We are growing, which is seen by the expansion of our network, such as the further development of partnerships with churches here in Germany in order to help them plant new churches by sending potential leaders through Aquila Theological Institute (ATI) & supporting them in their efforts to plant.
We are clearer on what these relationships look like and are in the process of defining our theological standing on critical matters.

An underestimated aspect of a network is the constant need for good communication. Bianca Zuniga, our newly appointed General Administrator, has served behind the scenes to help develop a more robust infrastructure for this as well as our bookkeeping. In many ways, she has helped us move from being a group of friends with a vision and balancing plates, to a small organization with more clearly defined objectives and how to go about things as we build. She has also been a great contributor to developing some of the Learning Outcomes for Aquila Theological Institute and is increasingly involved in her local church (International Baptist Church Bonn, which Aquila Initiative was highly involved in planting).

As we have grown, it’s become increasingly necessary to have a manager who can keep us focused and on track with all the different elements that make up Aquila Initiative.

In October we decided to offer Nick von Brandenstein a part-time job serving as our General Manager. Although he only started last November, we are already seeing progress through his strategic oversight. Nick continues to serve as an elder at International Baptist Church Bonn and is also working part-time in his own business together with Zack Carlens. An added bonus is that we are able to launch Aquila Theology Institute (ATI) without the need of it’s own General Manager, as this role can be filled by Nick until future growth allows for that addition.

This has been good progress because more time can be dedicated to the efforts of Aquila Initiative.

We started our soft-launch of ATI early in 2021 with 3 apprentices.

During this process we have completed the majority of our 19 Learning Outcomes (classes) and offered 5 Seminars during the year:

1. Apprentice Orientation

2. Cornerstone

3. Spiritual Disciplines

4. Preaching

5. Restoration – the goal of church discipline.

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This looks to have been a great support to our local church partners as we see good fruit in their congregations. For example, almost all the attendees of the preaching seminars prepared and preached at least one sermon in their church.

This is also a good indicator of our growing network as Tim Faulkner who is the General Secretary of the International Baptist Churches (IBC), gave the Spiritual Disciplines seminar and continues to support the efforts of Aquila Initiative. We were also very grateful to have Pastors Paul Martin (Senior Pastor from Laramie Valley Chapel in Wyoming), John Dirkse (Senior Pastor at Redeemer Church in Illinois) and Carsten Lotz (Pastor from ICF Frankfurt) speak at our Restoration Conference.

November 2021, we joined Amazon Smile, allowing us to receive donations as our network makes purchases via Amazon, an easy way that our friends can help to support Aquila Initiative financially. This also serves to increase awareness to our growing network.