20 years since the Fall of the Wall - how prayer made all the difference

20 years ago the infamous Berlin Wall was torn down, amid great rejoicing. Although many attribute this to political success, it was the prayers and peaceful protests organized by an East German church, that really made the difference.

This church was St. Nikolai church in Liepzig, pastored by Rev. Christian Fuhrer, pictured left with Reformation Tours' president Frank Drinkhouse.

In an interview with Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly, Rev. Christian Fuhrer talked about how his church was used.

The church became a very special place, and in particular the Nikolai Church, which we could describe like this: the church was finally on the side of the Lord, on Jesus’ side. In other words, it was on the side of the oppressed and not on that of the oppressors, with the people and not with those who had the power. The special experience we had here was that the people accepted Jesus’ message, especially the message of the Sermon on the Mount.

He went on to talk about how the Lord often answers prayer in a much larger way than we can ever imagine.

The most important thing for us was the power of prayer, which is still true today. We are not praying to the air or to the wall, but to a living God. We did not pray for the wall to come down. It was more comprehensive: [We were praying] for peace, justice, and the preservation of our creation. We addressed the very specific needs of human beings in our prayers, and God has blessed those prayers in such a way that nobody could have predicted.

Click here to read the full translation of the interview. By the way, these prayers meetings are still continuing every Monday and we are happy to include a visit there on any of our tours.