Thomas Schirrmacher’s address in Oberhausen
Beloved Apostle Dr Eric Kwabena Nyamekye,
Beloved Bishop Bill – Chairman and Bishop Dr William Wilson,
Dear apostles, bishops, global and regional leaders gathered here,
Dear pastors and elders, fellow servants and shepherds in God’s flock,
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
It is a privilege to welcome you all to Europe and to Germany in the name of our beloved Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is an honor to be among brothers and sisters from the African continent where the Church of Jesus Christ has experienced extraordinary growth, perseverance, and spiritual vitality.
It is a privilege to be together with you. I see the churches of Africa as a living example of what the Holy Spirit has been doing across the world in the decades since the Second World War. In spite of wars, colonialism and its lasting consequences, poverty, political upheaval, persecution, and financial crises, and in spite of powerful secular and religious ideologies, the Church of Jesus Christ and world mission have become truly global as never before. This does not mean that our task is finished. But never before has the worldwide character of Christ’s Church—and the shared responsibility for world mission—been so visible.
Africans were among the earliest remembered witnesses of the gospel in what is now Germany and Central Europe. And if, as the ancient Christian saying has it, the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church, then the sacrifice of African Christians is woven into the very beginnings of the history of the Church in this part of Europe.
Among the earliest Christian witnesses remembered in the Roman frontier regions north of the Alps were soldiers traditionally believed to have come from Egypt in Africa, as the Roman Caesar commanded part of the Roman army in Egypt, the Theban Legion, to the Rhine to defend the border against the Germanic people. In Egypt Christianity was vital already and had reached the higher ranks of the army. According to tradition, many of their officers, whose names are still remembered today, were martyred for their Christian faith. Their veneration subsequently became central to major centres of Christian worship from Agaunum (today Saint-Maurice) and Solothurn to Trier, Cologne, Bonn, and Xanten.
We are gathering today in Oberhausen, a very recent city. But only some kilometers down the river Rhine lays Xanten, an important Roman military centre, According to ancient Christian tradition, Victor, a Roman officer, and his companions belonged to the Theban Legion, whose soldiers came from Egypt in Africa, suffered martyrdom for their faith. The remains of the great Roman military presence can still be visited in Xanten as UNESCO world heritage today, while over the ancient burial grounds associated with the martyrs there eventually arose the great Church of St Victor, today known as Xanten Cathedral.
Even the name Xanten is traditionally derived from the Latin ad sanctos — “at the place of the saints” — referring to the martyrs. In other words, the memory of these early Christian martyrs became so deeply rooted in this place that it eventually gave the city its very name. Therefore, we are not speaking only about a modern relationship between African and European churches. That relationship reaches back to the very beginnings of Christianity in this region.
African Martyrs of the Fourth Century
Honoured as Early Saints in Major Churches
in Germany and Switzerland
- Xanten: St. Victor’s Cathedral – Victor, Mallosus, and their companions
- Cologne: Basilica of St. Gereon – Gereon and his companions
- Bonn: Bonn Minster – Cassius, Florentius, and their companions
- Trier: St. Paulinus – Thyrsus, Palmatius, and their companions
- Mainz: St. Alban’s – Alban of Mainz and his companions
- Solothurn: Cathedral of St. Ursus – Ursus, Victor, and their companions
- Saint-Maurice (Agaunum): Abbey of Saint-Maurice – Maurice, Exuperius, Candidus, and the Theban Legion
Today I want to call you once again to a mission to my beloved continent, Europe. Europe was once one of the major centers from which the gospel was carried to many parts of the world, including Africa. Today, however, Europe itself again needs missionaries—brothers and sisters who will bring the gospel into the hearts of its people.
In a document that I was honored to help develop, the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, the World Council of Churches, and the World Evangelical Alliance stated together in 2011: “Mission belongs to the very being of the church.” This is so because God himself is a missionary God.
1. God was the first missionary. When humanity sinned in the Garden of Eden, God himself came into the garden to seek Adam and Eve and asked, “Where are you?”
2. Jesus is the missionary in the fullest sense. He was sent by his Father. Through his life, death, and resurrection he accomplished the good news of salvation and proclaimed the kingdom of God to humankind.
3. And the Holy Spirit is the great missionary throughout the history of the Church, for he has been at work in every true conversion, calling people to Christ and empowering the Church for witness.
Yet Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have chosen to involve the Church fully in this mission.
A powerful biblical example is the story of how the gospel crossed from Asia into Europe. Acts 16:9–10 tells us that during the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” After Paul had seen the vision, he and his companions prepared at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called them to preach the gospel there. Through a vision and the leading of the Holy Spirit, God called his messengers to cross over into Europe.
After many years of experience with the global Body of Christ and of studying the condition of the churches in Europe, the Holy Spirit has laid a heavy burden on my heart. Today I want to repeat that biblical call to the churches of Africa:
“Come over and help us.” (Acts 16:9–10)
Dear disciples of Jesus in Africa, I ask you: help bring the gospel anew to Europe.
- Europe needs the witness of African Christians who know the power of prayer, the reality of Christian community, confidence in Scripture, and dependence on the Holy Spirit. Many Europeans live in deeply secularized societies, and many historic churches struggle to communicate the gospel with conviction. I have seen how God can open hearts that seemed closed for decades through the love, prayer, joy, and personal witness of Christians from Africa and other parts of the world.
- Help us reach people from many cultural and religious backgrounds who now live in Europe, including Muslims from Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Many have experienced war, displacement, disappointment, or religious conflict and are searching for peace, hope, dignity, and genuine community. Christians from Africa can often build relationships across cultural boundaries in ways that enrich the witness of European Christians.
This may be a significant moment for Christian witness among Muslims and other migrant communities in Europe. We should approach every person with love, respect, humility, and freedom of conscience, bearing witness to Jesus Christ without coercion. In Germany and elsewhere in Europe, I have seen migrants and refugees become interested in the Christian faith and find new communities in churches.
The African Church does not come to Europe merely as a recipient of an old missionary legacy. African Christians are full participants in the global Body of Christ and in global mission. The history of Christianity itself reminds us that Africa is not at the margins of the Christian story: from Egypt and North Africa to Ethiopia and beyond, African Christians have shaped the Church since its earliest centuries. Today, once again, Africa has gifts that the worldwide Church urgently needs.
So, churches in Africa, hear the call: “Come over and help us!”
Send missionaries, pastors, theologians, church planters, evangelists, students, professionals, families, and prayer warriors. Establish churches that are both deeply rooted in the gospel and able to serve people across cultures. Work together with faithful European churches. Do not simply reproduce African church life in Europe; bring your spiritual gifts while also listening, learning, and becoming servants to the people and cultures among whom God places you.
And let this mission never become a reversal of old patterns of superiority. Mission is not Africa replacing Europe, nor Europe directing Africa. It is the one Body of Christ serving together. The center of Christianity is not Europe, Africa, Asia, or America. The center is Jesus Christ.
I pray that all of us will be filled with the Holy Spirit. According to Jesus’ words, he is the one who convicts the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16,8). Yet he has chosen to use us as his witnesses. We therefore have the privilege not only of speaking about Christ, but also of seeing the mighty acts of God before our own eyes.