Germany: Trusting God for Renewal

May 5, 2018, was a historic day for TeachBeyond in Germany. For over 60 years our school for the children of missionaries, now known as Black Forest Academy, was an integral part of our national German organization. On May 5, the school became an independent charitable organization.

TeachBeyond in Germany will now be comprised of several companies, each with a unique missional goal. These include:

• TeachBeyond Germany e.V., which will be known by its operational name, Black Forest Academy
• TeachBeyond Germany gGmbH (charitable), which will be known in English as TeachBeyond Educational Initiatives
• Janz Team GmbH, which is a for-profit business we will use to help support the TeachBeyond charities.

This is a significant change that we believe will help all our services focus more effectively on their unique goals.

TeachBeyond seeks to create organizational structures that meet local needs. In the case of Germany, we felt multiple legal entities working collaboratively would be more effective than our previous integrated approach that was characterized by divergent priorities and expectations.

In the near future, TeachBeyond Educational Initiatives may set up one or more additional charities to provide specific educational services, such as a local kindergarten.

A TeachBeyond Network will link all TeachBeyond companies in Germany. This follows logically from our desire to have all our ministries in Germany be supportive of each other while they retain their TeachBeyond core identity. Our common global mission, vision, 7-fold distinctive, and high-level shared strategies define this identity.

One of the most exciting developments in recent months is the emergence of a new partnership in Germany. The Frei Evangelische Schule (FES) located in southern Germany has agreed to work with TeachBeyond not only in Germany but also “beyond.” Given its recognized reputation as a leading provider of Christian education in Germany, and its excellent, multi-campus educational system that serves some 2,500 students, FES is uniquely positioned to help us move quickly into new opportunities that are emerging.

Our new TeachBeyond Educational Initiatives charity will be a joint project of TeachBeyond and the FES. Not only will this facilitate the development of kindergartens and schools, we believe it also will enhance our efforts to send German educators abroad and to provide teacher training, camp work, leadership training, language programming, and other educational services that are still in embryonic form.

To support this expanding array of ministries, as well as to help serve BFA, TeachBeyond Global is recruiting new international workers for all areas of service in Germany. This includes educational consultants who will be available to help our projects across the European region. We are also hoping that we can expand the TeachBeyond Network in Germany to bring leading German Christian education providers and leaders together in a kind of forum that will foster thinking and programs that will support transformational education in this country.

Many questions and uncertainties characterized the work in Germany over the last years. We believe the long restructuring process has come to a good and useful end, and our prayer is that all aspects of the work will now enjoy new energy and freedom to grow and pursue the mission of transformational education God has given to us.