Our Past Life
Helmut was born in 1959 in Bamberg, Bavaria (Germany). He grew up as a very convinced Catholic. He studied public law and got a job as a "lifetime" official in 1983. He supervised the schools in the Bamberg County and led a museum for historical farming.
The Lord led him to understand His gospel and to believe in Him and His finished work in 1981.
Angelika, born in 1964, also grew up as a Catholic girl and wanted to become a nun. She studied Roman Catholic theology until she met Helmut in 1982 and has become a believer three years later. In 1986, Helmut and Angelika married.
From this time on the Lord used us as coworkers to build two non-denominational Christian churches in Forchheim and in Bamberg. Here in Bamberg I was one of the elders and one of the preachers and teachers.
As long as we are believers, it was our heart's desire to tell the gospel to people who never understood it. After four and a half years it was obvious to us that the best way to "invest" our short lives was to go as a missionary to those people groups which never had the chance to hear and un-derstand the gospel (Romans 10:11-14).
Leaving the Known ...
In January 1997, we decided that the time had come to make the final step out of our "normal" comfortable life into the "full-time" service for our Lord and Redeemer. As a first step, I canceled my secure and good paying "lifetime" job to the end of the year 1997. We joined a two and a half year missions and linguistic training course with New Tribes Missions.
People in Bamberg could not understand our decision to leave an honored position a good future career. Even the local newspaper published a half-page report about us.
... to Start the Unknown
After graduating in May 2000 we will spend a few months in our small home church. We plan to leave Germany for Papua (former Irian Jaya) in January 2001. In this part of Indonesia, there are a few hundred different people groups with totally different languages — and many, many of them have never heard the gospel in their mother language. Several tribes recently begged for Christians who are willing to live with them and explain the entire biblical message to them.
Our home assembly with its 40 believers will send us to one of these tribes in the swampy lowlands of Papua. We will work and live there, praying that there will be a time when people of this tribe will worship our Savior-God the first time in history.
Another challenging task could be to teach, train and help young tribal believers and churches to proclaim the gospel message in unreached neighbor tribes.
Helping to Multiply
We pray that there will be an indigenous church of tribal believers which will be able to function as a missions-oriented church by themselves.
In the New Testament we see the goals for the first missionaries: They wanted to see people get saved and to teach them "all the counsel of God" (Acts 20:27). They should be able to do the missionary work in their region by themselves. Afterwards, the "missionaries" left the new churches and were just accessible to give advice, to counsel, to encourage or to correct — but from "outside."We believe that this is the biblical way of "multiplication" instead of "addition": To make "disciples" who are able to make disciples who are able to make disciples... (Mt. 28:19ff., 2 Tim 2:2).
We would be very glad and encouraged if you would like to pray for us and for the task our gracious and wonderful LORD wants to fulfill with us as tools in His hands.
How to Contact Us Current Address YMMP, Box 1057 Pontianak
Kal-Bar 78010 Indonesia
Tel: **62-812-561-2717Home Address Gaustadter Hauptstrasse 24
D - 96049 Bamberg, GermanyEmail (all the time!) Helmut_Mehringer@gmx.net
Geli_Mehringer@gmx.netSponsor Address New Tribes Missions
1000 East First Street
Sanford, FL 32771
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