Klauslis in Korntal

Liebenzell Missions Festival

Last Sunday (11 May) our family took a trip to Bad Liebenzell to visit the missions conference that takes place there every year. If the name of the town sounds familiar, it's probably because it is the inspiration behind the name of our mission agency (Liebenzell USA) that is affiliated with the Liebenzell Mission that was founded here. Although the Liebenzell Mission is one of the largest in Germany, it is at the same time a church denomination and a Bible College and Seminary (Similar models in the US of denominations that also have their own mission sending agencies would be Christian and Missionary Alliance or the Southern Baptists).

The missions festival takes place every year on Pentecost weekend (since Pentecost Monday is always a holiday) and gives an opportunity for the mission wing of the Liebenzell work to give a report introduce new missionaries, allow returning missionaries to report on their work, and to inform about the current state of the mission. The meeting takes place in a very large tent on the campus and is attended by between four and five thousand people.

The morning meeting consisted of a church service followed by mission reports. In the afternoon there were further meetings that ran until 4:30. During the lunch break (about 2 hours) there was plenty of time to visit the various booths and learn more about the countries where the various Liebenzell missionaries are working.

For an overview of what we experienced, see the photo gallery to the left.

It's May 1, Happy ___________________?

Today is May 1--a holiday here in Germany. The question is, however, which one. As it happened, three holidays collided this year on the same day: On the Civic side, it is May Day, a European wide holiday similar to Labor Day in the US. On the church side is Ascension Day, remembering the end of Jesus' earthly ministry and anticipating Pentecost. On the Hallmark side, it is also Father's Day in Germany (a Nazi era substitute for Ascension Day that is still recognized--they don't have theirs on the 2nd Sunday in June).

The more practical question, however, is how should one celebrate? Split the celebration into thirds? Try to do them all simultaneously? It probably doesn't matter--but at least try to sleep in--or in our case since sleeping in is rarely and option, have some good family time!