August Broda

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August Broda (* August 8, 1867 in Groß Schiemanen near Ortelsburg ; † August 14, 1932 in Gelsenkirchen ) was a Baptist clergyman who, in addition to his long service in the Gelsenkirchen Baptist congregation (today: Evangelical Free Church Congregation on the Blumendelle), was also a church founder became known in the northern Ruhr area . In addition, Broda worked in various governing bodies of his free church , including the supervisory body of the theological seminar Hamburg-Horn (today: Wustermark-Elstal ).

Life

August Broda came from a Masurian family. After the early death of the father, the mother moved with the ten-year-old August and his older brother to Westphalia, probably in the hope of finding a livelihood in the economically up-and-coming Ruhr area. After primary school , August Broda began an apprenticeship as a miner at the Zollverein colliery in Essen-Katernberg at the age of fourteen , which he also completed after a three-year apprenticeship. With the proclamation of the Bochum Baptist preacher Röth in 1886, Broda made the decision for the Christian faith. On February 20, 1887, he was baptized in Bochum , but a short time later he joined the Gelsenkirchen Baptist congregation, which at that time still had the status of a subsidiary congregation. The community leaders recognized Broda's talents and recommended him to study theology at the Baptist seminary in Hamburg . When he started his studies, the seminar classes still took place in the rooms of the old Baptist chapel on Böhmkenstrasse. A donation from the US millionaire John Rockefeller made it possible to start a new seminar building in the Hamburg district of Horn , which was inaugurated at the beginning of the winter semester of 1888. Broda completed his ministerial training there in 1893.

In the same year his home church, which had meanwhile become independent, appointed him as the first pastor in its young history. A year earlier, the congregation had erected its first church building with 400 seats and adjoining apartments for the castellan and the pastor. The effect of Broda's evangelistic preaching made it necessary to build a new church with 1,000 seats just seven years later. But the congregation did not only grow in Gelsenkirchen-Schalke ; branch congregations and so-called Sunday schools were also founded in other Gelsenkirchen districts and in the surrounding cities . In total , Broda baptized 1,663 people in the 36 years of his tenure.

In addition to preaching and pastoral care , August Broda also devoted himself to social diaconal work. It was particularly important to him to raise the level of education of Masurian immigrants, to whom he felt connected because of his origin, and to provide comprehensive assistance with their integration. Broda is also a co-initiator of the Evangelical Free Church Diakoniewerk Pilgerheim Weltersbach in Leichlingen (Rhineland) .

For many years Broda was also active in the governing bodies of the German Baptist Union and the Baptist Association of Westphalia (today the state association of Evangelical Free Churches in Westphalia ). Because of his formative personality, he was also jokingly called the [Baptist] bishop of Rhineland-Westphalia within his free church .

August Broda retired in 1929. He died three years later and was buried on August 17, 1932 in the Gelsenkirchen Baptist Cemetery , the grounds of which go back to him. 2000 people were present at the funeral ceremony. The memorial stone of the honorary grave originally bore the inscription: God is not unjust, that he should forget your work and the work of love that you showed in his name, since you served the saints. (Hebrews 6:10). Today the inscription can be found here: 1893 - 1929. I want to take the chalice of salvation and preach the Lord's name. Psalm 116:13 .

August Broda was in his first marriage to Hedwig Broda, b. Schröder married. This marriage resulted in seven children, the oldest of whom died in childhood. A few years after the death of his wife Hedwig (1926), he married mma Miermeister, the long-time parish sister of his parish.

Written estate

In the archive of the Evangelical Free Church Community Gelsenkirchen is u. a. a collection of sermons with around 600 sermons, wedding and funeral speeches that August Broda gave during his service. There is also Broda's detailed creed , which he probably wrote on the occasion of his ordination as a Baptist preacher.

literature

  • Evangelical Free Church Community Gelsenkirchen (Ed.): Your loyalty calls us. Preacher August Broda for memorial , Gelsenkirchen 1957 (with essays by Hans Luckey , Theodor Winter and Willy Spornitz, among others )
  • Evangelical Free Church Gelsenkirchen (ed.): Festschrift for the centenary of the Erlöserkirche Gelsenkirchen , Gelsenkirchen 1991

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Evangelical Free Church Community Gelsenkirchen (ed.): Festschrift zur Hundertjahrfeier , Gelsenkirchen 1991, p. 11.
  2. a b Evangelical Free Church Community Gelsenkirchen (ed.): Festschrift zur Hundertjahrfeier , Gelsenkirchen 1991, p. 15.
  3. Broda's short biography on the website of the Evangelical Free Church Community in Marl ( memento of December 29, 2015 in the Internet Archive ); accessed on January 20, 2009.
  4. Evangelical Free Church Community Gelsenkirchen (Ed.): Your loyalty calls us. Preacher August Broda in memory , Gelsenkirchen 1957, p. 4.
  5. Evangelical Free Church Community Gelsenkirchen (Ed.): Your loyalty calls us. Preacher August Broda on memorial , Gelsenkirchen 1957, p. 78.
  6. Willy Spornitz: Lines on his picture , in: Your loyalty calls us. Preacher Broda for Memory , Gelsenkirchen 1957, p. 41.
  7. This creed is printed in the commemorative publication Your Faithful Call Us! , P. 63ff.