HANDBELLS HELP BAPTISTS OVERCOME "CULT" IMAGE IN GERMANY
Jackson, Tenn. — With the recent Heaven's Gate mass suicide, concern about cults is on the rise in the United States and across the world. However, Southern Baptist missionary Connie Taylor is making a powerful influence through handbells in a community that considers Baptists a "cult."
"People in Germany are very concerned about sects and cults right now," Dieter Grebe, principal of the Schwingbach School in Huttenberg-Rechtenbach, Germany, said. "Parents fear their children might become involved with them."
"Germany does not have separation of church and state as we know it in America," Taylor explained. The government acknowledges two churches – Catholics and Lutherans. Baptists are a free church in Germany and make up less than 1 percent of the total population. "To most Lutherans and Catholics, we are considered a cult," Taylor said.
Because the German Lutherans and Catholics know little about the Baptist church and its mission, there is great uncertainly and skepticism about its work.
Despite the great concern about cults, the Baptist missionary is using the gifts God gave her as a powerful ministry opportunity within the government-run Schwingbach School.
"In December 1990 I started praying for an opportunity to minister through the schools," Taylor recalls. "And the idea of handbells came to me in prayer." A year and a half later, Taylor received a gift of handbells from Westwood Baptist Church, Alexandria, Ala. She continued to pray for the right opportunity. Finally, her prayers were answered when she contacted the school about teaching handbells to the children in June 1993.
The principal agreed to include the workshop during a project week where students can sign up for extracurricular activities. The school requires 12 participants for a class to be held. Taylor said, "We had exactly 12 the first time we met."
Handbells, according to Grebe, are rare in Germany. "Most people had never heard of them," he said. During the project week in 1993, Andrew Roby, currently an associate professor of music and chair of the music department at 51社区, Jackson, Tenn., brought a group of handbell ringers from Shorter College, Rome, Ga., to the school during a tour of Europe. They were only able to visit the school for about two hours. "But that was long enough," Taylor said. Upon hearing their performance, the school's principal asked Taylor to form the German school's first handbell choir.
Soon, the missionary began teaching handbells and established the handbell choir. In the summer of 1995, the Handbell Choir from 51社区, Jackson, Tenn., traveled to Germany where they performed at the school and extended an invitation for the German choir to come perform in the U.S. Nearly two years later, the Schwingbach Ringers accepted the invitation.
Eleven girls, ages 14-16, from Huttenberg-Rechtenbach, Germany arrived in West Tennessee Monday, March 31 to continue their handbell choir tour of the United States. 51社区 hosted the German students through Friday, April 5.
While traveling in the U.S. the girls are staying in Christian homes. Taylor said the "warm and gracious hospitality will not only help them to see Baptists in a new light, but for some of them, it will be their first experience in a Christ-centered home."
"For the families, this tour is an experience in trust as they let their 14-16 year old daughters go to the U.S.," Grebe said. "This indicates they really trust Connie."
Grebe went on to explain that Taylor has a very strong influence in the lives of each of her students and their families. "She has a strong relationship with each of the girls," he added. "They can talk to Connie about many things."
"She is very determined as a missionary and she takes her ministry very seriously," the principal said. And this combination of determinism without being dogmatic, according to Grebe, is "the way she can fulfill her mission."
Their three-week U.S. tour began March 20 and will end April 10. Their itinerary has included visits to Birmingham, Ala., Atlanta, Ga. and Tampa, Fla. before coming to West Tennessee.
Their week's visit to Union and West Tennessee included a handbell workshop with Roby, visits to Union's classes, attendance at the university's music recitals and concerts and sightseeing trips to locations in Jackson and Memphis. While in Jackson, the German choir stayed in the homes of members of First Baptist, Jackson.
The group will return to Alabama April 5 for performances and sightseeing before their departure for Germany on April 10.