The most godless place on earth?
We hear from one of our church planting partners, André Meyer, pastor of Leipzigprojekt Church, in Leipzig, Germany. His reflections on the impact of secularisation in former East Germany are a sober warning and fuel for our prayers.
Luther, Melanchthon, Bucer – names that changed the course of history. The authority of Scripture, the doctrines of grace, the priesthood of all believers – foundations for evangelical and reformed Christianity. The impact Germany had on the worldwide church can hardly be overstated. But those times are in the distant past…
Germany remains one of the most influential countries on the planet in terms of politics, economics, and culture, but the church has been in decline for decades. In 2022, for the first time since the dawn of Christianity in Germany, less than 50% of the population is part of a church in our country. Secularisation is rapidly changing the land of the Reformation.
What is often overlooked is the fact that one part of Germany has already reached a (spiritually) dead end in this western phenomenon of religious decay. East Germany (formerly GDR) has been called ‘the most godless place on Earth’.¹ 70-80% of people have no religious belief at. While religion bloomed again in other regions of the former Soviet Union after the fall of the iron curtain, East Germany remained nonreligious.
Secularisation is rapidly changing the land of the Reformation.
This part of Germany may give us a glimpse of the future which the rest of the western world is heading towards. This makes it an important region if you’re interested in understanding how to reach a secular society with the gospel.
How did it happen?
There are many layers to the story but the socialist era certainly played a huge part.
Overt persecution has often served to strengthen the church. Looking at the experience of the Soviet Union, the East German ruling party (SED) opted for a different – and evidently effective – strategy. Rather than prohibiting or persecuting the church openly (which also happened at times), and creating martyrs, they systematically deconstructed and replaced Christian traditions, making faith seem obsolete and irresponsible.
One example of their approach is the so-called Jugendweihe. Jugendweihe is a ceremony specifically designed to replace the confirmation ceremony in the church. A young teenager, who would normally confirm their baptism in the church, would have to decide whether they wanted to confirm their Christian beliefs and become a part of the church community, or if they wanted to confirm that they believed in socialism in order to become a full member of society.
Although Christian confirmation wasn't forbidden, it did mean that you wouldn't fully be part of society. A teenager had to decide which side he or she was on, knowing that they wouldn't be doing anything obviously heroic by standing with Christ. The decision to be confirmed meant appearing to have a lack of patriotism which led to mistrust from neighbours and friends as well as most likely giving up the chance to pursue higher education.
The Bible was a common confirmation gift. For a Jugendweihe, however, one would receive a copy of the book ‘Weltall Erde Mensch’ (meaning Universe, Earth, Human) instead. This book was the most printed book in the GDR and tried to teach a ‘scientific’ (a naturalistic, for that matter) worldview. Interestingly, it almost sounds like a religious text. The first sentence is: “This book is the book of truth”.
While the population was indoctrinated, the church was taken advantage of. The government invited the church to continue to participate in the country's affairs, while it slowly took over its role.
While the population was indoctrinated, the church was taken advantage of.
Time capsule for the West?
This process went on for 40 years and after Germany was reunified, there was simply no faith left amongst the broad population. The term 'atheist' doesn't accurately describe most people in East Germany, because thinking about God is necessary in order to deny His existence. But, for Germans in the East, God is not actively denied but simply not a topic worth thinking about. They aren’t atheists…they are fully secularised.
For this reason, East Germany is like a time capsule for the western countries which are still in the process of secularisation. Or, as the Roman Catholic bishop Joachim Wanke explains, “It is in the East of Germany where it will be decided whether Christianity can have any missionary impact in a secularized Germany. It is harder to make a Thuringian [part of East Germany] a Christian than to baptize an animistic African.”²
This is true from a human perspective. But, as a Church planter in this part of the world, I must say that ‘what is impossible with man is possible with God’ (Luke 18: 27).
History, research, and polls paint a very dark picture for Christianity in this secular place but, in our work on the field, we are reminded daily that spiritually dead secular people and spiritually dead religious people have something in common: they all need God’s divine intervention in order to come to life. And our God is still the God who raises the dead!
In Leipzig, the city where I minister, it is estimated that 0.5% of the population is evangelical. But we are seeing non-religious people come to find out what the gospel is about in every single worship service and we refuse to believe that God can’t work where it looks dim. Maybe the light will even shine brighter in the darkness.
Maybe the light will even shine brighter in the darkness.
We invite you to pray for the churches in our region as nothing short of God’s own power will reach East Germany and, ultimately, Europe.
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