Evangelical United Brethren Church

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The Evangelical United Brethren Church ( English Evangelical United Brethren Church ) was a Methodist church that arose in 1946 from the union of the Methodist sister churches Evangelical Community and Church of the United Brethren in Christ . In the German-speaking area it kept the name Evangelical Community (EG) . The Evangelical Community was under the supervision of a US bishop until it was united with the Methodist Church .

Although the Evangelical Community was part of the Methodist denomination, neither Methodist theology nor the history of the Methodist church family was given particular attention in the Reutlinger seminary of the EG, especially in the middle of the 20th century. For the dogmatist at the seminary, Karl Steckel , for example, the preparation for the church union with the Methodists meant a cut in thinking and work.

Like the Methodist Episcopal Church , the Evangelical Community was closely associated with the international mother church in the United States.

In Germany, there has been close cooperation since 1926 within the framework of the Association of Evangelical Free Churches (VEF), to which other free churches and communities also belonged. In addition, from 1948 there was cooperation in the Working Group of Christian Churches (ACK) at various levels. A bilateral cooperation took place since 1951 in the jointly supported tent mission . Particularly noteworthy is the tear-off calendar published jointly with the Baptists since 1950 , which was widely used in the churches. He offered believers a brief meditative reading, a Bible verse, and a hymn reference for each day.

In 1968, the Evangelical United Brethren Church merged with the Methodist Episcopal Church of the United Methodist Church (English The United Methodist Church ).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Karl Heinz Voigt:  STECKEL, Karl Gottlob. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 27, Bautz, Nordhausen 2007, ISBN 978-3-88309-393-2 , Sp. 1372-1381.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
  2. ^ Hermann Sticher : The Union of the Evangelical Community and the Methodist Church; The Church Association in the Federal Republic of Germany and in the German Democratic Republic . In: Karl Steckel: History of the Evangelical Methodist Church , 1982, ISBN 3-7675-7496-9 , p. 213 f

literature

  • Karl Steckel: History of the Evangelical Methodist Church. Way, nature and mission of Methodism with special consideration of the German-speaking countries of Europe . Christliches Verlagshaus, Stuttgart 1982, ISBN 3-7675-7496-9 , pp. 59-84.