HaDavar Liaison: Germany

Georg Hagedorn
HaDavar Liaison: Germany

I was born April 22, 1969 and was raised in a non-religious home (my parents had left the Lutheran State church in the mid-60s for political reasons). Already in my youth I was moved by the question, “What happens to a person when he or she dies?” I looked into different philosophies, but found no satisfactory answers.

In 1985 I began an apprenticeship in electronics and two of my colleagues were Bible-believing Christians. We talked about spiritual things over a long period of time and I began to read the Bible for myself. Beginning with Genesis, I was already convicted of my own sinfulness and inability to meet God’s standards by the time I had reached the Mosaic Law.

Later my colleagues and I had the opportunity to sit down together and study John chapter three. At that point I realized that Christ had already paid my personal sin-debt in full, and I put my trust in His finished work.

I began to attend a Plymouth Brethren assembly in Düsseldorf, which became my spiritual home for almost 20 years. There, I was baptized and participated in different ministries. I eventually became a part of their leadership.

I decided to attend New Tribes Bible Institute and afterwards became involved in a teaching ministry as well as Christian literature and media translation work. I dubbed English video documentaries in German. I also regularly worked as a translator for English-speaking Bible teachers on their tours through Germany. Over the years, I had the privilege of serving together with a number of Bible teachers, including Dr. Randall Price, Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Meno Kalisher, Dave Hunt, and John R. Cross. Through these contacts, some of these men have become close personal friends.

Shortly after I had returned from a trip to England, I met my wife Heidi on an outreach program she was doing with her church (we later married in September 1995). From 1997-1998 my wife and I participated in a discipleship/leadership program at Fairhaven Bible Chapel, a Plymouth Brethren assembly in San Leandro, California. One of the instructors there was William MacDonald, a well-known author in Brethren circles and former director of Emmaus Bible College.

After this training, we had originally planned to move to Russia to be involved with a training institute at New Tribes Mission, where we would be equipping local missionaries and church leaders; however, my wife became pregnant with our first child. So, we decided to return to Germany. Soon afterward, the Russian opportunity had closed completely.

In Germany, I began to work full-time again as service engineer in electronics and mechanics. In my spare time, I continued to translate Christian literature and media. When the company I worked for closed, I decided to work as a freelancer in the area of translation and media composition to support the ministry I had been involved in. This has continued to this day and has led to our publishing ministry, CMV, through which we seek to make good Bible teaching resources available in German. I decided to enroll at Bibelseminar Königsfeld for further theological studies to learn Biblical Greek and Hebrew. From there, I eventually earned a Bachelor of Theology degree and I’m currently continuing my studies via distance learning at graduate level through Chafer Theological Seminary in Albuquerque, New Mexico. After having been involved in a new church plant (Independent Bible Church) here in Düsseldorf, we are now involved in yet another new church plant in Nievenheim (Plymouth Brethren), a small town between Düsseldorf and Cologne. I’m involved in pastoral work and teaching ministry, but at this time, we do not have a full-time worker.