Bienenberg training and conference center

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Bienenberg training and conference center
motto Our world needs living Christian communities, which through their presence - in deeds and words - give credible testimony to Christ.
founding 1957
Sponsorship Working Group of Mennonite Congregations , Conference of Mennonites of Switzerland and Association des Églises Évangéliques Mennonites de France
place Liestal
country Switzerland
management Lukas Amstutz
Website www.bienenberg.ch

The Bienenberg Training and Conference Center (ATB) (in French Center de formation et de rencontre Bienenberg ) has been a training center for Mennonite and Anabaptist congregations and churches in Europe since 1957 . It is located on a hill near Liestal in the canton of Basel-Landschaft in Switzerland .

The center in the historic Hotel Bienenberg consists of a training center with a theological seminar and a conference center in the main building.

history

After the Second World War, Mennonites from Germany, France and Switzerland decided to found a church Bible school for young adults in Basel. In 1950 the European Mennonite Bible School, as it was then called, moved to Arisdorf and in 1957 to the Bienenberg in the former spa hotel Bad Bienenberg, which was built as a climatic health resort with a saltwater pool in the 19th century.

The Bible School on the Bienenberg underwent numerous changes in content, study formats and degrees in the following decades. In 2017 there was a change from the actual theological seminar with a degree to the education center, which offers advice and training, especially in dialogue and conflict management , which corresponds to the Anabaptist tradition of non-violence and peace. Seminar offerings focus on theology, inspiration, compax and leadership. Since the same year, CAS training as a conflict advisor has been offered in cooperation with the University of Friborg .

training centre

Theological seminary building; student dormitory on the right

The Bienenberg training center trains students every year in several programs for work in congregation , diakonia and missions . The Bienenberg Theological Seminary is recognized by the German authorities as a training center eligible for BAföG . The study of theology can be completed with the Bachelor of Theology (basic course) and - in cooperation with the Theological-Diaconal Seminar Aarau - with the Master of Arts in Pastoral Ministries (postgraduate course). In addition, community seminars and winter courses are offered. Some courses are also offered part-time. The majority of the students come from Germany, France and Switzerland. The programs are offered in German and French . The Quest Bible School , which is also located on the Bienenberg , is primarily aimed at people under 30 years of age.

In 2009 the Institute for Conflict Transformation ComPax was opened at the training center. Employees in congregations and Christian institutions are to be trained to deal constructively with conflicts in the sense of conflict transformation through further training and advice . ComPax is managed by Frieder Boller, Madeleine Bähler and Marcus Weiand. Since 2013, the department for Anabaptist history and theology has been a further branch of the Bienenberg Education Center.

Conference center

Lounge in the hotel building
A work of art on the "path of peace"

The Bienenberg conference center is located in the main building (chestnut) . It offers rooms for seminars and meetings for up to 200 people. The hotel has 78 beds.

In the vicinity of the Bienenberg a peace path has been created, which documents the topics of sin, forgiveness, salvation and hope through works of art along the way.

Sponsorship and management

The management of the Bienenberg consists of Lukas Amstutz (German-speaking seminar leader), Denis Kennel (French-speaking seminar leader) and Philip Bühler (head of the conference center). Bernhard Ott was the German-speaking seminar leader until the summer of 2009 , then Frieder Boller until 2017.

The center is constituted as an association and is supported by several community associations from Germany, Switzerland and France that belong to the Anabaptist tradition. The sponsoring associations include:

Publications

In collaboration with Neufeld Verlag , five books have been published in Edition Bienenberg so far :

  • Martin Forster & Hanspeter Jecker (eds.): Fascination Holy Spirit. Challenges of charismatic piety . Neufeld Verlag, Schwarzenfeld, 2005. ISBN 3-937896-13-9
  • Thomas R. Yoder Neufeld: Christ is our peace. The Church and its call to defenselessness and resistance. Neufeld Verlag, Schwarzenfeld, 2007. ISBN 978-3-937896-24-3
  • Stuart Murray: Bare Faith. Christianity in a post-Christian world. Neufeld Verlag, Schwarzenfeld, 2014. ISBN 978-3-86256-750-8

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Christof Bauernfeind: It's about a culture of peace , ideaSpektrum 36, Liestal September 6, 2017, pp. 8–11
  2. ^ Mennonews: ComPax Institute for Conflict Transformation opened
  3. Jesus.ch: Bienenberg new with Institute for Conflict Transformation
  4. ^ Bienenberg.ch: History and sponsorship ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )