Duisburg Church Overcomes Obstacles to Become City’s Largest
DUISBURG, Germany – Despite contaminated land, government opposition, and a police raid, Wera Forum, a unique church in Duisburg, has grown to become the largest congregation in the city.
“Wera” means belief.
Pastor alexander Epp told CBN News, “We always say, come to our building, touch it and listen to the story of how it was built. Then you’ll believe.”
Epp, an ethnic German who immigrated from Soviet Russia, stated he did not experiance similar persecution from the KGB.
Obstacles, Denials, and Answered prayer
Last year, a German SWAT team raided Epp’s home, forcibly entering and causing him a broken nose.
Epp arrived in Duisburg in the 1980s as a truck mechanic and felt called to minister to the city’s Russian-German community. The congregation quickly outgrew its initial meeting space and began searching for land to build a new church.
The city denied their building permit,and banks refused to provide a loan. Further complicating matters, a soil assessment revealed meaningful contamination at the chosen building site.
“We had the expert assessment done, and the assessment showed that we’d have to invest a lot of money to remove all this soil hear,” Epp said.
Rather of abandoning the project, the congregation turned to prayer.
“We stood together with the whole congregation. We held each other’s hands. Prayed together, ‘God, heal the soil,'” Epp recounted. “And then we called in another company.They did an assessment and said the soil is clean. No toxins, nothing.”
After reclassifying as a non-profit religious institution, and without a bank loan, the congregation built the structure themselves.
Combating Claims of Being a ‘Cult’
Wera Forum now welcomes over 1,000 attendees across its main church and four satellite locations.