Continuing our theme of Mission and Growth in our Spring edition of the European Anglican magazine, here is an article about thriving mission work in CityKirche Vienna,

Would you be encouraged to hear your church service was like a trip to the hairdressers? 

The chaplain at CityKirche in Vienna was delighted with the comment from one of the young members of the congregation, who said she felt so uplifted by the services and told him that she loved coming to church because, “It feels like when you’ve just been to the hairdressers!” 

CityKirche in Vienna, Austria, is a thriving new German-speaking chaplaincy in the heart of the city, now part of the Diocese of Europe. And it is drawing in all ages and reaching out to those asking big questions about life. 

The church was established in 2021 by the Revd Dr Christian Hofreiter, a native Austrian, who returned to the country after spending 10 years abroad in the UK and the USA. 

Christian said: “When I moved to Vienna in 2013, the idea and excitement about church planting had been with me for many years. I had seen it happening in America and in England and there was this whole network coming out of HTB (Holy Trinity Brompton) in London, and that was in my heart.” 

While working for an organisation involved in evangelism and apologetics, Christian travelled around Austria, Switzerland and Germany. He said, “I noticed there were certain kinds of people that the churches were not connecting with.” It was his desire to reach out to this group of people in Vienna that led him into many conversations, much prayer and eventually the decision to step out and set up a new church in the city. 

“I wondered if a particular type of Church of England ‘Fresh Expression’ could be a step to building bridges with people who don’t attend church but are asking questions,” Christian said. 

After small beginnings meeting in a room in 2019, the Anglican community CityKirche was born. Christian said their aim was to establish a ‘Fresh Expression’ of church, which seeks to combine proven biblical-theological content and liturgical forms with new formats. 

“We are a newly emerging church community in Vienna for people who are curious or sceptical about the Christian faith or who long to deepen their personal faith life, but are not at home in a church,” he said. 

In 2022, the Rt Revd Dr Robert Innes, Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe, visited the church and wrote, “Vienna is truly one of the world’s great cities. And it is also a strategic location for the establishment of a new church plant and fresh expression of Anglicanism. Citykirche meets in a school just across the road from the splendid Vienna Concert House. Christian Hofreiter had the vision of a German-speaking Anglican community in Vienna that would complement the work of our existing English-speaking Christ Church, Vienna.” 

Bishop Robert said planting the new church, which involved raising considerable funds, entrepreneurial networking, and ecumenical discussions, was a courageous venture of faith by Christian and his wife Helen. And with waning confidence in the relevance of the Christian gospel for today’s generation, he said that the new church plant, at the centre of one of Europe’s major capital cities, is something to celebrate. 

With around 100 adults meeting each week in the Academic Gymnasium’s school ballroom, 

Christian said, “Attendance is noticeably up across all age groups, especially so among young adults, which is great for the youthful energy and vibe in the room.” 

He said a regular stream of first-time visitors attend each week and a good number of them return. “We make it very approachable for people not familiar with church. We try to explain things and to say some people may not believe, so that makes sure it is normalised. ” 

Once a month they hold an outreach focused service called Big Questions Sunday. Christian said attendance was growing and in January they had 155 people joining them. The service includes a musical programme and a speaker on a meaty issue, and this is followed by an open question and answer session, when people are invited to ask the speaker anything, which they can do live or online. 

One young East Asian academic and musician, who had studied at Oxford university, attended these sessions and eventually found answers to the big questions he had been struggling with. Christian said, “This young man had been exploring faith in many different churches for 12 years and he started coming to our services every Sunday and each week he had a different question for me, then on Pentecost Sunday, he told me he thought he was ready to become a Christian. Two weeks later he was baptised.” 

Christian said he was encouraged recently to see, the young man sharing CityKirche’s monthly public lecture with music event, when he would be performing with another pianist, on his Instagram page with all his Oxbridge contacts in the city. 

The monthly public lecture talks are followed up by a 90-minute free-for-all discussion evening on a Tuesday. Christian said, “These continue to be well attended, almost exclusively by young adults. Many of our young adults are grateful for these events, where they and their friends can engage openly and thoughtfully with difficult intellectual and existential questions.” 

The church has also been running an Alpha course and one young mum whose husband had attended the course, but told her husband she wasn’t interested, came along to church around Christmas. She sent Christian a message of thanks after just two visits and said, “I am so happy that I have found CityKirche... Thank you for the thoughtful conversations. You have created a wonderful place where love is tangible... I am very grateful for it and full of anticipation." 

Christian said he is looking forward to the future of Citykirche and hopes and prays it will continue to thrive and offer a place where bridges can be built with those seeking to find out more about the Christian faith.