How a Munich art director stirs up a parish in Upper Franconia | Sunday paper
What questions are there? And are there any answers for this? That’s what it says on the home page #freebelieved. An initiative that tries to find out what the people of Gefrees think about the church as an institution. The initiator is Micha Karmann. The 60-year-old has not lived in Upper Franconia for long.
For years he lived in Munich, and he himself worked as an art director for large companies. Years of hustle and bustle, stress and a city that actually never sleeps. In search of peace and quiet, he and his wife came to the small village of Streitau near Gefrees. 280 inhabitants, so exactly the opposite of the metropolis Munich. “We’re kind of in vacation mode here all year round,” says Karmann with a laugh.
From the big city to the village
In January 2021 they moved into their little house in Streitau and continue to renovate it. But they feel “very well” and don’t regret for a second that they took the step. Karmann can work through his orders via home office, his wife is a music teacher. Michael Karmann is a doer and first had to get used to the Upper Franconian mentality.
“The Upper Franconian doesn’t talk much and likes to let things slide a bit.”
Karmann doesn’t mean that in a bad way, but that’s exactly where his doer gene comes into play. “I saw that there is a lot to do here and that there is great potential.” First he set up a portal on the web, wir-in-gefrees.de, because everyone from Gefrees could register. But since the people of Upper Franconia don’t like to write as well as talk, it has now become a larger online magazine.
External communication of the church fell asleep
Karmann presents companies on its website, there is a job exchange and it shoots small videos about Gefreeser citizens. He proudly says that over 60,000 users have watched the videos. The site itself already has over 100,000 visitors. What is also close to the heart of the Neu-Streitauer is the parish in Gefrees. He is not a member of the church himself, but finds it impressive what the church is doing, “but somehow no one notices”. The church’s external communication appears to Karmann to be pretty much asleep.
“Sure, there’s a consistent color scheme and regular newsletters, but that’s about it.”
He tried to talk to the Gefreeser pastor Andreas Gebelein and quickly found out that there was simply a lack of volunteers. “I’ve come up with a campaign for that very soon: “Church is…” This motto was printed on large posters and hung up in all sorts of public spaces. The posters hang from the church to clubhouses to shops.
Your own opinion is important
The viewers should write on the posters how they see the church, what the church is to them. The answers are completely unfiltered. Everyone can write what they want, and so the answers range from “The church is my home” to “The church is stupid and doesn’t need anyone”. The action is well received by the people of Gefrees.
“You can send me photos of the posters personally via WhatsApp and I’ll put them on the website.”
Many pictures have already been sent, and some posters have even been stolen… “I think it’s great when someone writes to me that I stole the poster because I like it.” Karmann laughs – but above all he wants to use this campaign to raise awareness of what the church is about.
“Especially in these times of war, Corona and the explosion in heating costs, I think it’s important to get rid of your thoughts and see for yourself: Hey, there’s someone who’s listening to me.”
At the end, of course, there is also an analysis.
Where is the church?
Karmann hopes that this will provide a fairly good picture of the state of the church and insights into which screws still need to be adjusted. “I still have a lot of ideas that I want to implement, but for now let’s see in which direction we have to go in order to reach people.” Karmann is full of energy, also because he attended a Sunday service in Gefrees as a non-churchgoer.
“That picked me up, the pastor really managed to get me up on Sunday morning and go to church.”
And Karmann now wants to do that with others too.