In the late 1990´s there were already some Africans living in Herne mainly from West Africa, Central Africa and East Africa. In the year 2005, Pastor Manuel Gomes and his family were stationed in Herne as missionaries working with the Stadtmission in Wanne- Eickel. The African community in Herne consisted of students, refuge seekers, football players and a few who lived with their German partners. In terms of religious affiliations, the community is made up of Christians, Muslims and others who belong to various types of traditional African religions. During this period, there was also no form of religious organizations or fellowships with the African community.
Owing to the complications and the challenges of the German immigrational systems, most of them who were seeking to establish themselves here in Germany had not been granted the full resident permit to enable them to integrate into the German society. Many them who sought asylum were faced with the threat of deportation and deprived of working permits. Also, because most of them were not fluent in the German language, they lived isolated from the wider German community.
In 2007, a lady from Congo died in the hospital through a deadly disease leaving behind her 8-year-old daughter. Because she didn’t have a formalized status in Germany, there was no one to support her burial service and the arrangements with the foreign office, social departments, and doctors to ensure custody of her child became a very critical issue. Pastor Manuel was then working as part of the hospital outreach team where one of the leading members, Pastor Gerd Schilling of the Evangelical Church, supported the peaceful burial of the deceased. Subsequently, the team helped to make formal arrangements for custody for the daughter.
In December 2009, a young man from Liberia by name of Kingsley Cole also died suddenly in his room in a refugee camp. Because he didn’t have any relatives in Herne, Pastors Gomez und Schilling took upon themselves to search and contact their family members in Ghana. They also again made burial arrangements for this man. Such issues triggered the awareness and the need for the African Christian community come together and organize itself. An initiative was started to establish have a weekly fellowship each Friday at the church hall in Richard-Wagnerstr. 12, Wanne-Eickel. This premise was also secured with the support of Pastor Schilling.
The fellowship started off with a few African brothers and sisters including Lukas Contey (Sierra Leone), Patrice Kofi Brou (Ivory Coast), Elizabeth Kumuna (Angola), Solomon xxxx (Nigeria), Danielle Kürppe (Gabon), Rosemary Karikari (Ghana). Even though some of the founding members left Wanne-Eickel because of family reunions and relocation due to new jobs, some Germans including Michael Kristen, Amanda Kirsten, Horst Schülze, Irene Krause, Regina Jung, and Ann-Kathrin Dirkes joined the fellowship and helped it to grow.
Owning to the number of Europeans who joined the fellowship, the name „International Treffpunkt“ meaning Gathering of all Nations was adapted by the fellowship with the aim of helping the Africans to integrate into the German society by means teaching of the German language, providing counseling and guidance as how to live in Germany, providing translation services during appointments with the immigration office and basically helping people who were in need of diverse resources . The major concept was to let them know and live with Jesus Christ through Prayer, sharing the Word of God, fellowshipping, and breaking of bread together as one body.
In May 2014, Brother Kayode Ojo and a number of other Africans started attending church services at the Stadtmission in Wanne-Eickel. As many of them didn’t understand the German language, Pastor Manuel did simultaneous translations and as the number of Africans increased at the Stadtmission, it became increasingly difficult to manage the translations. Because of financial difficulties, the Stadtmission couldn’t deploy technical translation sets.
Together with Brother Kayode and with the support of Pastor Schilling, Pastor Manuel started Sunday church services for the African community in Wanne-Eickel at the Church Hall in the Richard-Wagnerstr. 12 and this was also supported by the Stadtmission. In the course of time, Victoria Zeppenmäuse-Kivintu (from Kenya) joined the fellowship and introduced us to Wisdom Owusu. Through Brother Kayode Ojo, Faith Osa (Nigeria), Philip Agbator (Ghana), David Adewuyi (Nigeria), Mike Babatunde Adebimpe and his wife Nike Babatunde Adebimpe (both from Nigeria) also joined the fellowship.
In August 2014, the fellowship prayed about planting a church and in God’s own time and conviction the first official Church service started on 4th October 2014. The service was well attended and shortly after we welcomed Sandy Neitzel and Johannes Berthel and his wife as members.
Since the Evangelical church were also using the hall, we couldn´t use the hall on every Sunday but rather on bi-weekly basis. Thus, we agreed to look for a regular place of worship. Through the help of the Hübner family (Frank und Rölf), we secured the Baptist church building as a formal place of worship. On 00th January 2015, we had our first service there at the Hauptstr. 127, 44652 in Herne. As at today, we still worship at this premise accessing it on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
Subsequently, the elders of the Church were identified and formally initiated. They include Faith, Sandy, Philip, Kayode, David, Mike, Wisdom and and Pastor Manuel. Brother Johannes Berthels has been devoted to the Church as an adviser, teacher and also a preacher. God did use him to help us to write the Constitution of the Church. as well as the Registration of the church at the civil court in Bochum.
The church was officially registered at the court on the 15 March 2016 with the following as the executive members; Wisdom Owusu, Sandy Neitzel, Kayode Ojo and Manuel V. Gomes.
The members of the church are mainly from Nigeria, Kenya, India, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Ghana, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, and Germany. As at 2017, the attendance of the members on Sundays ranges between 90 to 160 and most of the members live in Herne, Bochum, Herten, Marl, Recklinghausen, Dortmund, Gelsenkirchen and Essen.
The church is now officially known as Christ Evangelical International Ministry (CEIM).