Association of Evangelical Free Churches

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Basic data
Official name
Association of Evangelical Free Churches in Germany

Public corporation

organization structure
management President:
Pastor Michael Noss

Secretary General:
Pastor Christoph Stiba

membership Baptist World Federation (BWA) ,
European Baptist
Federation (EBF) ,
Union of Evangelical
Free Churches (VEF) ,
Conference of European
Churches (KEK) ,
Working Group of Christian
Churches (ACK)
Regional
state associations 		12
Parishioners December 31, 2015: 82,000 (baptized)
Share in the
total population 		0.1%
Locations
Seat Bad Homburg vor der Höhe
address Federal office,
Johann-Gerhard-Oncken-Straße 7
14641 Wustermark -Elstal
Training center
for pastors and
pastors 		Elstal Theological University
Official website
www.baptisten.de

The Federation of Evangelical Free Churches in Germany (BEFG) is an association of autonomous local congregations with different free church traditions. In 1942 Baptist congregations , Brethren congregations (at that time “Bund Free Church Christians”) and Elim congregations joined together in this covenant . In most cases, the individual congregations designate themselves as Evangelical Free Churches , sometimes with the addition of brackets, for example “Evangelical Free Church Congregation (Baptists) [location]”.

In addition to the Baptist congregations organized in the BEFG, there are other Baptist unions and Baptist congregations in Germany that are not organized in leagues .

distribution

Title page of the "Creed of the Evangelical Baptist Churches in America, Great Britain, Hamburg pp and Jever" written by Johann Ludwig Hinrichs in 1840

In Germany, the Federation has around 82,000 baptized members in 809 parishes; Of these, around 9,000 belong to the 127 member congregations of the Association of Brethren within the Federation; there are also 15 branch congregations.

The BEFG is one of the 48 leagues of the European Baptist Federation (EBF) in Europe and West and Central Asia with almost 900,000 baptized members and one of the 210 leagues of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) with a total of 34 million members.

In addition to the Baptists in the BEFG, there are other Baptist unions in Germany, which, like the Evangelical Christians-Baptists, have their origins in repatriate circles, as well as independent Baptists such as Bible Baptists or Reformed Baptists . The International Baptist Convention , a worldwide federation of English-speaking Baptist congregations, is represented in many places in Germany. In contrast to the repatriate and free Baptist congregations, he maintains close contact with the BEFG as well as the EBF and the Baptist World Federation .

history

The Federation of Evangelical Free Churches was founded in 1942. The pressure of the Nazi state played a not insignificant role in this merger.

root

Interior shot of the first German Baptist Church in Hamburg, Böhmkenstrasse (destroyed in a bombing during World War II)
Today's church of the oldest German Baptist congregation

In the BEFG, congregations from three different free church traditions are combined:

Baptists

The official founding year of the Baptist churches is 1834 . The founder of the German Baptist congregations Johann Gerhard Oncken was baptized with six other baptized in the Elbe near Hamburg-Kirchwerder by the American Baptist pastor Barnas Sears . These seven baptized people formed the first German Baptist congregation, which became the nucleus of the later union of Baptist congregations.

Brethren Movement

The brothers' congregations came into being around 1850 in the Wuppertal area. The leading founding fathers of the Brethren movement were Carl Brockhaus and Julius Anton von Poseck . Another branch of the Brethren Movement, the so-called Open Brothers , emerged in Germany under the influence of the English orphanage father Georg Müller . An Open Brethren Congregation was founded in Stuttgart as early as the middle of the 19th century , a larger expansion of this direction, to which u. a. also owned the Forum Wiedenest , but did not take place until 50 years later. Leading figures in this group included a. Friedrich Wilhelm Baedeker and later also Johannes Warns . In 1937, under the pressure of the National Socialist state, the majority of the two directions merged to form the Union of Free Church Christians (BfC) . This in turn united in 1942 with the Baptists.

Elim movement

The Pentecostal- oriented Elim congregations , which joined the Baptist League in 1938 due to their problems with the state, had emerged in Hamburg in 1926. Your founding father is the evangelist Heinrich Vietheer (1883–1968). Today only six Elim parishes belong to the BEFG, two in the west, four in the east; the others in the west after the war and in the east after German reunification mostly joined the Bund Freikirchlicher Pentecostal congregations .

The time of the Third Reich

During the Third Reich , those in charge of the Free Church endeavored not to endanger what had been achieved and to remain active in missionary work . In return, compromises were made on the principle of complete independence. The principle was increasingly abandoned and replaced by the Führer principle between 1933 and 1936 .

During the Third Reich, there were up to 120,000 members. By 1936 at the latest, all denominations had felt the general anti-Christian course of Nazi religious policy. In relation to the church struggle, people were neutral or publicly disaffected by the Confessing Church , for example at the World Church Conference in Oxford in 1937 .

Under the pressure of the situation, the Union of Baptist Congregations joined forces in 1942 with the Brethren congregations struggling for their existence. From this period dates also given out by BEFG Songbook community songs for common prayer and Mahlfeiern of Baptists and brothers . The common federation was given the official name, which is still valid today, of the Bund Evangelical Free Churches in Germany Kdö.R.

Fifty years later, at the congress of the European Baptist Federation in Hamburg in 1984, the German Confederation declared in one word about the Nazi era: “We have not publicly connected with the struggle and suffering of the Confessing Church and also clearly failed to clearly violate divine commandments and To resist orders. It bends us that we, as the German federation, have often succumbed to the ideological seduction of that time and have not shown greater courage to confess truth and justice. "

Teaching

Basic beliefs

  • The Bible is the sole guide for doctrine, faith and life .
  • The church of Jesus is a creation of God's word . The preaching awakens, strengthens and corrects the faith of the individual and demands his answer. Preaching the gospel is a prerequisite for a person to come to believe. Those who come to believe in Jesus Christ are invited to be baptized on the basis of their personal confession .
  • The local believing church “administers” the word and the signs of baptism and the sacrament instituted by Jesus Christ . She delegates this task to individual parishioners.
  • Like all Baptists, the Evangelical Free Churches see evangelism as the most urgent task of both the individual congregation member - Johann Gerhard Oncken : "Every Baptist a missionary!" - as well as the congregation and its regional and national associations.
  • Together with the other Baptists, they advocate freedom of belief and conscience for people around the world . State and church are to be separated. No religion may be given preferential treatment by the state (see: Julius Köbner , The Manifesto of Free Early Christianity from 1848).

baptism

Baptist baptism

The Evangelical Free Churches reject infant baptism . Accession should be based on a conscious personal decision to follow Jesus Christ and therefore find expression in the baptism of faith . Members of free churches often attribute this decision to a so-called " conversion experience" of which they " bear witness ". Anyone who wants to become a member of an Evangelical Free Church congregation must generally be baptized as a believer or be baptized on the basis of their faith. An infant baptism received is not recognized as a baptism. However, some Evangelical Free Churches offer exceptions and grant the possibility of associate membership for those who do not want to be baptized as a believer for personal reasons. However, the prerequisite is that the applicants share the congregation's conception of baptism.

Unbaptized children take part in parish life in free churches. For a personal relationship with God that leads to the forgiveness of sins, however, a conscious decision is necessary in each case. The baptism of the Evangelical Free Churches is recognized by the other churches.

Role of the pastor

The Evangelical Free Church communities reject a special priesthood , such as the Catholic Church knows and in which the priest acts as a mediator between God and man, and instead represent a general priesthood of the faithful . According to this, pastors are members who are released from church work and whose livelihood is wholly or partially borne by the church. Nonetheless, pastors play a prominent role in the congregations. The usual ordination of pastors also underlines this. The pastor training takes place among other things at the theological seminar (technical college) in Wustermark-Elstal near Berlin. Some Evangelical Free Churches reject pastors on principle, for example many Brethren congregations, others have pastors who earn their living wholly or partly by working in a secular profession. In principle, every congregation member can preach, distribute the sacrament, and baptize. In many Evangelical Free Churches women are ordained to serve as pastors , others, for example many Brethren congregations, largely reject the active participation of women .

mission

Since the Evangelical Free Churches, like almost all large Christian churches, understand the redemption of people from guilt and life after death as linked to faith in the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ, mission is not only a biblical mandate for them, but also a moral one Obligation from responsibility for fellow human beings. Large evangelistic events, tented missions and guest services are regular offers in Evangelical Free Churches for people who are distant from the faith and the Church.

Theology and Creed

The theology of the Evangelical Free Churches is usually evangelical in the Calvinist tradition , although there can be great differences between the individual communities. The "agreement of the congregations in faith" is summarized in the account of faith , the current creed of the BEFG (and the Baptists in Austria and German-speaking Switzerland).

Worship and practice

Creative elements are incorporated into many church services: Here a dance performance in a Nuremberg Baptist church

Evangelical free church congregations usually do not have a fixed liturgy. In many congregations, a relaxed greeting and an information section is followed by a longer period of worship , which is characterized by songs, readings of biblical texts and freely formulated prayers . Musically, the organ is usually not the focus, but rather rhythm - and keyboard instruments characterize the accompaniment. Personal experience reports, so-called testimonials, are also common. Most of the free churches have choirs , singing groups or music bands that help shape the Sunday service. The sermon is the focus. Intercession and blessing conclude the service. In charismatic churches, elements such as glossolalia (prayer in tongues) and prophecy are also part of the worship service. The Lord's Supper is usually celebrated once a month in Evangelical Free Churches of Baptist origin. Brethren churches typically hold sacrament every Sunday. However, meals are often held at home .

For 2008, attendance at church services is given as 71,840 participants per Sunday, 9,380 of them in Brethren parishes.

Many churches also practice the anointing of the sick according to Jak 5  LUT .

In addition to the Sunday services, the congregation meets in small groups for weekly Bible discussions and prayer. For children there is the Sunday school or children's church .

Evangelical free church congregations are usually strong social associations. Through the active participation in religious community life expected of the community members, many of these communities see themselves as solidarity communities based on the example of the original communities, that is, the community members also support each other in everyday life.

organization

A special feature of the Evangelical Free Church congregations is the extensive autonomy of the individual local congregations. The local congregations of a region close to national federations (formerly associations called) together. These in turn work under the umbrella organization of the “Federation of Evangelical Free Churches”. The annual council meetings of the regional associations and the federal government, at which the municipalities are represented by deputies according to their size, pass resolutions that affect the regional work of the municipalities. As a rule, however, they can only be passed on to the individual local church as a recommendation. This also applies, for example, to the contribution of the municipalities to the federal government, the so-called federal contribution , which, in addition to free donations, represents a very important financing basis of the BEFG.

Seat and management of the federal government

The Federation of Evangelical Free Churches has its seat in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe , while the central office of the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches is located in Wustermark- Elstal . It is led by a 13-member presidium, headed by the Berlin pastor Michael Noss since May 17, 2015 . Pastor Christoph Stiba has been General Secretary since 2013 .

archive

The central Oncken archive of the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches is located on the premises of the Elstal Education Center in Wustermark.

Regional associations

Evangelical Free Church in Berlin-Kreuzberg

The Federation of Evangelical Free Churches currently consists of the following regional associations:

  • Baden-Württemberg: 69 parishes, 11 branch parishes
  • Bavaria: 51 parishes, 6 branch parishes
  • Berlin-Brandenburg: 61 parishes, 9 branch parishes
  • Hessen-Siegerland: 57 parishes, 9 branch parishes
  • Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: 22 communities, 8 branch communities
  • Lower Saxony-East Westphalia-Saxony-Anhalt (of Lower Saxony only southern Lower Saxony): 86 communities, 13 branch communities
  • Northern Germany (Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, northeastern Lower Saxony): 56 parishes, 7 branch parishes
  • Northwest Germany ( Bremen , northwestern Lower Saxony with Emsland, East Friesland and Oldenburg): 45 municipalities, 6 branch municipalities
  • North Rhine-Westphalia (excluding East Westphalia and Siegerland): 150 communities, 14 branch communities
  • Saxony: 55 parishes, 8 branch parishes
  • Southwest (Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland): 23 communities, 6 branch communities
  • Thuringia: 25 parishes, 6 branch parishes

Community Youth Service

The Community Youth Service (GJW) is responsible for the work of children, young people , teenagers and young people as well as the scout work of the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches in Germany Kdö.R. In addition to the federal office in Elstal, there are 12 regional GJW.

Brethren congregations in the BEFG

Brethren congregations within the federation usually belong to the Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Brüdergemeinden (AGB), whose administrative office is currently in Leipzig . This working group is led by the board. Her main areas of work are the mission to new lands, evangelism and the accompaniment of full-time church workers . The GTC can also belong to brother communities that are not member communities of the BEFG.

Elim communities in the BEFG

With a few exceptions, the Elim congregations are now part of the Federation of Free Church Pentecostal congregations .

Foreign language meetings in connection with the BEFG

The Evangelical Free Churches offer church services in their language to foreign-speaking fellow citizens - partly in cooperation with foreign Baptist unions. In many places, these offers have become independent congregations and branch congregations that are affiliated, associated or otherwise connected to the BEFG.

language Number of parishes places
Amharic 3 Bochum, Hamburg-Ottensen, Kassel
Arabic 4th Bremen-Mitte, Düsseldorf, Erlangen, Kassel
Chinese 5 Bremen-Mitte, Göttingen, Leipzig, Ilmenau, Kassel
English 55

Baumholder, Berlin, Bielefeld, Bitburg / Metterich, Bochum, Braunschweig-Stadt, Bremen-Mitte, Celle, Darmstadt, Dortmund, Düsseldorf (2), Essen, Esslingen, Frankfurt am Main, Freiburg im Breisgau, Gießen, Göttingen (2), Grafenwöhr / Vilseck, Hamburg (2), Hanover (3), Heidelberg, Heidelberg / Leimen, Herten, Itzehoe, Kaiserslautern, Kitzingen, Cologne (2), Landshut, Ludwigshafen, Mannheim, Memmingen, Mönchengladbach, Moorhusen, Mühltal, Munich, Nuremberg , Oberursel, Oldenburg iO, Ramstein, Regensburg, Remscheid, Schweinfurt, Stuttgart, Ulm / Neu-Ulm, Vilseck, Weiterstadt, Wiesbaden, Worms, Wuppertal-Elberfeld

English German 3 Hamburg, Cologne, Kiel
English France 1 Munich
French 19th Aachen (2), Bad Wildungen, Bochum, Bonn, Düsseldorf, Erlangen, Hamm, Hanover, Heinsberg, Herten, Leverkusen, Ludwigshafen, Munich, Münster, Oldenburg iO, Regensburg, Siegburg, Worms
Greek 3 Essen-Kettwig, Schwelm, Wuppertal-Wichlinghausen
Indonesian 1 Berlin
Italian 5 Burscheid, Ludwigshafen, Schwenningen, Singen, Wuppertal-Cronenberg, Hilden
Korean 9 Berlin-Schöneberg, Berlin-Tempelhof, Bochum, Frankfurt am Main, Halle, Hamburg (2), Cologne-Mülheim, Ludwigshafen, Rostock
Lingala 1 Hanover
Persian 8th Augsburg, Augustfehn, Berlin-Kreuzberg, Berlin-Schöneberg, Dusseldorf, Erlangen, Hamburg-Altona, Karlsruhe, Marburg, Varel
Portuguese 4th Berlin-Schöneberg, Essen, Heidelberg, Schweinfurt
Romanian 4th Mannheim, Nuremberg (2), Straubing
Russian 32

Baienfurt, Bebra, Berlin-Lichterfelde-Ost, Bramsche, Deggendorf, Erkrath-Hochdahl, Esslingen, Gelsenkirchen, Hagen iW, Hamburg-Bergedorf, Hanover-Süd, Heilsbronn, Herne, Höxter, Hückelhoven-Baal, Jena, Kempten, Kirchheim unter Teck , Memmingen, Moorhusen, Mosbach, Mülheim, Nordhausen, Osnabrück, Osterholz-Scharmbeck, Potsdam, Recklinghausen-Süd, Riedlingen, Schleswig, Solingen, Uetersen, Worms, Regensburg, Munich, Straubing

Serbo-Croatian 2 Frankfurt-Höchst, Munich
Sinti communities 4th Essen-Kettwig, Landau, Minden, Osnabrück
Spanish 19th Bonn, Bremen-Mitte, Darmstadt, Duisburg-Mitte, Erlangen, Frankfurt-Höchst, Göttingen, Hamburg-Eimsbüttel, Hanover-Linden, Heidelberg, Kassel-Möncheberg, Kelsterbach, Cologne, Mannheim, Munich, Remscheid, Siegen, Stuttgart-Feuerbach, Wetzlar
Tagalog 1 Cologne
Tamil 24 Bonn, Bottrop, Bremen-Walle, Erkrath-Hochdahl, Essen-Nord, Gevelsberg, Großröhrsdorf, Gunzenhausen, Hamm, Heilbronn, Hanau, Hanover, Herne / Wanne-Eickel, Kaufbeuren, Krefeld, Mönchengladbach-Rheydt, Mülheim, Nuremberg, Solingen, Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen, Termenken, Viersen-Dülken, Wuppertal-Elberfeld
Turkish 4th Berlin-Kreuzberg, Essen-Altendorf, Frankfurt-Höchst, Sindelfingen
Hungarian 1 To sing
Vietnamese 8th Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg-Hamm, Ludwigshafen, Munich-Perlach, Nordhorn, Osnabrück, Wetzlar, Wilhelmshaven

Source: Yearbook of the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches in Germany 2008 , p. 536ff., As well as subsequent additions; the communities listed here have different close relationships with the BEFG. There are both member communities of the BEFG and the communities associated with the BEFG. Others are branch congregations or house groups of local BEFG congregations. A number of the churches listed above belong (also) to the International Baptist Convention or the Southern Baptist Convention .

Mission and Diakonia

Eduard Scheve (2nd from left), founder of the German Baptist foreign mission and diakonia

The Evangelical Free Church External Mission works in Africa ( Cameroon , Sierra Leone , Equatorial Africa , South Africa , Malawi and Mozambique ) and in South America ( Argentina , Brazil and Peru ). The so-called home mission runs a tent mission , carries out special missionary activities, trains volunteer and full-time employees and helps with church planting .

In the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches many large and small exist Diakonia works , in all segments of social work operate. While in the initial phase of German Baptism the diaconal work was exclusively the responsibility of the local congregations, in the second generation a number of initiatives developed that finally led to the establishment of diaconal works and at the same time offered women in particular the opportunity to become independent deaconesses develop professional engagement. The preacher Eduard Scheve , who also founded the BEFG's external mission, is considered to be one of the most important fathers of Baptist diakonia . Today, a total of 32 large and small diaconal organizations with a total of 6500 employees belong to the Evangelical Free Church Association. Among other things, they look after around 2,800 retirement homes and 3,500 hospital places. They are affiliated with diaconal institutions of other Free Churches in the Association of Free Church Diaconal Work .

Larger diaconal works within the BEFG are:

Other diaconal institutions to choose from:

  • "Alone with a child" - initiative for single parent families e. V. in Fulda
  • Diakoniewerk Pilgerheim Weltersbach in Leichlingen (Rhineland)

Ecumenism

In many places, common signs for worship services are an expression of lived ecumenism

The Federation of Evangelical Free Churches in Germany (BEFG) is counted among the Evangelical Free Churches. He is a founding member of the Working Group of Christian Churches in Germany (ACK) and the Association of Evangelical Free Churches (VEF). Relationships also exist with the Evangelical Alliance . The BEFG is involved in ecumenical work on various levels. He is a member of the Conference of European Churches (CEC). As part of the European Baptist Federation (EBF), the BEFG is involved in doctrinal discussions with the Community of Evangelical Churches in Europe (CPCE). However, there is no membership in the World Council of Churches (WCC).

The Federation of Evangelical Free Churches in Germany is a member of the German Committee for the World Day of Prayer .

Most of the individual congregations are also ecumenically active. The Brethren congregations, which are generally critical of ecumenism, are an exception in this regard.

The Federation of Evangelical Free Churches and the Federation of Free Evangelical Congregations have been using common hymn books since 1976 .

The BEFG is also a member of the EBF and the Baptist World Alliance (BWA).

In May 2009, a convergence document prepared by a “Bavarian Lutheran Baptist Working Group” (BALUBAG) was presented : Learning from one another - believing with one another: “One Lord, one faith, one baptism” (Eph 4,5) , which in consultation with the EKD , the VELKD and the BEFG was created. The core thesis consists of the recommendation: “We therefore recommend that our churches accept pulpit and communion fellowship.” The presidium of the BEFG received the paper “with great interest” and recommended it “for unreserved reading” within the federal government. The document was controversially discussed at the 2009 Federal Council of the BEFG and it was recommended that it be read without reservation .

Church planter award

Since 2018, the federal government has been awarding a community founder award, the financially unpaid award “Ecclesiopreneur of the Year” (a word created from Ecclesia (church) and Entrepreneur (entrepreneurial founder)). A black wooden ball is presented, symbolizing the founders "who get the ball rolling".

literature

General

  • Günter Balders: The Federation of Evangelical Free Churches in Germany (Baptists). In: Hans-Beat Motel (ed.): Limbs in one body - Free churches in self-presentation. Stuttgart 1975, ISBN 3-7673-6520-0 , pp. 95-133.
  • Günter Balders (Ed.): One Lord - One Faith - One Baptism - 150 Years of Baptist Congregations in Germany. Wuppertal / Kassel 1985, ISBN 3-7893-7883-6 .
  • Frank Fornaçon: Open doors. An Evangelical Free Church Community introduces itself. Kassel 2004.
  • Bibliography (since 1992) annually in: Free Church Research , ed. from the Association for Free Church Research , current: No. 14 (2004) = ISBN 3-934109-06-3 , No. 15 (2005/06) [double number], ISBN 3-934109-07-1 [example: the year 2004 contains the bibliography for 2003, including additions from previous years. Correspondingly for the other years].
  • The community. Believe. Together. Gestalten (functionally corresponds to a “church newspaper”) [without ISSN, ZDB -ID 1157992-4 ] (up to No. 11/2008: Die Gemeinde. The magazine of the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches ).

Special

  • Rudolf Donat: The growing work - expansion of the German Baptist congregations through 60 years (1849–1909). Kassel 1960.
  • Rudolf Donat: How the work began - emergence of the German Baptist congregations. Kassel 1958.
  • Andrea Strübind : Baptists, Baptist Churches in Germany since 1945. In: KZG 13, 2000, pp. 391–413.
  • Emanuel Brandt, Klaus Rösler: Next Federal Mission House instead of an office. An interview with the President of our Confederation Emanuel Brandt. In: The community. The magazine of the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches, No. 27 of December 2, 2007, pp. 6-9.
  • Julia Grundmann: Unearthing hidden treasures. Emanuel Brandt: The new President of our Federation. In: The community. The magazine of the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches, No. 12 of May 27, 2007, p. 27.
  • Andreas Liese: Neither Baptists nor brothers. The creation of the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches. In: Free Church Research 18 (2009), pp. 102–129.
  • Klaus Rösler: Our federal mission contribution. Why a contribution that is “recommended” for payment is important for all churches. In: The community. The magazine of the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches, No. 25 of November 11, 2007, p. 15.
  • Joachim Zeiger: Cooperation from all generations. Full-time employee in the working group of the Brethren. In: The community. The magazine of the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches, No. 4 of February 18, 2007, pp. 8–9.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Idea: Michael Noss is the new president of the largest German free church ; Accessed May 17, 2015
  2. ^ Yearbook of the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches . Wustermark-Elstal 2016/2017 As explained in the “Baptism” section , unlike the Catholic Church, for example, children and infants do not count. The number of those taking part in community life is therefore higher than the statistics show.
  3. ↑ Cf. Art. 1, Paragraph 2 of the Constitution of the BEFG ( Memento of 23 September 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (pdf; 97 kB)
  4. ↑ "Great Britain" with only one "n" in the original!
  5. ^ Association of Evangelical Free Churches / Baptists: Statistics ( Memento of October 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ); accessed on May 24, 2012.
  6. ↑ A detailed account of the story can be found here: Günter Balders: The emergence of German Baptism. A treatise on church history (pdf; 42 kB) ( Memento from December 26, 2011 in the Internet Archive ); accessed on October 11, 2009
  7. ^ Wilfried Bohlen : Federation of Evangelical Free Churches in Germany . In: Brunhild von Local, Winfried Brose (Red.): Departure to a missionary ecumenism. A process of understanding about the common task of mission and evangelism in Germany . Evangelisches Missionswerk in Deutschland, Hamburg 1999, pp. 217–221, here p. 218.
  8. ^ Günter Balders: One Lord - One Faith - One Baptism. 150 years of Baptist churches in Germany . Oncken, Wuppertal / Kassel, 1984, ISBN 3-7893-7883-6 , p. 298 f.
  9. ^ Constitution of the BEFG, Art. 1 Para. 2 ( Memento of 23 September 2015 in the Internet Archive ); Version of May 27, 2006 (pdf; 98 kB)
  10. ^ Günter Wellnitz: History of the local community Osnabrück ( Memento from August 11, 2013 in the Internet Archive ); accessed on April 5, 2013.
  11. ^ Frank Fornaçon: Open doors. An Evangelical Free Church Community introduces itself. Kassel 2004, ISBN 3-87939-059-2 , p. 40.
  12. ↑ The figures refer to the year 2004. Compare Frank Fornaçon: Open Doors. An Evangelical Free Church Community introduces itself. Kassel 2004, ISBN 3-87939-059-2 , p. 40 f.
  13. ↑ Homepage of the Association of Free Church Diakoniewerke ; accessed on December 9, 2011
  14. ^ Homepage of the Albertinen Diakoniewerk ; accessed on December 9, 2011
  15. ^ Homepage of the Bethel Diakoniewerk ; Accessed June 17, 2014
  16. ^ Homepage of the Tabea Diakoniewerk ; accessed on December 9, 2011
  17. ^ Homepage of the Immanuel Diakonie ; accessed on May 18, 2015
  18. ↑ Statement of the GTC on the Charter Oecumenica ( Memento of February 12, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  19. ^ Until 2003 church songs ; from 2003 Celebrate & Praise
  20. ↑ Newsletter ( Memento from December 26, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) of the Society for Free Church Theology and Journalism with links to the document and helpful greetings for understanding, last viewed on May 31, 2009.
    Press release from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria ( Memento of May 22, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), last viewed on May 31, 2009.
  21. ↑ Klaus Rösler: Shaping the baptism of believers as a reminder of baptism? Now public: Convergence document between Lutherans and Baptists ( Memento June 7, 2015 in the Internet Archive ); last accessed on May 30, 2009.
  22. ↑ Klaus Rösler: Hartmut Riemenschneider will lead the Baptist and Brethren congregations in the future. Change at the top of the largest German free church - the Federation is a spiritual factor ( Memento from June 7, 2015 in the Internet Archive ); last accessed on May 30, 2009.
  23. ^ Free Church: Baptists award church planter prize for the first time . idea.de, February 16, 2018, accessed on February 26, 2018.