Methods and Tribes

My friend “M’ is from all over the Middle East. He doesn’t fit most stereotypes. He is a Muslim, but he hates Islam. He goes to a Christian church but doesn’t want to be identified as a Christian. He is outgoing and speaks to several different missionaries. He is unlike anyone I have ever met. […]

An Unconventional God

This update, recently sent to our prayer team, is so exciting, we want to share it with everyone within earshot! Of course, we also need to be cautious. Feel free to forward privately, but please do not repost on your Facebook wall. Here are some actual quotes from the woman who runs the refugee camp […]

Love Shines in the Darkness

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” -Romans 12:21 Berlin has experienced dark times. Few places on earth have seen the darkness reign as much as this place that our family now calls home. To be fair, this is not the Berlin of the 30’s and 40’s. Nor is it the […]

Nat

Running a refugee camp in the bureaucratic state of Germany is no small task. Doing so in Berlin just adds yet another layer of paperwork and endless meetings. Nat handles all of these pressures with aplomb. When I first met her, I didn’t know she was a believer. In a city that has fewer Christians […]

Beautification

Our teams are working in six refugee camps, four of them are what they call “Tempo-Homes”. These particular camps are a step in the right direction for so many of the families and single men that we try to minister to. But these shipping containers-cum-temporary homes lack character, their drab exteriors lack life. One of […]

Good Friday

He was Felli and Hami’s only son. They had three daughters, and one son. Life was hard in Afghanistan, but they all had each other… until they didn’t. One moment they were a family of six, the next they were a family of five. Felli dreams about her son still. She is haunted by the […]

7 Levels of Relationship for the Believer

Last week I took a week to step back, not completely, I still had to find housing and ministry for a huge team coming in and keep my German lessons going. But I did step back from many of my duties here at the YWAM Berlin base. Over this week off, this week pulling back […]

The Armstrong Family- A guest post

By Krystal Cochrane We were recently visited by long time YWAMmer Krystal here in Berlin. Krystal is traveling Europe, visiting various YWAM bases to observe what they are doing about the refugee crisis. I asked her to share a bit about what she saw in her few days with us here at YWAM Berlin. When […]

A View From The Front Lines

Here in Berlin, we don’t have a theoretical Muslim refugee situation. And although it is still highly political, there is real flesh and blood and bone to it. We have continued to invest in the refugee communities nearest us. Having a regular, reliable presence has opened the door to honest communication, good and bad. It […]

Refugee Dreams

My friend Mohammed (not his real name) dreams of coming to America with me some day. He tells me that once he gets his German passport he wants to see where I am from. As an Afghan, he is considered an “economic refugee” (which is to say that he is not a refugee). So he […]