German Church
Matt and I visited Calvary Chapel Heidelberg in early September and after he left for Romania the boys and I continued to attend services there.
It is definitely a different experience. Most of the people who attend are German. I'm sure that many of the Germans who attend CCH understand and speak a little English, but I rarely hear English being spoken in the lobby.
Here is how the service works:
Welcome: is in German and translated into English
Prayer: German to English
Worship: some songs are German, some are English no translation.
Message: the pastor is German but he speaks fluent English and actually preaches in English and then the message is translated into German.
Scripture: bible verses are read in German only, and English speakers just read in their own bible.
Final prayer and dismissal: German- no translation.
The whole translation thing makes for a LONG service. The church I attended for the past 4 years lasted about an hour and 15 minutes. This service is almost twice as long and is usually 2 hours. Though it takes twice as long to preach the message, since it is actually spoken twice, translation can be hilarious.
Today a man was translating into English for about 15 minutes while two ladies were talking about their mission trip to India. Then the pastor came on stage and started speaking in English and the translator forgot to switch to German and ended up just repeating what pastor said in English. Chuckles all around. Pastor looked at him and said "in Deutsch". The guy turned red he was so embarrassed.
Sometimes things get lost in translation or sound really funny in English or in German but get no response from the other crowd. You can tell who is listening to what by the timing of laughter.
The worship experience is really amazing. I try to read the German and, with my best Deutsch pronunciation, sing along but sometimes it is so beautiful to just listen to my singing German neighbors. When the worship songs are in English, the number of people singing doesn't change they can sing equally well in German and English.
The boys have a similar experience downstairs. They are either separated into German and English classrooms or the kids are all in one room and there is a translator. Eli gets a little frustrated with the time it takes to translate, but Gabe seems to be doing fine and is learning quite a bit in class.
If you come visit it us Germany, you'll have to come to church to experience a multi-cultural service for yourself.
It is definitely a different experience. Most of the people who attend are German. I'm sure that many of the Germans who attend CCH understand and speak a little English, but I rarely hear English being spoken in the lobby.
Here is how the service works:
Welcome: is in German and translated into English
Prayer: German to English
Worship: some songs are German, some are English no translation.
Message: the pastor is German but he speaks fluent English and actually preaches in English and then the message is translated into German.
Scripture: bible verses are read in German only, and English speakers just read in their own bible.
Final prayer and dismissal: German- no translation.
The whole translation thing makes for a LONG service. The church I attended for the past 4 years lasted about an hour and 15 minutes. This service is almost twice as long and is usually 2 hours. Though it takes twice as long to preach the message, since it is actually spoken twice, translation can be hilarious.
Today a man was translating into English for about 15 minutes while two ladies were talking about their mission trip to India. Then the pastor came on stage and started speaking in English and the translator forgot to switch to German and ended up just repeating what pastor said in English. Chuckles all around. Pastor looked at him and said "in Deutsch". The guy turned red he was so embarrassed.
Sometimes things get lost in translation or sound really funny in English or in German but get no response from the other crowd. You can tell who is listening to what by the timing of laughter.
The worship experience is really amazing. I try to read the German and, with my best Deutsch pronunciation, sing along but sometimes it is so beautiful to just listen to my singing German neighbors. When the worship songs are in English, the number of people singing doesn't change they can sing equally well in German and English.
The boys have a similar experience downstairs. They are either separated into German and English classrooms or the kids are all in one room and there is a translator. Eli gets a little frustrated with the time it takes to translate, but Gabe seems to be doing fine and is learning quite a bit in class.
If you come visit it us Germany, you'll have to come to church to experience a multi-cultural service for yourself.
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