About · Open Church in Herten
About · Open Church in HertenThe door is the whole point.
A church in Herten that holds its evenings in English, sings in five languages, and was built by people who arrived in the Ruhr area from somewhere else — and needed a room that was already open.
Open Church
Why an English church in Herten?
Everywhere else in the Vest
Sunday morning
In German — while you are on a shift, on a train, or asleep after one.
Sophienstraße 3
Tue & Wed, 19:00
In English, with four more languages in the chairs next to you.
Because there was not one. The Vest Recklinghausen has churches on almost every corner and they are all held in German, on a Sunday morning. For the many people here who work in English, think in Spanish, pray in French or grew up in Dutch, that is a closed door with a friendly sign on it.
Testimony Arena opened the other kind of door: English as the working language of the room, four more languages spoken beside you, and the meetings moved to weekday evenings so that shift work and commuting stop being a reason to stay home.
everyone. we do mean everyone.
Who is behind it
Two names you can actually reach.
- Pastor Patrick Nnadi
- Founder · Testimony Arena Church Worldwide
- The church was founded under his leadership and still carries his teaching on a Tuesday and a Wednesday.
- Patience Kozitzki
- First contact for visitors
- If you write through the form, call the number or send a WhatsApp, this is who answers. A real person, not an inbox.
- +49 172 4376870p.odimson@web.de
No staff portraits on this page on purpose. You meet both of them in the room, on a Tuesday or a Wednesday, and that is the only introduction that counts.
What we hold to
Four things, and the first one is the door.
The door comes first
Open Church is the one rule that shapes everything else: multicultural, multi-generational, and open to whoever walks in. Belief is not the ticket you show at the entrance.
One Bible, read out loud
Tuesday exists because we think Scripture survives being questioned. We read it together, in plain English, and we do not skip the uncomfortable parts.
Prayer is offered, never applied
We are a pentecostal church and we pray for people — with their permission, at their pace, and never as a performance in front of a room.
A testimony is the proof
We do not argue people into faith. We show what happened to us. That is the whole meaning of the name above the door.
Four sentences instead of a doctrinal statement. Every one of them can be argued with out loud on a Tuesday — that is largely what the evening is for.
The name
A heart drawn in one line, with one flame in it.
The mark above the door is a single unbroken band that opens on one side and never quite closes — and a flame that does not go out. An arena is where something is witnessed in public. A testimony is what you have left when the evening is over. That is the whole brief for this church, and it is why there are two pictures of the same room on the front page.
Registered as
Testimony Arena gUG (haftungsbeschränkt)
Where
Sophienstraße 3, 45699 Herten
Region served
Herten · Recklinghausen · Ruhr area
Full legal details are on the Impressum page.
Still reading
Then you have already done the hard part.
Everyone who is in that room on a Tuesday read a page like this one first, decided it sounded unlikely, and came anyway. Send one message and we will take it from there.
What happens next
- 01You send one messageTwo fields and a sentence. No account, no newsletter.
- 02A person answers — not an inboxPatience Kozitzki replies herself, usually the same day.
- 03Somebody meets you at the doorOnly if you want it. Otherwise you just walk in.