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EDEN — For many years, the Rev. Harry Smith, former pastor of First Baptist Church in Eden, wanted to be an interim pastor in an English-speaking church in Europe.

He and his wife, Joy, have traveled quite a bit in Europe and Harry has been a guest speaker at several churches in Germany, England and Kiev, Ukraine.

While serving his most recent pastorate at Comer’s Chapel in Madison, Smith said, “The Lord led me to resign my pastorate. I knew He had something for me to do in mission work but didn’t know what it was.”

A couple of months after his resignation, he was asked to be the interim pastor at the International Baptist Church of Dusseldorf, Germany. The couple served until last March.

“It was a surprise,” Smith said.

The Smiths were impressed with the international flavor of the church with more than 30 nations represented. Most members spoke English as a second language. The denominations were as varied as the nationalities — at least 10 or more, from Pentecostal to Catholic, were represented.

“Joy and I grew a lot just being in contact with such a diversity of people with their different backgrounds in theology, culture and world views,” Smith said.

“Every nationality is different. (With) Germans, Americans and English, there are little nuances in personalities and their ways of doing things.

“I expected it but it still surprised me,” Smith said.

Average attendance was about 200 for the Sunday service, the only churchwide activity. Many people lived an hour or more away.

Joy was co-leader of one of three weekly women’s Bible studies.

About 20 couples attended a marriage retreat the Smiths conducted one weekend. It was a first for the congregation.

“That was the most well-received thing we did,” Harry Smith said. “It was very successful.”

Once a week, Smith told stories to children in the church preschool.

One thing he found different was visiting the sick.

“Over there, apparently the pastor doesn’t visit people in the hospital,” Smith said. “When I went to visit people in the hospital, they were amazed.”

Most members were under age 40 and had small children. The active teens numbered about 15. About 30 percent of the congregation was American.

The Smiths held a Christmas Eve candlelight service, another first for the church. And it was well-attended, considering 8 inches of snow had fallen since that morning.

When singing Silent Night, they sang two verses in English and two verses in German.

“I thought I had died and gone to heaven right there,” Smith said. At the end of the service, they sang “Joy to the World,” raising their candles on the last verse.

A church family hosted the Smiths at their traditional Christmas Eve meal. Lighted candles glowed on a live Christmas tree as the host read the Christmas story in German.

“It was an unbelievable experience,” Smith said. They had breakfast and then lunch with two other families on Christmas Day. It was the first time the Smiths had been away from their family at Christmas.

“We really missed our family but it was wonderful to experience a German Christmas,” Smith said.

The Smiths received no pay for their work, but lived in apartments provided by the church, which also furnished a rental car.

Although they made one overnight trip to Switzerland, the Smiths limited most of their travels to short drives they could make in a day.

Most Germans speak at least a little English, so “if we were ever lost or something, we looked for the youngest person we could find because English is mandatory in the German schools.”

Eden residents visited the couple: J.D. and Alice Brown; Ronnie and Martha Webster and their granddaughter Molly Southard of Eden.

A relaxed, worshipful atmosphere prevailed in the church, making it easy for Smith to be less formal.

“It was a wonderful church to be in” Smith said.

“Their level of commitment to the Lord was very strong. ... We were pleasantly surprised by the strong commitment to the Lord by the average church member.”

Reidsville native Ann Fish has lived in Eden since 1979. Contact her at annsomersfish@yahoo.com.