A ‘Jesus Conference’ by the North Sea

Since 1987, every Pentecost (with the exception in the pandemic) Christians from around the country and even beyond meet for the Jesus Conference near to the North Sea on the premises of Dünenhof in Cuxhaven, Germany.

This unique place near to the sea has been under the leadership of nine people from the WegGemeinschaft (a Christian community). They all came from the same youth group in Cuxhaven. One day they realised that God had entrusted them something unique and decided from there on to walk through life together, creating space for people. This included also this conference centre.

Eight from these nine founders are still alive and all served at this festival, which took place 26 to 29 May 2023. You could literally feel their impact everywhere.

After many years, Dünenhof is since 2021 under the umbrella of Word of Life Germany and they are seeking to invest even more into children and youth from across Germany.

It was my first time attending this festival and serving as one of the speakers. Manfred Pagel, the leader of this conference told me at the beginning, these Pentecost conferences have a special family feel to it and this is exactly what happened. A friendly family-oriented spirit was evident everywhere.

[photo_footer] Photo:  Stefan Petersen, WDL [/photo_footer] 

More than 1,400 people gathered, including 250 volunteers. The majority of them camped for these three sunny days. Manfred had given me the task of walking through the campsite each day, which led to great and humorous conversations including coffee and cake.

The invited worship band was the well-known and much loved band Outbreak and speakers for the eight plenary sessions included the vice-president of Word of Life Kris and Debbie Stout (United States), Lothar Krauss (pastor and blogger of a well-known leadership platform), Georgia and Holger Mix (Baptists pastors in Gütersloh) and myself, serving as the CEO of LeadNow.

[photo_footer] Photo:  Stefan Petersen, WDL [/photo_footer] 

The main theme for the conference was “How to live through crisis”. Speakers addressed the issue of faith through times of crisis. Lothar said, “Too many churches and Christians get stuck with information about God and His word – but what we need is a transformation through the Holy Spirit”. He invited people to offer their lives to God and to be a channel of His transformative power.

In the afternoons, more than 50 workshops were offered and very well attended. For kids of any age a creative and fun program was offered.

After 37 years of leading this place and these conferences, the leader Manfred Pagel will retire by the end of July 2023 and will hand over to Georgia and Holger Mix.

[photo_footer] Photo:  Stefan Petersen, WDL [/photo_footer] 

During this conference, the new leaders were presented and prayed for.