Evangelical Free Churches in Switzerland
The movement of the Evangelical Free Churches in Switzerland is an association of nine independent congregations with around 900 members. EFG congregations are Protestant free churches with roots in the Brethren Movement and the Sanctification Movement .
history
The movement of the Evangelical Free Churches in Switzerland goes back to the initiative of the Brethren movement in England. In 1837 John Nelson Darby visited Switzerland and gave various sermons and lectures in western Switzerland. In 1843 the Espinett couple from the Bethesda Chapel in Bristol were the first missionaries to be sent to Switzerland. In 1848 the Brethren movement in England split into an open and a closed direction. The movement of the Evangelical Free Churches in Switzerland was shaped by Georg Müller and was part of the open direction.
In 1869 Georg Müller's writings became available to a broad public in Switzerland. Christian Friedrich Spittler's publishing house in Basel published the book Leben und Wirken des Georg Müller in Bristol - taken from his reports and printed in the Appenzeller Sunday newspaper . In 1876, 1878 and 1890 Georg Müller visited Switzerland and gave lectures in various cities in Switzerland. He spoke in Bern in the festival hall in front of 1,800 people and in front of 1,900 people in the Huguenot- based French church in Bern . Georg Müller became a formative figure for the sanctification movement in Switzerland.
In 1905, a revival in Linden and Homberg in the canton of Bern gave the movement a strong boost. As a result of this upswing, other groups in German-speaking Switzerland became part of the movement. The naming was inconsistent: Open Brothers , Free Brethren Congregation , Free Brothers' Assembly , Free Christian Assembly or, as an external name, Homberg Brothers .
In 1930 the first umbrella organization was founded under the name Oekonomia . In 1990 the association was renamed the Association of Evangelical Free Churches and organized as an association of member congregations . Since then, the local congregations belonging to the association have uniformly called themselves Evangelical Free Churches .
In 2013 there are communities in Basel , Bern , Finsterhennen , Homberg BE , Linden BE , St. Gallen , Thun , Tschingel and Wiedlisbach . The administration is located in Bern.
literature
- Georg Schmid , Oswald Eggenberger : The churches, sects, religions , TVZ Theologischer Verlag Zurich, 2003, ISBN 3-290-17215-5
- Christian Friedrich Spittler (ed.): The life and work of Georg Müller in Bristol - taken from his reports and printed in the Appenzeller Sunday newspaper , CF Spittler Verlag, Basel 1869.
- Georg Müller : A Narrative of Some of the Lord's Dealings with George Müller Written by Himself, First - Fourth Part , J. Nisbet & Co., London 1865, http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20379
- Susannah Müller: The Preaching Tours and Missionary Laboratories of George Müller (of Bristol) , J. Nisbet & Co., London 1883, http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/34377
- Stephan Holthaus healing - healing - sanctification. The history of the German sanctification and evangelization movement (1874–1909) . Brunnen Verlag, Gießen 2005, pp. 342, 427, 603.