Global Spotlight | The Work of Rudi Opoku in Hamburg, Germany
Rudolf (Rudi) Opoku and his wife, Mirjam, and three daughters (6, 5, and 1) planted Via Church in Hamburg, Germany this past year! We were grateful for this across-the-ocean interview with Rudi and the opportunity to share with our Neopolis Network a little more about their work there and ways that we can keep them in prayer.
Rudi, can you tell us a little bit about your education and ministry history prior to planting Via Church?
I studied Business and Engineering (B.Sc) and worked in Finance and Controlling in a global company (2011-2015). After the call to full-time pastoral ministry, I studied theology for five years at a seminary in Germany and graduated with a Master's degree (ThM) (2015-2020).
How did you come to plant a church in Hamburg, Germany?
When I followed the call to pastoral ministry and made the decision to study theology, the topic of church planting was not initially on my mind. At that time, at the beginning of my studies, I did not see the great need for church planting and was not really familiar with a church planting project. In addition, the idea of an initial church plant seemed challenging and was associated in my mind with clichés of being overly innovative and over-contextualized.
This changed, however, when soon, within a few months, various people in my life, independently of each other, encouraged me to think about starting a church. At first, this idea seemed absurd to me. Gradually, however, the Lord began to grow the idea of church planting in me.
After attending a lecture on the subject, self-study and reading, as well as an extracurricular church planting training course, I was convinced of the missional necessity of gospel-centered and contextualized church planting. This need seemed especially relevant to my hometown of Hamburg. After researching online, I found that while Hamburg is ethnically and culturally diverse (36.7% have a so-called migration background, i.e. non-German ethnic roots), this diversity is not reflected much in Hamburg's churches. My own experiences in churches in Hamburg, as well as reports from mostly migrant Christians, confirmed this.
After consulting with confidants (including my wife, mentors, my pastors at that time), I decided, after much prayer, to pursue church planting in Hamburg. The goal was and is to plant an ethnically and culturally diverse church, which we call "transcultural", that displays and lives the beauty and boundary-crossing power of the Gospel. After completing a 2-year church planting trainee program at our sending church (Haven Church), I planted VIA Church with a team of 18 people.
When did the church plant start and how has it been going?
The launch of VIA Church was last year on September 3. We are very encouraged by how God is working since then: We have grown from a core team of 18 to 25 people and workers. Our services are attended by 70-80 people since our launch (including 10-15% non-Christians, occasionally even little more) and approximately 50 people are part of our small groups.
Can you share a story of a way God has been at work during this time?
It is especially encouraging to see non-Christians and those who have drifted away from the church and faith regularly participating in our fellowship. This confirms us in our mission, because we are not planting to build another church with innovative programs, but to live mission and make disciples of people. We are thrilled that our faith course "Inventio", which we started a few months ago, is regularly attended by 12-16 people who either have no contact with the Christian faith or are very new to the faith.
How can we be praying for you, your family, and your church right now?
As a fresh church plant with encouraging growth, it is challenging to do justice to the people (evangelistically and pastorally) and to other tasks (preaching, organizing, team leadership, etc. -especially building structures, routines, teams, etc.). I am glad that there is another part-time pastor beside me, as well as two people who are staff. It still turns out to be challenging to have a good and healthy balance between work and rest and to take good care of the responsibility and time for one's own home. Please pray for wisdom and strength for the church planting work, as well as for the sending of more workers for the missional work of our church plant.
Anything else you would like to share?
I am very excited to be part of Neopolis!
