German Evangelical Church Committee

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The German Evangelical Church Committee (DEKA) was a decision-making and executive body initially (from 1903) of the German Evangelical Church Conference , from 1922 of the German Evangelical Church Federation .

Emergence

The German Evangelical Church Conference, which has existed since 1852, a biennial conference of the church leaderships of the Evangelical regional churches in Germany, had initiated a number of joint projects, but was hardly able to promote the closer union of the regional churches desired by many because of its purely consultative character. In addition, it practically only worked internally, but not in public. At the suggestion of the Evangelical Confederation of the National Churches and the Prussian General Synod of 1899, Kaiser Wilhelm II also campaigned for a deepening of communion among the regional churches. The church conference then decided to set up a permanent commission in 1900. After some German governments had supported the Prussian endeavors in 1902, a committee of the church conference worked out a constitutional plan. This was at an extraordinary meeting of the church conference in Eisenach on 11. – 13. June 1903 discussed and accepted with minor changes.

Composition and constitution

The main point of the reorganization was that the standing committee was renamed the German Evangelical Church Committee and expanded to 15 members. Of these, three seats were allocated to representatives of the Old Prussian Church and two to representatives of regional churches in New Prussian provinces ( Frankfurt am Main , Hanover (Lutheran) , Hanover (reformed) , Hessen-Kassel , Nassau , and Schleswig-Holstein ), one each to representatives of the Regional churches of Bavaria , Württemberg and Saxony and the rest to the other regional churches. His official seat was relocated to Berlin and management was transferred to the President of the Prussian Evangelical Upper Church Council. The committee was constituted in November 1903, and in January 1905 it was recognized by the Kaiser as a corporation under public law .

effectiveness

The DEKA's task was to safeguard the “common Protestant church interests”, particularly “in relation to other German and non-German church communities” as well as “in relation to the church supply of Protestants in the German protected areas” and “in relation to the promotion of church institutions for the Protestant Germans abroad, as well as the pastoral care among German emigrants and soldiers “Beyond the previous work of the church conference, which was limited to coordination and suggestion, he should be able to negotiate independently with the governments and also issue public rallies. As early as 1904 he protested against the relaxation of the Jesuit law .

He continued the work of the German Evangelical Church Conference in promoting the foreign diaspora. The Evangelical House Book for Germans Abroad , which appeared in 1907 and was reprinted in several editions, was a great success and contained the 300 most popular hymns, the Small Catechism , prayers and other material for house devotions. Its success gave new impetus to the creation of a uniform hymn book , which was realized in 1915 with the German Evangelical Hymn book (initially only for German-speaking congregations abroad).

Development after 1918

With the end of the sovereign church regiment in 1918, the question arose again whether German Protestantism wanted to use the newly gained freedom to found a unified imperial church or to maintain the independence of the individual regional churches . The first German Evangelical Church Congress in Dresden (September 1–5, 1919), convened by the DEKA, decided to maintain the independence of the regional churches, but to establish a federation of churches for closer ties. After lengthy negotiations, for which the DEKA was increased to 30 members, the German Evangelical Church Federation was constituted on May 25, 1922 . The German Evangelical Church Committee was expanded to 36 members and served as an executive body (in addition to the Church Congress, which met less often, and the Church Council). The respective President of the Old Prussian Evangelical Upper Church Council continued to hold the chair.

literature

  • Theodor Karg: From the Eisenach Conference to the German Evangelical Church Federation. Diss. Iur. Freiburg i. Br. 1961.
  • Hartmut Sander: The German Evangelical Church Committee. In: Joachim Rogge , Gerhard Ruhbach (ed.): The history of the Evangelical Church of the Union. Vol. 2, The independence of the church under the royal summit episcopate (1850-1918). Leipzig 1994, pp. 355-373.
  • Christoph LinkChurch Committee, German Evangelical . In: Religion Past and Present (RGG). 4th edition. Volume 4, Mohr-Siebeck, Tübingen 2001, Sp. 1052.
  • Britta Wellnitz: German Protestant congregations abroad. The history of their origins and the development of their legal relationships with the Evangelical Church in Germany. Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2003, pp. 93-100.

Individual proof

  1. Quoted from Hartmut Sander: The German Evangelical Church Committee . In: Joachim Rogge, Gerhard Ruhbach (ed.): The history of the Evangelical Church of the Union. Vol. 2, The independence of the church under the royal summit episcopate (1850-1918) . Leipzig 1994, pp. 355-373, 370.