” “What a Beautiful Name,” and “King of Kings.” Most international Hillsong churches translate their services from the local language into English. In Berlin, there is no translation. The service is just in English. That isn’t Hannah Fischer’s first language, but that’s part of why she comes to Hillsong Berlin.

“People from outside Germany can’t really understand how awkward it is to be Christian here,” she said. “I could never praise God like that in my language.”

Five hundred years ago, Martin Luther insisted that Christians needed to hear the gospel in their own language, in words they could understand. When the Reformation swept Germany, people abandoned Latin worship for German prayers and praise.

Today, however, German Christians like Fischer are turning from their own language to a more global tongue: English. They say the foreign language allows them to loosen their German identity, praise God in an uninhibited way, and connect with a global, cosmopolitan Christianity.

Would Martin Luther vote for a "neo-Nazi" party?

“Hier stehe ich und kann nicht anders.” // “Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise.”

Inspired by his original defiant declaration at the Diet of Worms in 1521, the apocryphal saying of the 16th-century rebel monk and reformer Martin Luther has come to be a proud proverb of Protestantism and symbolic of virtuous subversion. 

However, in the run-up to state elections in the eastern German state of Thuringia on October 27th, the National Democratic Party (NDP) is playing off the famous phrase on some of their election posters. 

Instead of “Here I stand,” Martin Luther is made to say, “I would vote NPD, I cannot do otherwise” alongside the NPD’s slogan “defend the homeland.”

Amid Ramadan celebrations, Jordanians fear an uncertain future

Traveling in Jordan during Ramadan presents a buffet of both blessings and challenges.

On the one hand, it’s a joy to experience the alternate rhythm of a nation fasting from food, drink, and the pleasures of life from sunrise to sunset and to observe how that changes the daily schedule and provides margins of time and space for spiritual reflection and rejuvenation.

On the other hand, it can be hard to grab lunch at that café you heard about in Abdoun because almost nothing is open for business during the holy month of fasting.

On the whole, I truly enjoyed my time in Jordan and the opportunity to experience the fasting and the feasting with Jordanians who quickly became friends. During iftars — meals in the evening to break the daily fast — and in a couple of local mosques, I got the chance to talk to young Jordanians about the country’s present and its potential futures.

The result is my latest piece with Religion News Service, which explores the many reasons why young Jordanians are uncertain about their kingdom’s future.

Find out why and read more by clicking below:

Fellowship with Spiritual Exemplars Project

What role does religion play in motivating exemplary individuals to commit their lives to humanitarian work? How does engaged spirituality sustain their work in the face of great challenges?

These are the questions I will help the University of Southern California’s (USC) Center for Religion and Civic Culture (CRCC) explore as a journalist-fellow reporting on, “Spiritual Exemplars: A Global Project on Engaged Spirituality.”

I am humbled, honored, and terribly excited to join a team of top-notch journalists from around the globe to help report on and write profiles about individuals working on humanitarian causes, such as poverty and  human rights.

The journalist-fellows for the Spiritual Exemplars Project. (PHOTO: USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture)

These “exemplars” are often inspired and sustained by their spiritual beliefs and practices. Whether they are Buddhist, Muslim or Christian — or do not adhere to any particular tradition — their spirituality compels them to be engaged with the world.

Religion and spirituality matter. They motivate us. They move us inwardly and outwardly and move with us across the globe. Throughout the annals of time and over vast geographic boundaries, religion and spirituality have helped humans express their deepest questions, confront some of the most critical issues of life, and influenced virtually every human society, civilization, or culture since the dawn of human history. 

Despite their ubiquity and importance, religion and spirituality are still relatively misunderstood. Even if they are valued, there remains a blind spot in our critical, but compassionate understanding of how religion and spirituality function in the lives of some of humanity’s most inspiring individuals and compelling communities. In the U.S., but also abroad, we suffer from what scholar Stephen Prothero calls, “religious illiteracy.” 

That is why it is important for us to seek to understand religion and spirituality in all of its vast diversity and from a variety of perspectives. 

The USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture studies, documents and helps communities understand the changes that shape religious cultures in Southern California and across the globe.

My writing, teaching, and speaking have been geared toward addressing religious illiteracy since I started with my first blog back in 2007. Given that the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture studies, documents and helps communities understand the changes that shape religious cultures in Southern California and across the globe, I saw working with their Spiritual Exemplars Project as a prime opportunity to continue that work. Through my work over the next couple of years I aim to continue to shine light on how religion and spirituality function in the lives of exemplars and their communities in a diverse array of places and from multiple points of view.

If we want to understand our world and how the complexities of the human condition inform behavior in changing contexts, we must pay attention to the role of religious traditions and spiritual practices. Not only will this allow us to better appreciate the human condition and apperceive its highest shared values, but it might improve the possibility of addressing some of humanity’s most urgent shared challenges. 

Although the foundations of modern religion are shifting and spirituality as we have long known it is undergoing daily transformations, neither shows any signs of going away. Religion and spirituality will remain tenaciously important and will continue to impact human societies for the foreseeable future, playing a role in addressing the world’s most intractable problems — both for good and for ill. 

For these reasons and more, I am beyond thrilled to be a journalist-fellow with the Spiritual Exemplars Project and look forward to the stories, reports, and scholarly work that comes out of our work together over the next two-and-a-half years.

Be on the lookout for stories from the project on this website. If you have not already, be sure to sign up for my e-mail list so you can stay up-to-date with all the latest religion and culture news!

Join me this summer to reimagine Islam and Christian-Muslim relations in Michigan!

What do you think of when you think of “Islam?” Whom do you picture when you think of Muslims? How might we envision ways to love our Muslim neighbor despite what we see in the news? How do we deal with the stunning diversity of the world and its presence in our lives via the rapid and constant movement of ideas, people, technologies, and religious practices?

This summer (June 22-29, 2019), I will be leading a one-week “dean and lecture” program posing, exploring, and unpacking these questions and more with participants at Camp Arcadia in Michigan.

Beyond considering the ways Christians have imagined Islam past and present, these sessions will aim to challenge what we think we know about Muslims, and invite us to reimagine our relationship with Islam and Muslims alike.  In addition, we will use the “case” of Muslim-Christian relations to re-imagine how we think about, live alongside, and engage with “others” in general.

I will be joined in the “dean and lecture” program by Heather Choate Davis, who will be presenting “God’s Visionaries: Seeing the Big Picture.” Heather is a writer, speaker, theologian, liturgist, and servant based in Los Angeles. In 2013, she received her MA in Theology from Concordia University Irvine, and is now completing a two-year intensive training in Christian Formation and Spiritual Direction.

I encourage you to consider attending and registering for Family Week 1 to join Heather and me at Camp Arcadia.

Camp Arcadia, located in Northwest Michigan, is a non-profit, Lutheran, family resort and retreat center on the sandy shores of Lake Michigan. Arcadia exists to provide a setting for families and individuals to enjoy a vacation together and be renewed in spirit, mind and body – enjoying the beauty of the lake surroundings and the community of fellow campers.

During a family week you might square dance, play basketball, shuffleboard, softball, tennis or soccer, create a craft, participate in a talent show, compete in family games or shoot archery. Every member of the family will be engaged spiritually through the daily morning study, presentations, and worship.

Each of the family weeks at Camp Arcadia is unique in that different speakers bring their knowledge and style to the program. While adults are in their program, children (age three through college) are engaged in their own study and activities led by our program staff. A nursery for those under three is also available. Daily programming also features activities (athletic, craft and nature) for children and adults to do on their own or in family groups.

You will find places at Arcadia to be by yourself, have intimate conversations with others, and be with small and large groups of people.  At Arcadia, you will find the time to experience each of these types of community.

Plus, maybe we can grab a meal or two together in the canteen. I hope to see you there.

What's the deal with #LutherCountry?

Ok, so I went on the trip.

I saw the sites.

I took the pictures.

I posted pretty much all of them on Instagram!

But, what did my dad and I actually experience? What did we think? What is there to learn about Luther and enjoy about Germany on a #LutherCountry tour? Is a trip like this worth it for someone like you?

Great questions!

How to navigate German Christmas markets like a pro

Usually I write about religion. Every once and a while, I like to dabble in travel.

After my trip to Germany with #TestingLutherCountry in October I was inspired to write a piece about the German Christmas markets popping up all over Deutschland.

As November ends, Weihnachtsmärkte—Christmas markets—pop up all over Germany. The Advent tradition stretches back to the late Middle Ages, when folks stocked up on goods as winter approached. Eventually, the festive shopping experiences spread further throughout the German-speaking world. Today, you can even find German-style Christmas markets around the rest of Europe and in places as far-reaching as New York or Montreal. As beautiful as they are, though, the German Christmas market experience can be a bit overwhelming for newcomers.

First-timers can make their way through the stalls, snacks, and slang of Germany’s magical holiday markets with ease, thanks to these 10 essential tips and tricks.