Berlin, Germany | A Door of Hope for Berlin
Despite being in a country with a rich Christian heritage, Berlin is now less than 2% Christian and has become a “Red Light City,” meaning there is no part of the city where prostitution is illegal. There are 500 brothels and strip clubs with an estimated 6-8,000 sex workers, both men and women. This part of Berlin’s culture is not only widely accepted, but celebrated, with Berlin’s clubs recently being made a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Berlin hosting the largest yearly sex and porn convention in the world.
When Novo staff Johnny and Rachel moved to Berlin nine years ago, they knew very little about the city and its sex trade. Since then, they have discovered three big strongholds: lust, loneliness, and anger. They’ve come against those strongholds through strategic prayer, regular hospitality and friendship, mentoring and equipping believers, and sharing the light of Christ in both their neighborhood and in the brothels.
The training explores God’s heart for those caught in sex work, how the church can become a safe place for sex workers to go, and how to engage in effective outreach and prayer, because at its heart, this is a spiritual battle.
They’ve also volunteered with the Christian anti-trafficking organizations in the city, which are only a handful of groups trying to engage sex workers in different ways, from outreach and friendship in the brothels and clubs to aftercare for those who have left that lifestyle. While they witnessed fruit from these efforts, they quickly realized there was no way for these small teams to adequately address all the anti-trafficking needs on their own. So Rachel and two other believers formed a new organization, Door of Hope, focused on equipping the Church to help.
The training explores God’s heart for those caught in sex work, how the church can become a safe place for sex workers to go, and how to engage in effective outreach and prayer, because at its heart, this is a spiritual battle. Other anti-trafficking organizations are asking Door of Hope if they can use their content for training people as well, to which Rachel joyfully responds, “yes.”
Johnny and Rachel are equipping believers to engage in the city in other ways as well. A small number (but not small for Berlin!) have joined the Activating Prayer and Disciple-Making Cohorts and are eager to use the tools they learned to bring light to the city. One woman shared that when things were really difficult at work, whenever a coworker texted her with a problem, she would type out a priestly prayer and send it to them! And one of the men wants to bring the Disciple-Making Cohort to more people, so Johnny is going to equip him to lead the Cohort at his church.
Despite the many places of darkness in the city, Johnny and Rachel have great hope for the light of Christ to break in. They’re hearing examples of a spiritual shift taking place, of more people starting to follow Jesus, and more believers stepping out in faith beyond church walls.
