ILG: Christian Fuhrer - 21 Sep 2005
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 Dresden, Germany |
Late Saturday night after sharing with us about his journey in prayer against Germany's communist regime in the late 1980’s, Christian Fuhrer and a few others are sitting in a restraunt down the street from our venue. As the restraunt owner leaves for the night, he stops at the table, politely interrupting their conversation:
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“Excuse me, Mr. Fuhrer?” says the restraunt owner.
“Yes, that’s me.”
“I don’t mean to bother you, but I want to say thank you. We have never met, and I am not a Christian, but I remember what you and your church did for the people of Germany years ago. Thank you.”
24-7 was introduced to Fuhrer through Markus Lagel, who now leads the 24-7 movement in Germany. As a 13-year old, Markus attended prayer vigils hosted by Fuhrer at his church in Leipzig. | ||
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Fuhrer’s testimony of the peace prayer Mondays that ended communism in Germany is awesome. As he shared the story Saturday night, the reality that prayer changes the world became intensely poignant to a room full of very small, politically insignificant people.
“The peaceful spirit of Jesus,” said Fuhrer, “is more powerful than any government, any regime.” He should know. In 1979, the church in East Germany began a decade-long peace prayer effort that would eventually see Germany’s socialist political system reformed. The prayer effort took the form of weekly prayer meetings, one of which was held at St. Nikolai Church, which Fuhrer pastors to this day. The inscription on the door of St. Nikolai reads, “St. Nikolai – open to all.” As political pressure increased through the late 1980’s, the church, appropriately, was packed with an array of people each Monday. As outsiders wandered in, Fuhrer fondly remembers the people taking refuge in the church and hearing the word of God taught. His smile grows especially broad when he speaks of teaching the truths of Jesus to the Stasi (state police), thousands of whom were assigned to attend the meetings so that there would be no seats for outsiders to hear the message of Jesus and participate in the peace prayers.
On May 8, 1989, the Stasi began to block the driveways to the church to keep people from gathering to pray. Fuhrer felt immense pressure to cancel or move the peace prayer project because each week arrests were made in connection with the prayer meetings. At the same time, the number of attendees was multiplying rapidly - an appropriate illustration of what Fuhrer had spoken most passionately about: that the church doors should always be open so that anyone can come in and so Christians can see out to the community – that the church is for everyone in society, not just Christians.
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 Fuhrer told us of October 7, 1989 – the day that policee forces became violent, battering and arrested hundreds of attendees.
Two days later, 100,000 people responded in a peaceful prayer-march through the city of Leipzig. As the people continued to protest in peace, the authorities became increasingly hostile.
“There were tanks in the streets, and military and policemen throughout the prayer vigil, weaving through thousands of candle-carrying people who offered up ‘prayers for their enemies,’” Fuhrer reminisced.
When the Berlin Wall fell November 9, 1989, the reality of the power of prayer over man’s governments and systems was seen throughout the world. As a former member of the Central Committee of the GDR said before his death, “We were prepared for everything. But not for candles and prayers.”
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Barry Hall and his wife Charlotte recently moved to Chichester, England from Kansas City, Kansas to be a part of 24-7 Prayer. They both graduated from Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Between the both of them, they love labrador retrievers, writing stationery, jam bands, and Cafe Rouge - the best cup of tea on South Street.