Clearing and Cleaning the Park

Pastor Ben told us the story of American Church moving to the Martin Luther Church Demmelwitzplatz 5 years ago. The area was known as Neddleplatz for it was home of drug users and prostitutes. The Sunday morning clean-up crew would clear away the syringes and condoms before worship. As the church has become established and accepted in this culturally diverse neighborhood by helping and being open the the neighbors, the neighbors in turn have helped reclaim Neddleplatz and the church property. The little park at Demelwitzplatz is still unkept and overgrown. Certainly it was nothing that would bring pride to the residents. I asked this morning, could we mow it and clean it up. The initial answer was “No, it belongs to the city and they don't want any one else to take care of it.”

But then the wheels were turning. Pastor Ben smiled and said “Let's do it.” So our first day of Berlin we broke the law!

The mowers came out and Rich Keil and I moved while several others cut and hauled brush and picked up litter. By the end of the day it looked good – our gift to the neighborhood.

Jeff Silvernail

[Note: we have no where to leave the computer at church during the day so it is hard for others to write at the current time.]