Washington, DC (BWA) --Baptists in Germany commemorated the fall of the Berlin Wall with worship services on November 8 and 9, 2009.
 
Uwe Damman, host pastor of the worship service at the Baptist Church in Berlin-Weissensee on November 8, described the destruction of the wall as "a miracle" that made freedom possible. "The Lord has done great things and we can be joyful today. He gave us freedom - even behind walls," Damman said.
 
The significance of the change brought on by the removal of the wall was not missed during  the ecumenical worship service at the Gethsemane Church in Berlin the following day. In 1989, police and military troops surrounded the church to prevent Germans from entering the building, which served as a sanctuary and place of refuge. "Armed police and military divisions tried to prevent the peaceful demonstration against the GDR regime" in 1989, the German Baptist union reported. In 1989, the song "Dona Nobis Pacem" (Grant us Peace) during a candlelight vigil "was a power that the powerful were not able to handle."
 
During the service on November 9, 2009, at the Gethsemane Church, police and troops again surrounded the building, this time to protect those worshipping inside, including government leaders and dignitaries. Regina Claas, general secretary of the Union of Free Evangelical Churches in Germany (the German Baptist union), reminded the congregation that "you are the light of the world; let it shine so that the people may see your good deeds and give honor to your father in heaven."
 
Christian Wolf, emeritus professor at the former East German Baptist seminary in Buckow who taught at the former West German seminary in Hamburg after reunification, admonished his listeners to seek peace by all means in a world that has become "at once localized and globalized."