Eben-Ezer-Church (Hamburg-Hoheluft-Ost)
The Eben-Ezer-Kirche is a Protestant Methodist church in Hamburg-Hoheluft-Ost . It is located at Abendrothsweg 43, at the corner of Löwenstrasse.
In 1907 the church building was completed.
Surname
The name "Eben-Ezer" of the church refers to the biblical first Samuel book , chapter 7, verse 12 (( 1 Sam 7,12 EU )). After God had chased away enemies of Israel with thunder, Samuel set up a stone and said: "The Lord has helped us this far." That is why he called the stone Eben-Eser (Hebrew: Stone of Help ). A time of peace began.
building
construction
Under the preacher Bernhard Schröder (from 1902 to 1910 in the district) the construction of the church building was carried out. 1906 began the construction of a corner house on the property Abendrothsweg 43 with an integrated church.
The American bishop William Burt, who was the supervisory authority in Germany, wanted a chapel to be built , but that was too expensive for the congregation. She asserted herself with the desire for construction in the rows of houses. The combination with a residential building served u. a. the purpose of providing the pastor with an official apartment and by renting the other apartments to secure the financing and maintenance of the building.
Two pieces of land were bought for about 40,000 marks, the construction costs were 111,500 marks.
The construction was largely financed by loans and donations. The list of creditors listed loans from all over Germany ranging from 2.50 to 3,500 marks, at an interest rate of 0% to 7%. In addition, the Germans received a grant of $ 3,000 from the United States Methodist Mission Authority through Bishop Burt.
The church building was completed on August 7, 1907. The inauguration was on Sunday, August 11th by Bishop William Burt.
In 1917 the vacant property (No. 41) was sold again. America had entered the First World War against Germany, and payments from the American mission authority in the form of grants, especially for pastors' salaries, did not materialize. The church needed the money from the sale.
With the inflation after World War I, the burden of building loans for the church was irrelevant.
modification
From 1939 to 1956, Karl Wilhelm Schneck headed the community. The largest renovation of the church hall took place during his period of service.
The church hall got stained glass windows in 1951/52, some with stained glass and with Christian symbols. In 1954, the renovation work was completed, especially in the entrance area and with the communion table and pulpit . The Lord's Supper table was bricked up, the pulpit was set very high in order to reach the worshipers on the gallery . A porch with a balcony was placed above the main portal. The pulpit and the sacrament table were planned for a second construction phase, but they were built and donated by the building contractor, a member of the congregation.
After the renovation, the church was consecrated again on January 17, 1954 at 10 a.m. in a consecration service. Bishop Friedrich Wunderlich gave the sermon. The Sunday school celebration was at 2 p.m., the festive assembly at 5 p.m. and the youth evening at 8 p.m.
The conversion costs were around DM 100,000, the cost of the lead glass windows DM 60,000.
In 1978 the outer facade was renovated and repainted so that the ornaments clearly stand out from the rest of the wall.
External appearance of the Eben Ezer Church
According to contemporary reports, the church is designed in the Romanesque-Germanic style (Der Evangelist 1907, Methodist church newspaper).
From the outside, the building shows little of the image of a traditional church. There is no characteristic church tower with bells, just a spire with no bells built into it. The Methodists were then one of the sects . They did not yet have the status of a corporation under public law . Religious freedom did not exist in the Lutheran Hamburg at the time to the extent known today.
No nave can be seen from the outside as the church is integrated into a residential building. A small garden runs around the building on the street side. At the corner of Löwenstrasse and Abendrothsweg, a mountain ash was planted on October 3, 1990 with the Methodist congregation from Schwerin to commemorate the state and thus also foreseeable church reunification .
There is a small forecourt at the entrance. The house resembles the facade of other houses built around the turn of the century . Today, however, the shoebox architecture of the entrance appears to be a building sin of the 1950s. At the time , it was softened somewhat by the construction police's ban on pulling the box across the entire front towards Abendrothsweg. A lettering with the name Eben-Ezer and the symbol of the Evangelical Methodist Church is attached here.
Interior
The interior nave extends over two floors of the house. Directly opposite the main entrance is the communion table and behind it the high pulpit. In front of it there are rows of benches and chairs that can accommodate around 200 people. The gallery on the second floor surrounds the nave on three sides. A small kitchen is also located here. The annex in front of the building houses the sacristy on one side and toilets on the other.
Penance and prayer benches
The robust seating with Methodist penance and prayer benches has mostly endured for more than 100 years and various concepts of community life. It was delivered by Brother Carl Gans' joinery in Cassel, as the chronicle reports.
Organ and piano
On January 15, 1961, the organ was consecrated during a service. It replaced the large church harmonium that previously stood on the opposite side of the gallery. The organ was built by the company Führer from Wilhelmshaven. Eckehard Schneck made the planning.
The instrument has 16 registers (voices), divided into two manuals and pedal ( Hauptwerk and Rückpositiv ), plus three normal couplers and a tremulant .
The organ houses 1036 pipes . It is considered to be very well matched to the size and acoustics of the church interior.
In addition to the organ, there is also a piano ( mold ) in the church. One of the instruments can be heard in almost every church service . They are played by volunteer musicians.
organization
The community of the Eben-Ezer Church is called the community of Hamburg-Eppendorf. It is part of the Methodist church district Hamburg-Nord.
The church district belongs to the North German Annual Conference in the Hamburg District of the United Methodist Church in Germany.
The Methodist congregation Hamburg-Eppendorf received the status of an independent church district of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1897 from the American Bishop Godwell or Daniel Ayres Goodsell .
For over 100 years the sisters of the Diakonie-Werk Bethanien formed a congregation with other Christians.
Since 2006 the district has been divided into two parishes, the parish of the Eben-Ezer-Kirche parish Hamburg-Eppendorf and the parish of the Bethanien nursing home of the Diakoniewerk Bethanien Hamburg. This is in connection with the transfer of the business operations of the hospital chain of Agaplesion AG .
Community development
From 1897 to 1903 the Methodist congregation used a sermon hall at Eppendorfer Baum No. 8 as a meeting place. It was inaugurated on June 11, 1897.
In 1903 the sermon hall was partially destroyed by a fire that broke out in the joinery below.
During the renovation, the Bethanien Hospital Methodist nurses' home granted hospitality.
In 1899 the community had 135 members and 25 trial members.
Up until the First World War , the community grew steadily. It was mostly women in the community. In 1914, eleven male parishioners (out of a total of 187 members) were drafted into military service.
In 1927 the parish - including the 106 Bethanien deaconesses - had 405 members and trial members. The chronicle reports: Our plant has good prospects for the future. Eppendorf and the neighboring districts are a large and promising mission field. Certainly the ground is hard, but the Lord who put us here is with us and helps us to win.
literature
- Hans-Albert Steeger (editor): 75 years. 1907 - 1982. Anniversary publication for the 75th anniversary of the church.
- District Hamburg-Eppendorf, Eben-Ezer-Kirche (publisher), Müller / Müller / Renders (editor): Eben-Ezer-Kirche. 100 years of the Hamburg-Eppendorf district. Story in pictures. 1897-1997
Individual evidence
- ↑ Karl Heinz Voigt : BURT, William. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 15, Bautz, Herzberg 1999, ISBN 3-88309-077-8 , Sp. 379-382. , accessed February 20, 2008
- ^ Karl Heinz Voigt: Methodist Mission in Hamburg (1850–1900), Transatlantic Influences, Göttingen 2010, p. 101 f.
- ↑ Karl Heinz Voigt: SCHNECK, Karl Wilhelm. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 9, Bautz, Herzberg 1995, ISBN 3-88309-058-1 , Sp. 526-529. , accessed February 20, 2008
- ↑ Karl Heinz Voigt: Wunderlich, Friedrich. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 14, Bautz, Herzberg 1998, ISBN 3-88309-073-5 , Sp. 177-189. , accessed February 20, 2008
- ↑ In the parish chronicle of 1982 Bishop Godwell is mentioned - but he is not listed in the Church's official list of Methodist bishops ( Memento of April 20, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) (accessed May 9, 2008). Here you can find u. A. Daniel Ayres Goodsell , who also traveled to Germany. See CV in The New York Times (accessed May 9, 2008). A transmission error is to be assumed for the very similar-sounding name.
Web links
Coordinates: 53 ° 35 ′ 4.9 " N , 9 ° 58 ′ 36.2" E