THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 18, 1995 TAG: 9508160219
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN BARBA, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Long : 108 lines
Just do it!
That's one of several messages Uwe Kreutz, a ministerial intern at Fellowship United Church of Christ, hopes to take back to his home church in Germany.
``Here, you mustn't be so well-prepared to do something,'' Kreutz said. ``Of course, you want to do your best, but you mustn't be perfect. In Germany, people expect you to be perfect, so few people do anything.''
The United Church of Christ was born in 1957, when the Christian Church founded in the southern part of this country merged with the Congregational Church which came over from England, the Reformed Church from Switzerland and the Evangelical Church from Germany.
Kreutz is part of a ministerial exchange between the denomination and the Evangelical Church of the Rhineland. The exchange is one of many ways that the United Church of Christ tries to maintain ties with its European roots.
Winston Waugh, a native of Jamaica who has been pastor of Fellowship for the past 15 years, feels such programs foster ecumenical unity.
``When they see our young people, and we see theirs,'' Waugh said, ``we get the sense that we are one.''
Both Kreutz and Waugh agree that their churches differ in many ways.
According to Waugh, who has visited Germany twice, a significant difference is in funding. Like most churches in this country, Fellowship Church is funded by its congregation.
Not so in Germany, where everyone on the church roll is taxed to support the Protestant church, its many ministries and the services they provide. Many of these ministries reach out to the poor, offering services that are provided here through government welfare programs.
But, both Waugh and Kreutz pointed out that in Germany there is quite a difference between the number of people on the church rolls and the number who actually attend Sunday services.
``I was scheduled to preach at the church there (in Germany),'' Waugh recalled, ``and I asked the pastor, `How many people are in your congregation?' and he said, `3,000.'
``Then I asked, `How many do you expect?' and he said, `30.' ''
According to Waugh, 86 people actually showed up to hear him speak, but the disparity between the number on the church roll and those who actually worship together is something he would like to see change.
Kreutz agreed. He said that when he first arrived, he was surprised to see how many people attended Fellowship. He also was surprised by the style of worship there.
``I was astonished,'' Kreutz said. ``I expected more clapping and shouting, but this is a quiet church, very much like in Germany.''
One thing that is different, Kreutz said, is the importance of prayer in church life here.
``I've learned here that prayer is really something very fundamental,'' Kreutz said. ``At the beginning of the service prayers are said and at the end. When we go to visit people's homes, many prayers are said.''
According to Waugh, that observation has been echoed by German students who have visited his church in recent years.
``One thing that amazed them was that in restaurants and in people's homes, people pray before they eat and they give thanks,'' Kreutz said. ``And they said, `In church, you thank people for things they have done. In Germany, nobody does that.' ''
As an intern, his responsibilities include teaching two Bible studies, helping out with the youth and preaching one Sunday a month. When he arrived, he accompanied the pastor to homes and hospitals, but soon began visiting people on his own.
And, he taught German for a while to anyone who was interested.
``He's definitely had an impact on our church, and he's very well-respected in the congregation,'' James Turner, a church member, said. ``He's very energetic and hungry for people to speak to.''
He remembers when Kreutz, 31, arrived in a new environment, without even his wife for support.
``He didn't know what he was coming to, but once he got here, he fit right in,'' Turner recalled. ``I think he was happily surprised by that.''
Turner added that Kreutz has become so much a part of their church, he thinks he may be back in a couple of years.
Ethel Robinson, also a member of Fellowship, hopes Turner is right.
``We're going to really hate to see him go,'' said Robinson. ``He has made a deep impression on all of us. He is truly a man about his Father's business.''
Kreutz will return to his homeland in two months, but is pleased that his one year internship will include the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II. What he has read in the newspapers here thus far, he said, has been a pleasant surprise.
``I expected more critical articles,'' said Kreutz. ``Instead, I read many, many articles written with a very positive attitude. With all we must take responsibility for, it was important to me to see that other nations have trust in Germany again.''
Presently, Kreutz and Waugh are concerned about a separation between people that precedes the Second World War. It is out of this concern that Kreutz asked to be assigned to a congregation that was primarily African-American.
``America has already accomplished many things to normalize relationships between blacks and whites,'' Kreutz said. ``But there is still a distance between African-Americans and European Americans.''
He hopes that in some small way, his visit here will make a difference.
``That he, as a German, could travel across the ocean, 3,500 miles from his home, and feel comfortable living among. . .black people he has never met,'' said Waugh, ``This says something about the potential for racial harmony and tolerance.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by JIM WALKER
Uwe Kreutz, right, of Germany, a ministerial intern at Fellowship
United Church of Christ, checks his notes with Pastor Winston
Waugh.
by CNB