Service at the beginning of the academic year in Friedensau

On Saturday, October 14, 2023, a worship service was held in Friedensau Chapel to mark the opening of the 2023/24 academic year at Friedensau Adventist University. First-year students were welcomed to the Friedensau Adventist congregation and graduates were bidden farewell. The sermon was held by the rector of the university, Prof. Roland Fischer, on the topic "Knowledge and Wisdom". In it, he referred to Acts 18 and the biography of Apollos, for whom his high education was not an end in itself, but which he used for his fellow men, for society and for the communities. The translation was done by Pastor Stefan Burton-Schnüll.

37 new students chose to study at Friedensau: in the Bachelor of Theology, in the English-language Master of Pastoral Ministry and Theological Studies, in the Master of Counseling (marriage, family and life counseling), in the Master of Music Therapy and in the Master of Development Studies (full-time, part-time or online). The new students join us from Germany and 12 other countries. Just under half are international students from Burundi, Ghana, Israel, Kenya, Congo, Croatia, Mexico, Myanmar, Niger, Austria, Slovakia, Uganda.

At the same time, a group of ten participants of the "1Year4Jesus" volunteer program of the Advent Youth began their training in Friedensau.

The "Trio Kontur" from Essen provided the musical framework for the festive service. The worship part was accompanied by the worship band with Matej Lukic, Stefan Burton-Schnüll, Ali Akkouch, Lisa-Marie Dillner, Itje Zepnik, Damir Mitrov and Sebastian Kuhle. The "Verleih uns Frieden" by Mendelssohn Bartholdy was sung by the Friedensau University Choir, and at the end by the duo Itje Zepnik and Jonathan Rodney, with Sebastian Kuhle at the piano.

The service can be watched on Youtube (in English): https://youtube.com/live/tfnuf7R4D9Y?feature=share - GoDi EN

On Saturday afternoon, a concert for friends of chamber music was held in the chapel. Works of different composers were performed – from Johann Sebastian Bach, Franz Schubert, Zoltán Kodály, Charlie Chaplin to Gideon Klein. The "Trio Kontur" from Essen played. Behind the name "Trio Kontur" stand Caroline Frey (violin), Ainis Kasperavicius (viola) and Mathieu Jocqué (cello), three musicians from three different European countries who dedicate themselves to chamber music as a string trio. The concert was very well attended and delighted the audience (Text: Andrea Cramer | Translation: deepL | all Photos: FAU | Robert Antohi).