Calling All Nations

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Excerpt from the audience area of ​​the event

Calling All Nations (German: Ruf an alle Nations ) was an evangelical event that took place on July 15, 2006 from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the Olympiastadion Berlin . It was under the motto Calling the youth of the world and the young at heart to a day of worship and prayer ( Call to the youth of the world and the young at heart for a day of worship and prayer ) 22,000 Christians from 30 nations together in Berlin. Calling All Nations was also broadcast worldwide on Christian radio and television stations UCB and GOD TV . The initiator of this event was Noel Richards, an internationally known worship musician.

history

After a similar event ( Champion of the world ) with 43,000 visitors had taken place on June 28, 1997 in Wembley Stadium, England , Noel Richards announced that he wanted to initiate further events of this kind. He said he had the impression that God placed three stages on their hearts. Richards and a few other Christians wanted to fill the Volksstadion in Budapest , the Nou Camp Stadium in Barcelona and the Olympic Stadium in Berlin to bring Christians together and worship their God together. Richards advertised his "vision" for nine years and wanted the event to take place in 2001. Remodeling work on the stadium prevented this date from being met. Another four years later, in June 2005, another date was firmly planned (which is why Richards also released the CD Road to Berlin in 2004); this time the event failed because the organizers did not come to an agreement with the stadium operator in time. Finally, a suitable date was found on July 15, 2006, one week after the World Cup and at the same time as the Love Parade .

Calling All Nations was one of the predominant topics in the Christian media in advance. It was awaited and supported with great enthusiasm, especially in free churches of various denominations throughout Germany and neighboring European countries, but was criticized by some individuals.

criticism

In the run-up to Calling All Nations, some German evangelists (especially Theo Lehmann , Lutz Scheufler and Hartmut Zopf ) criticized the event. In her opinion, visitors should donate the mission's “high” admission fee . In addition, they saw what they saw as the wrong doctrine of the baptism of the Spirit in some of the participants in the event . The management committee rejected this criticism with the arguments that such prices were inevitable for a stadium event and that special gauges played no role in the event. Furthermore, on the day of the event, some Christians stood up in front of the stadium with banners to express their criticism of the alleged “worship optimism”. Sharp criticism, which was more related to the radical charismatic movement in general, came from the NDR magazine Panorama .

procedure

Rough time schedule from the Calling All Nations magazine
Flag and banner parade at the beginning of the event

The stadium area was opened to the participants at 9 a.m. The actual program began at 11 a.m. and was divided into three parts of three hours each with a half-hour break in between.

The first part was about God's love for people. At the beginning people from different nations moved in with the national flags of the world, silver- and gold-colored flags and the name of God on banners, then the music began. The performers appeared alternately on two stages.

The focus of the second part from 2:30 p.m. was on the subject of prayer and intercession . In the so-called Berlin Declaration, the German participants asked for forgiveness from God and the Christians from other countries for the crimes of the Nazi era . Afterwards there was a time of prophetic speech when Christians who thought they had received an inspiration or an image from God could pass it on to the audience, and a prayer of blessing from those under 30 for Christians from other countries. In addition, two so-called victims were collected, that is, one fundraising took place to cover the remaining stadium costs and another for charitable purposes, to help AIDS orphans around the world.

The third part with a focus on missions began at 6 p.m. and ended after 9 p.m. with a flag parade through the stadium. During the whole time there was dancing with sticks, ribbons, scarves and flags on the stage in addition to the music.

Contributors

Calling All Nations was organized by a steering committee, Calling All Nations e. V., consisting of Noel Richards , Wolfhard Margies , Gerhard Kehl , Christoph Bonnen, Gerald Coates, Helmut Diefenbach , Steven Doherty, Ulrich Eggers , Walter Heidenreich , Les Moir, Axel Nehlsen, Fritz Ludwig Otterbach, John Pacalubo, Christoph Stang and Roland Werner , so English and German members of the Evangelical Alliance from different denominations . Many parishes, especially in Berlin, took part in the preparations.

All Calling All Nations contributors waived their fees and travel expenses. In addition, the organizers repeatedly emphasized in advance that the festival was not about the big music stars, but about the Christian God and Jesus Christ .

Attendees country Further information
2-edged Germany 2schneidig (Martin Rietsch) is half-Nigerian and does Christian hip-hop and R&B.
Andrea Adams-Frey and Albert Frey Germany Albert Frey is known throughout Germany in the Christian scene for his work as a worship songwriter and for his CDs.
Arne Kopfermann Germany Arne Kopfermann is a worship songwriter, author and co-producer of the songbook and CD series In Love with Jesus , who is known throughout Germany in the Christian scene .
Brian Doerksen Canada Brian Doerksen is a Canadian worship songwriter with songs that are also well known in the Christian scene, such as Come, now is the time .
Broken walls Canada
Chris Bowater Great Britain
Christoph Bonnen Germany Christoph Bonnen is worship leader in the Berlin Free Church parish on the way .
Claas P. Jambor Germany
Daniel Kallauch Germany Daniel Kallauch makes Christian children's songs that are known throughout Germany through his appearances in KI.KA , such as direct hit , The Clou or Christmas is Party for Jesus .
Dave Bilbrough Great Britain
David Ruis United States
Delirious? Great Britain Delirious? is an internationally known, five-piece worship band that attracted attention with albums such as World service or Mission Bell and made it into the top 10 of the airplay charts in Germany.
Florence Joy Germany Made famous by winning Star Search (casting show on SAT.1).
Gerald Coates Great Britain
Gerhard Kehl Germany
Godfrey Birtill Great Britain
Graham Kendrick Great Britain One of the founders of modern worship and worship music
Inside Out Netherlands
I Themba South Africa I Themba is an African dance group.
Judy Bailey Germany Judy Bailey makes Christian pop music and supports people in Africa with World Vision Germany .
Kees Kraayenoord Netherlands
Kings kids International
Kisi kids Austria KISI - God's singing kids pass on their faith with songs and musicals.
Lilo Keller Switzerland
Lothar Kosse Germany Lothar Kosse is a worship songwriter who is known throughout Germany in the Christian scene and is the initiator of the Cologne Worship Night .
Matt Redman Great Britain Matt Redman drew attention as a worship songwriter with songs that are internationally known in the Christian scene, such as Heart of worship and Blessed be your name .
Movement in worship Great Britain Movement in worship is an English dance group.
Noel Richards Great Britain Noel Richards is a worship songwriter and the initiator of Calling All Nations.
Onehundredhours Great Britain
Paul Oakley Great Britain
Psalm Drummers International The Psalm Drummers only play instrumental music with drums .
Reuben Morgan Australia Reuben Morgan is a worship songwriter and leader of a Hillsong congregation in Australia and has written songs that are well known in the Christian scene, such as Lord I give you my heart and My redeemer lives .
Roland Werner Germany
Sue Rinaldi Great Britain
Tenger Doo Germany Tengerin Doo is Mongolian and means "heavenly music". The 6-member band has become known in the Christian scene through appearances together with Walter Heidenreich at Come to the Light in Lüdenscheid, FCJG church services and some live CDs.
Tim Hughes Great Britain The young worship songwriter Tim Hughes drew attention to himself with the song Here I am to worship , which is internationally known in the Christian scene .
Tim and Kristin Reinhardt Germany Worship leader from southern Germany, youth and worship events (including Allgäu Worship Night, South Alive)
Walter Heidenreich Germany Walter Heidenreich is head of the FCJG Lüdenscheid .
Wayne Draine United States
Wolfhard Margies Germany Wolfhard Margies is head of the Berlin Free Church Community on the way .
Yfriday Great Britain

Web links

Commons : Calling All Nations  - collection of images, videos and audio files