Working group architecture and free church
The interdenominational working group Architecture and Free Churches was founded in 1986 as a joint institution of two Free Churches . This working group, in which architects and theologians with a free church background work, is primarily the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches and the Federation of Free Evangelical Congregations . Local communities of both federations willing to build are required to deal with the recommendations of this working group and to take advantage of its advisory services. A manual developed by the working group is intended to provide the municipalities with an initial orientation for their planning projects.
background
In an essay on the aesthetics of the worship space , Ulrich Arndt, member of the Architecture and Free Churches working group, wrote : “In the tradition of free church congregations - in a nutshell - the exterior should not originally mean much. Neither shapes nor formulas, neither art nor clothes were important. "
Free church congregations , especially those with a congregational character, have a history of having a split relationship with sacred buildings . On the one hand, they understand the church primarily as the “house of God built from living stones” and as a gathered community of believers. The place where the congregation gathers therefore still plays a subordinate role in large parts of this free church movement. When the congregation of Jesus gathers, the living room, the rented back room of an inn or the converted shop becomes a place of God's presence and thus i. w. S. on sacred buildings. On the other hand, despite this approach, the free church congregations felt in their early days that growing congregational work required appropriate premises. They also found that a church building increases the public acceptance of a religious community and that this opens up new missionary opportunities. The fact that there was still a critical attitude towards the sacred building is made clear by the names given to the sacred buildings in the initial phase of the free church building: assembly hall , prayer house and chapel . The term church has only been used increasingly since the 1960s .
A particular blockade of free church building in the past was, however, the strict building regulations directed against free churches. Free church houses of worship were sometimes only allowed to be built on backyard land, as was the case in Berlin, for example (cf. the Friedenskirche in Berlin-Charlottenburg ). For a long time they were not allowed to build bell towers ; individual exceptions (such as the Christ Church in Hamburg-Altona in 1915) were also controversial within the Free Church. Only after the end of the Second World War did a fundamental change become apparent.
Another peculiarity characterizes the free-church building of churches: While in the people's churches the building of a new church has been seen again and again as a means of community building, free churches tend to go the opposite way: They found communities and these then build their community center according to their needs and resources.
aims
Against this background, the working group tries on the one hand to increase the high-quality design of free church buildings and conversions and on the other hand to ensure that free church ecclesiology and architecture are combined . The manual published by the working group therefore says: In this context, we see it as necessary that a community willing to build should deal intensively with the question of understanding the Gospel, the nature and mission of the community. [...] The principles of the general priesthood that shape the free churches have given rise to a range of work structures, forms of worship, leadership structures, etc. in the congregations. Hence it seems important to define the spiritual “identity” of the church. (Handbook, p. 7).
In general, the entire construction and financial planning appears to the working group as a matter for the entire local community, which should be included in the construction project from the start (handbook, ibid.).
In the opinion of the working group, two characteristics characterize the free church "sacred space":
- Above all, it is a meeting place for the congregation and not so much a place of worship for the "isolated existence before God" and
- tendencies to align the church space with the place of the Lord's Supper (as can currently be seen in Protestant churches and the Catholic Church) cannot currently be ascertained in free church congregations.
program
The focus of the working group has been on the church building conferences since the mid-1980s on questions of free church building. They each have a special topic (for example: 2006: Light and Space ; 2003: On the meaning of color for worship space and community centers ). In addition, excursions lasting several days are offered annually , which are intended to illustrate the architectural developments in church construction using concrete examples.
Another focus is advising municipalities willing to build. With the support of the two municipal associations and their savings and credit banks, a handbook for municipalities willing to build has been developed, which can also be viewed online.
Free Church Architecture Prize
The working group has been offering a special architecture prize since 1993, which is awarded every five years by an expert jury. Winners of the free church architecture award 2003 were the Free Evangelical Congregation Erfurt (Architects: Hestermann, König, Schmidt & Partner in Erfurt) and the Evangelical Free Church Congregation (Baptists) Urbach (Architects: PIA - Prof. Löffler, Schneider, Schmeling, Leicht in Karlsruhe ). The 2010 Architecture Prize went to the renovation of the Free Evangelical Congregation Berlin-Tempelhof (architects Müntinga and Puy in Bad Arolsen) and the new building for the Baptist Congregation in Bamberg (architect Ulrich Arndt in Berlin). The prize money will benefit the communities.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Association of Evangelical Free Churches: Working groups and initiatives ( Memento of March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ); accessed on February 15, 2014
- ↑ Ulrich Arndt: "Open my eyes!" - Aesthetics of the worship room , in: Workshop worship. A workbook from the community development department (published by the community development department of the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches), Wustermark-Elstal 2013, p. 131
- ↑ Cf. 1 Petr 2.5 GNB
- ↑ Jury protocol: 3. Architecture Prize for free church building ( Memento of 24 February 2010 at the Internet Archive )
- ^ AK Architecture and Free Church: Planning and construction of community houses. ( Memento of August 21, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Retrieved February 15, 2014
- ↑ Pictures of the parish hall on the homepage of FeG Berlin-Tempelhof ; Accessed May 12, 2010
- ↑ Klaus Rösler: Article Community houses are not just functional buildings (April 16, 2010) ( Memento of March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ); Accessed May 12, 2010