Differences between Germany and France

by | Aug 31, 2018 | Letters to Epaphras

It’s been 15 years since we moved to a different culture.  We “thought” given the proximity to France and armed with our European citizenship that a simple move to Germany wouldn’t be that hard!  Well, lets just say we underestimated the differences between France and Germany. And, they are many! We are finally moved in… still trying to understand water and electricity bills, trash (yes there are 4 different types and pickups of trash!), etc. etc…  From now on, as we learn the German language and culture, we will intertwine into our updates a brief snippet from our learning. The first one is about context.

France is an indirect, high context, culture where communication is seen through varying situations, non-verbal clues, and contexts.  The french love grey! A phrase you get used to hearing (and using) in France is ‘oui, mais…’ which means, ‘yes, but…’  Germany on the other hand is a direct culture.  And, German is a low context language. People feel a need to deliver the truth without bias or emotion.  German is a practical language, French is a romantic language – not to juxtapose romance and practicality. But, in that sense, as a functional language, German is very similar to English..

Yesterday, the girls started school at the Black Forest Academy.  WOW! What a contrast from french, secular education. The opening ceremony was powerful.  The progression of flags, each representing a student’s home (passport) and ministry culture showed what a diverse and spiritually rich student body our girls will be a part of.  The headmaster challenged the students to courageously engage the school year, to worship Christ through learning, loving and spending themselves on the poor and needy. I had the feeling I was sitting in a commencement ceremony at Wheaton college.  We are so grateful for this opportunity for the girls to finally have a Christ based education.

We are adjusting to this new town and new house…  Steve has already started renovating the garages downstairs to turn it into the PIONEERS European Regional Office and a guest room.  We are grateful to the Lord for this new space and trusting Him for skilled labor to help us!

Lastly, we would ask you to pray for a training initiative in Marseille, France.  A ministry, Le Phare, has been training young men for ministry for almost 75 years.  After a long history of fruitful, Christ honoring ministry, they sense the need to close their doors and are looking for a like minded organisation to transfer their existing ministry to.  We, at the same time have been looking for a venue to start a discipleship mission training school in Europe for several years now. We put in proposal to take over Le Phare organisation (including a 16 room hotel in the heart of Marseille) and we are now one of two ministries they are considering.  Please join us by praying into this initiative! We (Charles Kay and myself) meet with their board of directors on the 21st of September and a final decision will be made before the end of the year.

Thank you for standing with us in prayer and financial giving.  We are grateful for you!

Blessings in Jesus,

Steve and Sara (Annie and Julia)