MovementPlus

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The MovementPlus (Movement plus) is a Protestant free church with around 5,000 members in 33 local churches in German-speaking Switzerland . It is the second largest Pentecostal free church in Switzerland, networks local youth work and congregations across Switzerland, publishes a bi-monthly exercise magazine online and carries out joint missionary work. The MovementPlus belongs to the Association of Evangelical Free Churches and Congregations in Switzerland .

The founding trio consisted of clergy from the Lutheran , Reformed and Methodist churches. The MovementPlus sees itself as part of Protestantism and as an Anabaptist and Pentecostal Free Church with roots in the sanctification movement .

history

This Pentecostal free church was created in 1927 through lectures and Bible weeks by the retired South German pastor Christoph Drollinger on Plötschweid above Riggisberg, who worked in Switzerland from the Bernese Oberland from 1919 . Drollinger was born on October 31, 1861, the son of a Leipzig master baker, he studied theology in Leipzig (Greifswald), Rostock, Halle and Tübingen; and he died in 1943. The trigger was an evangelistic week a small group of Salvation Army in Rüti bei Riggisberg 1927. From the charismatic embossed conferences created a network of small house churches, the then exchange meetings were called that in 1933 the community for early Christianity merged. Due to its apostolic character, the movement was organized centrally.

In 1937, a center of the new movement was established on the Wüthrich family's Hasli farm above Signau , which was caused by the revival movement in the Methodist Church in Signau: In 1936, the Bernese pharmacist's assistant Johann Widmer joined the new group. As a lay preacher of the Methodist Church, he held services in his denomination based on the model of the Plötschweid events. After waiting for a while, the Methodist district leadership was no longer at ease and so they split up. This was the reason for the formation of their own congregation in Signau at the end of 1937. In addition to Drollinger and Widmer, the founding trio of the new denomination was also the Reformed pastor Robert Willenegger. The first meeting in Hasli took place on October 6, 1937, and was attended by around 20 people, mostly Methodists.

In 1946, through a Danish juggler from the Knie Circus , the GfU came into contact with the Apostolsk Church in Denmark , which was established from 1909 through the tent mission and had a connection with the revival in Wales . Based on their example, the apostolic offices of apostle, teacher and prophet emerged in the GfU congregations. In 1947 the office of elder in the local congregations was added, which was reserved for men. The central office of the president has existed since 1959. The first president was Robert Willenegger. In 1962 the GfU communities were divided into four administrative areas. This order was valid until 2007.

From 1961 to 1973, after a first meeting on March 23, 1959 in Zurich, there was a fixed unity conference with the Swiss Pentecostal Mission SPM and the Free Christian Congregations FCG, whereby the FCG has been integrated into the SPM since 1994. The differences to the SPM are that the GfU maintain a close relationship with the apostolic movement and use prophetic gifts intensively.

The magazine Wort und Geist has been published with the SPM since 1969 . In 1970 the Gfu leaders decided to establish a deeper working group with the SPM, but not a merger. The three Pentecostal Free Church Associations founded the Bund Pfingstlicher Free Churches BPF on the Rütliwiese in 1973 as a loose umbrella organization.

From 1964 a joint Bible school was run in Gunten and Emmetten together with the Swiss Pentecostal Mission . It existed until 1998. The extra-occupational training for leaders was reorganized. In 2002 the InstitutPlus was founded, which offers courses that last one, two or four years.

Structure of the MovementPlus (church for early Christianity until 2001) with EAER
year 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Members approx. nn nn 1,100 2'100 3,100 4,000 4,500 4,400
Worship places 10 36 60 78 63 38 44 44
Parishes 3 9 18th 24 24 30th 32 36

Missionaries from the circles of the GfU have been and are being sent in all directions, with a focus on Cameroon, Peru and Asia. From 1975 GfU missionaries were also active in Upper Volta (today Burkina Faso ). The Eglise Apostolique sister church there grew from 185 to 5,000 members from 1975 to 1987 with 27 congregations and 26 outstations. In Cameroon, the Apostolic Church Cameroon had 40,000 to 60,000 members in around 600 congregations and meeting places. In 2017, the Maranata celebrated its 50th anniversary in Peru with 15,000 members.

In 1991 the GfU Association had drawn up a new constitution and new statutes. From then on, an eight-member council acted as the board of directors, replacing the previous district administrator with over forty full-time preachers.

Around ten other communities from the French-speaking part of Switzerland joined the movement. They call themselves Eglise Apostolique Evangélique Romandie EAER . In 1999 the municipalities of French-speaking Switzerland became legally independent for reasons of administrative simplification. EAER and GfU / BP jointly support the MissionPlus mission organization .

In 2000 the GfU-Verband left the umbrella organization BPF after a merger with the Swiss Whitsun Mission was no longer desired as a possible goal due to the generation change in the leadership. Despite similarities in theological core issues, the cultural differences were recognized.

Since 2001, the GfU has called itself MovementPlus in German-speaking Switzerland . Your central secretariat is in Thun .

At the leaders' conference in 2002 it was decided that from now on the leadership service in the communities of the MovementPlus is also open to women. The individual communities have the freedom to determine how women work. A congregation is not forced by the federal government to have women preach or to have a quota for women on the board. In 2004, the first woman was ordained in the MovementPlus .

In 2003 youth work was reorganized within the association and is called YouthPlus .

Since 2007 there has been a change in the way the BP communities work together. Instead of community areas with up to ten communities, there is now a more binding association of nearby communities for mutual support. For example, the communities in Dietikon , Zurich and Horgen are more closely connected or Basel with Reinach BL , Liestal and Laufen BL etc.

The communities are organized as independent associations. In 2010 they spent around 1,700 francs per member (excluding the mission and central association). Quite a few of the BP communities emerged from house groups from other BP communities. A large BP community is the Arche Center in Seen (Winterthur) with around 600 members.

theology

As a Protestant Free Church, the MovementPlus is part of the broad and diverse stream of Reformation churches. The Free Church receives its special character from its historically determined roots in the Pentecostal Movement , the Sanctification Movement and the Apostolic Movement.

  • From the sanctification movement she took over the conviction that every believer has to make a personal faith decision ( conversion ), which is then also expressed in a changed lifestyle ( sanctification ) that lasts for a lifetime.
  • The apostolic churches, which are connected in their own network at European and worldwide and hold regular joint conferences, emphasize the importance of the fivefold ministry based on Eph 4.11  LUT : apostles , prophets , evangelists , pastors and teachers . The MovementPlus never installed apostles or prophets in an official office , but always recognized special talent for service. In the practical life of the movement and the local churches, the apostolic vision plays a subordinate role.

The theology of the MovementPlus wants to be a church theology consciously. In addition, in the concrete form, relationship comes before orthodoxy and service comes before office. The kingdom of God with its values ​​such as love, acceptance and reconciliation should be realized in the churches and lived by the members in their environment.

Management structure

The MovementPlus is organized under association law and entered in the Swiss commercial register. The more than 30 member churches, all of which are also organized as associations, send delegates according to their size to the annual general meeting of the Verein BewegungsPlus , where u. a. the executive board is also elected. Toni Nyffenegger was President until 2017, Thomas Eggenberg since 2018.

literature

  • Andreas Rossel (ed.): Memories of the future. 80 years in motion. The book for the 80th birthday of the MovementPlus. Haller, Bern 2007, ISBN 978-3-85570-137-7 .
  • Walter J. Hollenweger: Enthusiastic Christianity. The Pentecostal Movement, Past and Present . Theological Verlag Brockhaus, Wuppertal and Zwingli-Verlag, Zurich 1969.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Andreas Rossel (ed.): Memories of the future. 80 years in motion. The book for the 80th birthday of the MovementPlus. Haller, Bern 2007, ISBN 978-3-85570-137-7 , p. 187.
  2. ↑ http://www.relinfo.ch/gfu/info.html (accessed on: April 30, 2012).
  3. ↑ Andreas Rossel (ed.): Memories of the future. 80 years in motion. The book for the 80th birthday of the MovementPlus. Haller, Bern 2007, ISBN 978-3-85570-137-7 , p. 18.
  4. ↑ Andreas Rossel (ed.): Memories of the future. 80 years in motion. The book for the 80th birthday of the MovementPlus. Haller, Bern 2007, ISBN 978-3-85570-137-7 , p. 21.
  5. ↑ The Beginnings (1927–1958) , accessed on December 3, 2017.
  6. ↑ Jakob Zopfi: ... on all meat. History and mission of the Pentecostal movement . Dynamis, Kreuzlingen 1985, ISBN 3-85645-046-7 , p. 47.
  7. ↑ Andreas Rossel (ed.): Memories of the future. 80 years in motion. The book for the 80th birthday of the MovementPlus. Haller, Bern 2007, ISBN 978-3-85570-137-7 , pp. 24, 31 36.
  8. ↑ http://www.relinfo.ch/gfu/info.html (accessed on: April 30, 2012).
  9. ↑ Andreas Rossel (ed.): Memories of the future. 80 years in motion. The book for the 80th birthday of the MovementPlus. Haller, Bern 2007, ISBN 978-3-85570-137-7 , pp. 65 and 69.
  10. ↑ Andreas Rossel (ed.): Memories of the future. 80 years in motion. The book for the 80th birthday of the MovementPlus. Haller, Bern 2007, ISBN 978-3-85570-137-7 , p. 132.
  11. ↑ http://www.relinfo.ch/gfu/info.html (accessed on: April 30, 2012).
  12. ↑ Andreas Rossel (ed.): Memories of the future. 80 years in motion. The book for the 80th birthday of the MovementPlus. Haller, Bern 2007, ISBN 978-3-85570-137-7 , p. 132.
  13. ↑ Andreas Rossel (ed.): Memories of the future. 80 years in motion. The book for the 80th birthday of the MovementPlus. Haller, Bern 2007, ISBN 978-3-85570-137-7 , pp. 130-131.
  14. ↑ Andreas Rossel (ed.): Memories of the future. 80 years in motion. The book for the 80th birthday of the MovementPlus. Haller, Bern 2007, ISBN 978-3-85570-137-7 , p. 199.
  15. ↑ http://www.bewegungplus.ch/de/portraet/zahlen-finanzen.html (accessed on: April 30, 2012).
  16. ↑ Andreas Rossel (ed.): Memories of the future. 80 years in motion. The book for the 80th birthday of the MovementPlus. Haller, Bern 2007, ISBN 978-3-85570-137-7 , pp. 115 and 156.
  17. ^ Nuestra Iglesia - Iglesia Evangélica Maranata . In: Iglesia Evangélica Maranata . ( iglesiaevangelicamaranata.org [accessed April 24, 2017]). Nuestra Iglesia - Iglesia Evangélica Maranata ( Memento of the original from April 24, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.iglesiaevangelicamaranata.org
  18. ↑ Andreas Rossel (ed.): Memories of the future. 80 years in motion. The book for the 80th birthday of the MovementPlus. Haller, Bern 2007, ISBN 978-3-85570-137-7 , p. 115.
  19. ↑ Andreas Rossel (ed.): Memories of the future. 80 years in motion. The book for the 80th birthday of the MovementPlus. Haller, Bern 2007, ISBN 978-3-85570-137-7 , p. 132.
  20. ↑ Andreas Rossel (ed.): Memories of the future. 80 years in motion. The book for the 80th birthday of the MovementPlus. Haller, Bern 2007, ISBN 978-3-85570-137-7 , pp. 132-133.
  21. ↑ Andreas Rossel (ed.): Memories of the future. 80 years in motion. The book for the 80th birthday of the MovementPlus. Haller, Bern 2007, ISBN 978-3-85570-137-7 , p. 195.
  22. ↑ Andreas Rossel (ed.): Memories of the future. 80 years in motion. The book for the 80th birthday of the MovementPlus. Haller, Bern 2007, ISBN 978-3-85570-137-7 , pp. 128–129 and 139.
  23. ↑ Andreas Rossel (ed.): Memories of the future. 80 years in motion. The book for the 80th birthday of the MovementPlus. Haller, Bern 2007, ISBN 978-3-85570-137-7 , p. 198.
  24. ↑ http://www.bewegungplus.ch/de/portraet/zahlen-finanzen.html (accessed on: April 30, 2012).
  25. ↑ http://www.relinfo.ch/gfu/info.html (accessed on: April 30, 2012).
  26. ↑ Andreas Rossel (ed.): Memories of the future. 80 years in motion. The book for the 80th birthday of the MovementPlus. Haller, Bern 2007, ISBN 978-3-85570-137-7 , p. 139.
  27. ↑ Andrea Vonlanthen: A bit of heaven on earth , Evangelical news agency idea, Liestal May 16, 2018, pp. 8-11