Evangelical parish in Düren
The Evangelical church in Düren with about 24,000 church members the greatest number of members congregation of the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland . It covers an area that extends far beyond the city of Düren and includes the municipalities of Kreuzau, Nideggen, Vettweiß, Nörvenich, Buir, Merzenich, Niederzier, Schlich, Kleinhau and the like. a. includes. The community has nine parish offices, over 150 employees, especially in the social and diaconal area. It belongs to the Jülich church district .
history
The first Protestant Christians have been recorded in Düren since 1572. Nevertheless, the “Düren Reversal” of 1609 is considered the “founding document” of the Evangelical Congregation: This decree fundamentally changed the situation for the supporters of the Reformation, especially those of Calvinism. After the death of Johann Wilhelm , the last duke of the United Duchies of Jülich-Kleve-Berg, the duchies fell to Protestant rulers in Brandenburg and the Palatinate for lack of successors of their own. These guaranteed the Catholics just as much religious freedom as they now granted the Evangelicals. In the “Düren Reversal” of 1609 they are assured that “other religions permitted in the empire will not be refused to perform such exercitia [worship services] at their request” . The first "public" service was then celebrated in 1609 in the house of the town clerk Wilhelm Deutgen. The joy of the religious freedom won did not last long: When Count Palatine Wolfgang Wilhelm married Magdalena of Bavaria in 1614 for political reasons, he became a Catholic and a resolute enemy of the Evangelicals. Numerous entries document annoyance and disadvantage. Also the service is z. B. 1627 banned again.
The first two preachers came from Flanders: Gerhard Larenius (d. 1574) and Cornelius Walrave (d. 1578 in Düren). Their origin is an indication that the first Reformed came to Düren as part of the refugee movements, who fled the Netherlands as a result of the 80-year war of liberation (1568–1648) against the Spanish Catholic occupiers in the Rhineland. Although they were exposed to all kinds of oppression here, they were more or less tolerated as they also brought manual skills into the country.
Duisburg General Synod is being prepared in Düren in 1610
In 1610 the “ Duisburg General Synod ” met, the first synod of the Dutch refugee communities on the Lower Rhine, where they gave themselves their own “presbyterial-synodal” order, which still structures the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland today. Johannes Pütz, called Fontanus, who was born in Soller near Düren, took part in the preparatory "Düren Convention" as well as in the general synod. He is the first nationally significant Protestant theologian from the Düren region, received his doctorate from Zacharias Ursinus in Heidelberg , and in 1578 field preacher to Wilhelm I of Orange-Nassau, who supported the Netherlands from its (Catholic) Spanish occupation in its 80-year war of liberation.
Lutheran and Reformed churches are united
For almost three centuries two parishes existed in Düren: the Lutheran and the Reformed. It was only through the vacancy of the Lutheran pastor at the end of the 19th century that it became possible to bring the two together. As early as 1817, the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III. On the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the Reformation, the unification of the congregations into "uniate" congregations was arranged. There was no agreement in Düren, and so it was not until 1886 that the merger came about, in particular through the commitment of the Reformed pastor Karl FJ Matthias, who was responsible for the vacancy administration in the Lutheran congregation.
"The Church of the Gospel should actually take a leading role in the work on the social welfare of the people."
Julius Otto Müller, born in Monschau in 1853, shaped the Düren community for over thirty years at the turn of the century and represented it nationwide. As vice-president he was involved in the management of the Rhenish provincial church. With his Aachen superintendent colleague and President Wolff, he founded the "Evangelical Association for Rhineland and Westphalia" in 1908, which wanted to be an evangelical voice in society and the church in the politically troubled times before and during World War I. Müller formulated her program in 1909 as follows: “The synodal constitution of our church ... does not mean the supremacy of one direction in the church according to majorities, but the equal rights of its members and the opportunity to bring out what gifts, powers and insights and suggestions are present in it. That is why our program says ... 'Protection of the minorities' [...] The Church should work through the life of the people with the forces of the Gospel and take care of the moral needs of the people. Insofar as these economic grievances arise, it must also turn its attention to them and not only demand that they be eliminated, but also initiate them. Only in this way can it lay claim to becoming a people's church ... In energetic concern for the poor and oppressed, in frank discussion of the existing needs and abuses, in powerful and fearless assertion of evangelical ideas against all classes, it has its share in the to perform social task more fully and effectively than before. The Church of the Gospel should actually take the lead in the work on the social welfare of the people. "
The Düren community in the "Third Reich"
The presbytery elected the Hörder pastor Wilhelm-Wester as the successor to JO Müller, who continued the liberal tradition of the community and was to shape the community during the time of National Socialist rule. The disputes in the Düren congregation did not differ significantly from those in other congregations during this time: namely between the Nazi-influenced “German Christians” (DC), the “Confessing Church” and mediators between the two. In the larger municipal council, the decision-making body, the z. For example, when electing a parish, the DC made up 75 percent of the representatives. In spite of this, their possibilities remained limited, which was probably due to the critical and moderating work of Wilhelm Wester et al. a. is attributable. On March 30, 1933, Wester gave a lecture on the question “What do the German Christians want?” In April, he presented the current “directions within Protestantism” in the presbytery . However, six months later the presbytery also met together with the “leaders' group German Christians ". These topics show that there were intense discussions in the community, especially since Wester's colleague Albert Steltmann clearly committed himself to National Socialism by entering the pulpit in the uniform of the National Socialist Motor Vehicle Corps (NSKK). On March 5, 1933, he preached on the subject of "Faith in Germany". For Thanksgiving in October, he had a large swastika put up on the altar of the Church of the Resurrection, "which visibly made many members of the congregation annoyed," as a note notes. He also "carried out several funerals in SA uniform". Despite his rejection of the DC, Wilhelm Wester could not join the "Confessing Church" either. In view of her dictum “He who separates himself from us separates himself from eternal salvation” he accused her of “heresy in the sense of Romanism”. Such dogmatism contradicted his basic liberal conviction. In view of a further escalation of the internal church dispute, the presbytery joined a protest note from the BK in December 1937.
Wilhelm Wester: Exile and a new beginning after the war
On February 8, 1940, Wester was arrested. Wester remained in custody for almost eight months before he was released from “ protective custody ” and had to leave the Rhineland and Westphalia. As a result of the deaths of both sons in the war in April 1944, Wester's situation changed. He came to Düren for the funeral service and his stay - with his wife - was obviously tolerated from then on. So he was in Düren on November 16 and only barely survived the destruction of Düren in a largely destroyed cellar. Düren was only evacuated on November 19, and the community also dispersed in all directions.
In mid-August 1945, Wester's colleague Horst Schumann returned to Düren after the evacuation and celebrated the first service with around 50 parishioners in St. Joseph's Church on Zülpicher Strasse, where Anna-Haupt had also found reception. Here the Evangelical Congregation experienced ecumenical hospitality until its own emergency church was set up on Kuhgasse. The Church of the Resurrection, which had stood for exactly 99 years, and the Luther Church were destroyed in the hail of bombs on November 16.
One of the special achievements of Westers and the whole community in the post-war period was first of all the collection of the returning community, but also the reception of countless refugees and displaced persons. A first stage was the establishment of the parish hall in Kuhgasse, but above all the inauguration of the Christ Church in 1954.
Societal and social challenges
The Düren congregation has continued to develop its socio-political profile over the centuries - in the 1960s and 1970s in particular through Peter Beier (1934–1996), whose “Düren Theological Declaration” has a formative force in the congregation to this day. She has been involved in reconciliation with Poland and other Eastern European countries, in asylum policy, the anti-apartheid movement, ecology movement and the lignite protest in the region. These debates have a. Found expression in theological basic texts such as the “Call for Economic, Social and Ecological Justice” (2005) and the “Guidelines for Global Justice” (2008).
literature
- Evangelical in Düren. Festschrift 50 years of the Christ Church. Four hundred years of evangelical life in the Düren region . Alektor-Verlag, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-88425-076-0 .
- Karl Ventzke : Evangelical communities in Düren from the 16th century to 1944. Selected essays . Düren History Association, Düren 1986, ( Contributions to the history of the Dürener Land 19, ISSN 0343-2971 ).
- Dirk Chr. Siedler (Ed.): Wilhelm Wester. A pastor in Düren in times of upheaval . With a tribute to the church historian Karl Ventzke. 2nd Edition. Alektor-Verlag, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-88425-086-0 .
- Dirk Chr. Siedler: "From the meat hall to the Christ Church". 400 years of evangelicals in Düren . In: Yearbook of the Düren District 2010, [2009], ISSN 0342-5835 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.evangelischegemeinde-dueren.de/cms/upload/download/2009-04-05.pdf
- ↑ Heinz W. Homrighausen: Wilhelm Wester: A Düren pastor in times of upheaval. With a tribute to the church historian Karl Ventzke , editor Dirk Chr. Siedler, 2009, ISBN 3884250868 , page 49 [1]