Band of brothers

Wiesbaden is in Hessen, Germany. With the Nazis completely defeated at the end of World War II, it found itself in the American occupied zone. One kind of victory had been won, but God saw that there was more work to be done in Europe, and he called some men from the American military to be involved.

Advent Sunday 1947 found the congregation of Wiesbaden Baptist Chapel preparing for a pre-Christmas meeting with the Sunday School children. The church was about 50 years old, but now they were meeting in a hall in a back-yard. Following the war there were still terrible food shortages and starvation, and unbeknown to them the poorly-dressed people were about to face one of the most dreadful winters on record.

Amid the congregation candles were shining and there were happy faces of children who recited long poems, eagerly learned by heart and written by their Sunday School teacher, Kurt Henneman. There was a little play performed and the children were wondering if there would be any presents despite all the poverty around. There were a few small things organised by the loving, but needy, members of the church.

Then, what a surprise. Suddenly the hall-doors opened and two or three American servicemen walked in with a huge package filled with bags of candies for all the youngsters. The children were overjoyed!

Hearts of a generation

But God had more than candies in mind for the children of Wiesbaden. Among the American GIs were two brothers attached to the US Air Force, Hermann and Herbert Stout. It was Hermann, then just 20 years old, who for the next two decades, with the help of his brother, would play a major role in Baptist mission work, first in Wiesbaden, then in Western Germany, and finally in several of the countries of post-war Europe.

In 1947, as a rule, the Allies could think of little but the unbelievable crimes which had been committed by the Nazis in the name of the German people. But a vision filled the hearts of the Stout brothers. They saw the spiritual need of the rising German generation. These young girls and boys knew very little about the central biblical truth that Jesus reconciles God and man if we only believe. The previous years had seen their hearts fed with human philosophy, criticism and Nazi ideology. (All human schemes must fall. Nazism ended in a catastrophe in 1945. Communism in Eastern Europe collapsed in 1989.) The empty hearts of young Germans had to be filled again with the everlasting truth of Christ Jesus.

Buses and Billy

So military buses were organised to bring Wiesbaden children to what was originally an old carpet-shop. There, on Sunday mornings, using translation, the gospel was taught and songs like 'Jesus loves me this I know' and 'I will make you fishers of men' were sung. The GI's Sunday School soon grew from 50 to 250 and finally around 500 girls and boys voluntarily came to listen and join in. On Saturday evenings a bus with US soldiers and German teenagers would go into Frankfurt. There they attended English-speaking evangelistic rallies. During that time a very young Billy Graham preached there to a big crowd. In 1948/49 many of the US servicemen were called home and these particular Christian activities ended. But many of those Germans touched at different levels by God's Word joined German churches and became active in outreach for Christ.

Vision & dilemma

When the US forces in Europe were reduced, Herbert Stout (in 1948) and Hermann Stout (in 1949) returned to America to study. When they left university they had become Bachelors of Arts and of Science respectively. However, their concern for Germany did not go away. They felt the call to go back not as soldiers but as missionaries. Being Southern Baptists they sought help and information from the Southern Baptist Mission Board. But although the Board affirmed both young men for the Lord's work, they got no opportunity to return to Germany. The Board wanted them to serve as pastors in America.

What should they do? How could their call and the direction of the Board be reconciled? In this situation of extreme uncertainty Hermann Stout felt that the Lord's answer came from Ezekiel 3.5,6: 'You are not being sent to a people of obscure speech and difficult language...' The Stouts turned to some US churches and explained their idea for a German evangelistic endeavour based first of all on seeking out Americans stationed or working in Germany.

Having gained support, Hermann was the first of the brothers to leave the US for Wiesbaden again.

It was now the mid-1950s and he had a vision not just for Germany but to see the work spread across Europe. When he arrived Hermann turned immediately to Pastor Gideon Dreisbach of the Wiesbaden Baptist Church. Gideon spoke English well. A list of Americans who had kept contact with the German Baptists in Wiesbaden formed a basis for the initiation of the work with an English language meeting. Just as the apostle Paul started his mission work abroad by seeking out his fellow Jews so Hermann Stout began to seek out his fellow Americans. Now married, along with his wife, he looked for 'his people' of whatever race or rank.

First meetings

The first services were held in a not very pleasant hotel dining room in Wiesbaden where the US Air Force had its headquarters, with many employees and accompanying family members. Hermann's intentions were two-fold. He wanted US personnel living far from home to find a new home as part of a congregation with Christ at the centre. He also wanted to call the German people to come to the Lord and show them the difference between the formal state churches under centralised, distant leadership, and churches (like those of the Baptists) where the local church is a family, you become a member voluntarily and take responsibility for Christ's church together under the guidance of Scripture.

As the work proceeded the Wiesbaden people received surprising information. A similar work was going on in the near-by city of Frankfurt. That church regarded itself as being an overseas congregation of their US home church in Northside Missouri. But then an amazing thing happened. Herbert Stout, who up until this time was still pastoring in Texas, was called to be the pastor of this church in Frankfurt! In the mean-time Hermann became pastor of the new Immanuel Baptist Church in Wiesbaden, where the Germans and the Americans were working side by side.

Expanding work

The brothers could not help but travel around Germany, preaching, evangelising and looking for 'lost sheep' at different places where US military personnel and other English-speaking people earned their living. Many of these places saw new churches formed which began to finance themselves and later saw support from the Southern Baptists.

Many times the brothers got the same call as the apostle Paul did 2,000 years ago: 'Come over and help us!' (Acts 16.9). Assistance was needed not only in Germany, but also in other countries like France and Spain.

Not everything was easy. There were many difficulties along the way. But full of thankfulness to God, the Stouts left their field in the Spring of 1963 and returned to the United States. Their vision of working for the gospel in Germany and beyond had come to fruition. The new churches grew in numbers, now with new pastors and with the Southern Baptist Mission Board behind them. Back in the US the Stouts continued their education and taught in schools and preached in churches in Texas and Oklahoma.

In July 2001 Hermann died of cancer, but not before being present in Wiesbaden to celebrate with a re-enactment of the 50th anniversary when the American soldiers first brought the package of candies to the poor children at the Advent service back in 1947. His brother is still living in Arkensaw.

How two American GIs shared the gospel in post-war Europe

Hearts of a generation

Buses and Billy

Vision & dilemma

First meetings

Expanding work

Wolfgang Fischer, Wiesbaden

Main Articles

Other articles