Growth in Trial

We can recognize that God's purposes will be expressed through persecution.  In our trials, we can see the mighty hand of God doing amazing things, if we are willing to surrender to Him.  Our faith grows not as we run from Him in times of trouble, but as we run toward Him to experience His grace and mercy.  The Bible says in 1st Peter 1 (ESV):
12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.
13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.
14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.
15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler.
16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.

Last year, in Germany, a SWAT team raided a church, invaded the pastor's home and injured him.  According to CBN.com, "...last summer the police used a former attendees [sic] false claim that the pastor possessed an illegal firearm to launch an early morning raid on the church and his home."  The pastor said, "I was asleep and got up after I heard a bang when they blew the door open."  The article noted that, "Eighty to 100 masked officers surrounded the property, pointing machine guns at him."  He thought the invaders were criminals, so he tried to defend himself.  That's when he was injured.

The church, Duisburg, Germany is called Wera Forum; the word, Wera, means "belief."  Alexander Epp is the pastor - he is a native German who lived for a time in Soviet Russia.  But he says that he did not face "this kind of persecution" there.  The CBN article reports that the church has been at odds with authorities there; it relates: 

Epp came to Duisburg as a truck mechanic in the 1980s, when the Lord put it on his heart to begin an outreach to the city's Russian-German community.

The congregation outgrew its old building and finally found land for a new one.
 
Except the city would not allow them to build a church. Nor could they secure a bank loan, and they learned the soil at the building site was contaminated.

Epp said, "We had the expert assessment done, and the assessment showed that we'd have to invest a lot of money to remove all this soil here."
 
Instead of giving up, they decided to pray.

"We stood together with the whole congregation. We held each other's hands. Prayed together, 'God, heal the soil,'" Epp said.  "And then we called in another company. They did an assessment and said the soil is clean. No toxins, nothing."

Unable to build a church on the site, they became a non-profit religious organization. Without a bank loan, they built the structure themselves.

The church, which has four satellite churches, has over a thousand people in attendance. CBN notes:  "Since only five percent of Germans attend church, a successful church here can raise suspicions that it is a cult – using psychological pressure to force people to attend."  Walter Epp, Alexander's son, says that the strongarm tactics used by local officials, "...seems now like a big project just to intimidate us because we are the maybe the biggest church here in this city and the fastest growing, to take us down to make bad publicity for our church."  But, the police raid has resulted in more people discovering Wera Forum church.  Pastor Alexander is quoted as saying, "We always had problems, and I kept asking myself, 'God why?'  But I think it was all part of God's plan, that we'd be under pressure and that we wouldn't rely on ourselves, but on Him."  

Pressure can cause either good or bad reactions.  Individually and collectively.  For each of us, if we allow that pressure to build up, if we internalize the trials we face, then that can be destructive.  We must turn our troubles into triumph by trusting in God.  

When the Church is experiencing persecution, which is happening throughout the world, the body of Christ can continue to be faithful to follow God, realizing that He has a grand and glorious plan and desires to express Himself as we respond correctly in times of adversity.  Even though this German church is facing problems, even with local authorities, their posture is to pray and continue to trust in God, totally dependent on Him.