Free Church of Uster

Free Church Uster, built in 1904.

The Free Church of Uster was founded in 1863 and is organized as an association. The neo-Gothic hall church of the parish, consecrated in 1905, is also known as the Free Church . The Free Church of Uster is a member of the local section of the Evangelical Alliance .

prehistory

In the Reformed Church of Uster , Friedrich Salomon Vögelin was elected as vicar on January 10, 1864 with 863-145 votes . Vögelin was theologically in the thinking tradition of Alois Emanuel Biedermann and declared on Ascension Day 1863 in the pulpit that, in his opinion, Jesus Christ had not risen or gone to heaven and that he would not return.

Against this protested people from the parish as well as 78 Reformed pastors from the canton of Zurich . They were of the opinion that Vogelin's statements were directed against the Apostles' Creed . In the Reformed Church, Heinrich Bullinger (1504–1575) already distinguished himself from those who did not see the Bible as God's word.

Since 1675, the so-called Consensus Helveticus applied in Swiss Protestantism , according to which no one was allowed to introduce a new doctrine that would contradict the Second Helvetic Confession of 1566 and the doctrinal rules of Dordrecht from 1619. (These doctrinal rules should not be confused with the Dordrecht Confession of the Mennonites of 1632). A distance between the Zurich church and the revival movement had already been traced back to 1717 by the rejection of pietism by the Zurich authorities. As a result of the Enlightenment , the obligation to attend church services, which had existed since 1530 through the Great Moral Mandate of the Zurich Council, was effectively lifted from the middle of the 18th century. Later, the model of a separation between evangelicals and moderates within Protestantism was added. In 1843 there was a widely perceived break between groups within the Church of Scotland . This resulted in the Free Church of Scotland . The principle of the voluntary church was not affected, nor was the separation of church and state required.

history

In the autumn of 1863, women from Uster who believed in the Bible asked the Evangelical Society of Zurich for help. In response to Vögelin's sermons, 60 Bible-faithful Christians met for the first time on October 25, 1863 in the Uster suburb of Riedikon under the direction of the Zurich city missionary Georg Ebinger. Ebinger previously worked with German emigrants in Texas for ten years and had already started with meetings in Wald ZH , Wetzikon and Ottikon near Gossau ZH from 1863 . On March 26, 1864, the regular assembly was moved to Uster.

Free church Uster seen from the way to school.

In 1865 friends (Pfister and Furrer) of the young community bought the old secondary school building at Schulweg 5 and made it available to the community.

In 1869 a number of men of the Free Church resigned from the Reformed regional church so that they were given the right to send their children to religious instruction that was independent of the regional church and biblically positive. The community now called Evangelical Society Uster bought a house with a large hall on the way to school.

On February 5, 1870, a cooperative was formed under the name of the Free Evangelical Community of Uster . This was recognized by the government council of the canton of Zurich.

A congregation regulation of the free evangelical congregation in Uster 1876 has been preserved.

From 1880 the community gathered for 25 years in a former factory building on Neuwiesenstrasse, where a Christian school was also set up. A year later, the new minority community in Uster received its own pastor, Gustav Fleischhauer from Württemberg, a graduate of the Protestant seminar in Tübingen , who also preached in other communities in the Zurich Oberland such as Wald and Wetzikon and also in meetings of awakened Christians. He lived temporarily on the Pfisterberg in Oberuster and previously worked for the Basel Mission . Fleischhauer renounced a job in the regional church. Fleischhauer came into contact with the Oxford Sanctification Movement, whose thoughts were brought to Germany and Switzerland by Robert Pearsall Smith in 1875.

In 1884 the Free Congregation was constituted as an internal church association under the name “Vereinshaus Uster” and later “Minority congregation of the regional church”, since all members of the new congregation were again also members of the reformed regional church.

"The Free Church only entered into a formal relationship with the Evangelical Society as a branch association in 1884."

- Helmut Meyer / Bernhard Schneider : Mission and Diakonie.

There has also been a Methodist church in Uster since 1880 . The Uster Salvation Army has been gathering since December 20, 1890.

In 1884 the free evangelical community asked the Zurich government to annul the resolution of 1870 so that nothing would stand in the way of the reintegration of the community under the roof of the Reformed Church. The reformed church council of the canton of Zurich then commissioned the district church administration Uster with the supervision of the club house Uster (association). Since the members of the Free Church in Uster were also members of the Reformed Church, they financed the former with voluntary gifts, the second with church taxes.

The formal collaboration with the Evangelical Society of Zurich existed from 1884 to 1979.

On March 17, 2009, the church order of the Evangelical Reformed Church of the Canton of Zurich from July 2, 1967 was replaced. The Protestant communities within the Zurich regional church are mentioned in Art. 14, but the rights and duties of the minority congregations towards the Church are no longer defined, in contrast to Art. 41 of the earlier version of the law. In addition, in today's version only relationships are mentioned, but no longer a closer relationship.

The church order of 2009 was implemented by the regional church in such a way that the FKU is no longer considered a minority parish of the reformed regional church. In 2016, the statutes of the Free Church Uster Association were adapted accordingly.

Own church building

Free Church Uster viewed from Apothekerstrasser.

On June 7, 1903, the building of the church was approved by the men's assembly of the Free Church of Uster. The construction was financed by loans and donations and cost CHF 73,000. According to the canton of Zurich, the year of construction is 1904. On July 16, 1905, the new assembly building was inaugurated.

“From 1911, when a positive pastor was elected to the majority parish of Uster for the first time , the relationship between the Free Church and it improved. When the village church was renovated in the 1930s, the Free Church made its church available to the majority. "

- Helmut Meyer / Bernhard Schneider : Mission and Diakonie.

In 1923 the Kuhn company installed an organ, which is rare in free churches . In the inventory of the cantonal Zurich monument preservation , the Free Church is referred to as a "neo-Gothic hall church with roof turrets and rectory on the east side". The church is protected by the Planning and Building Act PBG §204. In 1957 the interior was renovated for CHF 60,000 and a parish hall was added around the year 2000.

The building, which is popularly called Freichilä or Free Church , is known in earlier sources as the Free Evangelical Church . The building is on the list of objects of supra-communal importance of the cantonal monument preservation from 2012. This is the third highest building categorization class in terms of monument preservation, after the A and B lists. The building number (GVZ no.) Is 19802529. The canton of Zurich was classified as a historical monument on February 19, 1979.

sociology

From 1960 to 2008 the number of registered members in the Free Church Uster Association moved between 150 and 200. Around 1990 the Free Church Uster had around 180 members. In 2012, 141 members were counted.

Relationships

On March 4, 1917, the Protestant Christian party of the Uster district was founded by around 100 men in the Free Church of Uster at the suggestion of some Reformed people from Maur . This resulted in the Evangelical People's Party in Zurich .

The Free Church of Uster played a small role in the creation of the Swiss Free Church Association . After the authorities had banned free church meetings because of the great flu epidemic after the First World War, in contrast to regional churches and restaurants, some free churches, including the FKU and the minority community of Aarau, caused the Swiss Evangelical Alliance to submit a petition to the federal authorities to lift the ban on meetings made. However, the alliance as a group of individuals was not accepted by the authorities as a point of contact. As a result, the Association of Evangelical Free Churches and Congregations in Switzerland was founded on November 18, 1919 at the request of the Zurich Alliance Section in the minority community of Aarau . Since the mid-1990s, the FKU has not been a member of the Free Churches Association, as only those churches and associations that have at least ten full-time employees or 2,000 members can become members.

Legal

The Free Church Uster is organized as an association. The relationship between association autonomy and church autonomy is basically something special. For example, a post-doctoral dissertation from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz states : "The hierarchical internal organization of religious societies based on faith is thus an expression of the religious self-determination of the members and justifies special recognition and application of the principle of association autonomy."

literature

• Thomas C. Bolliger: Minorities of the Evangelical Reformed regional churches in Switzerland. State church law and canon law aspects. Theological Publishing House, Zurich 1984.
• Evangelical Society Zurich (Ed.): From holidays and working days - The Zurich Evangelical Society in 1912/13. , Evangelical Society, Zurich 1914.
• Helmut Meyer / Bernhard Schneider: Mission and Diakonie. The history of the Evangelical Society of the Canton of Zurich. Chronos, Zurich 2011, ISBN 978-3-0340-1060-3 .

See also

• List of cultural assets in Uster

Web links

• Free Church of Uster
• City of Uster: Information on the FKU

Individual evidence

1. ↑ EA-examination on each.ch (accessed 21 January 2012).
2. ↑ Betulius Walter: Friedrich Salomon Vögelin 1837–1888 - His contribution to Swiss intellectual life in the second half of the 19th century. Keller, Winterthur 1956.
3. ↑ From public holidays and working days. The Zurich Evangelical Society in 1912/13. Evangelical Society, Zurich 1914, p. 24.
4. ↑ Heinrich Bullinger: Christian life of faith. [1556] Limache s. ls a., ISBN 3-9520867-0-3 , p. 15.
5. ^ Helmut Meyer / Bernhard Schneider: Mission and Diakonie. The history of the Evangelical Society of the Canton of Zurich. Chronos, Zurich 2011, ISBN 978-3-0340-1060-3 , p. 11.
6. ^ Helmut Meyer / Bernhard Schneider: Mission and Diakonie. The history of the Evangelical Society of the Canton of Zurich. Chronos, Zurich 2011, ISBN 978-3-0340-1060-3 , p. 15.
7. ↑ Markus Sahli: On the relationship between church and state according to the Evangelical Reformed understanding. In: René Pahud de Mortanges / Erwin Tanner (ed.): Cooperation between the state and religious communities according to Swiss law. Schulthess, Zurich / Basel / Geneva 2005, ISBN 3-7255-4958-3 , p. 838.
8. ^ Helmut Meyer / Bernhard Schneider: Mission and Diakonie. The history of the Evangelical Society of the Canton of Zurich. Chronos, Zurich 2011, ISBN 978-3-0340-1060-3 , p. 15.
9. ↑ Rudolf J. Ehrlich: The Church of Scotland, In: The Reformed Churches. Evangelisches Verlagswerk, Stuttgart 1977. ISBN 3-7715-0164-4 .
10. ↑ Bruno Fritzsche / Max Lemmenmeier: The revolutionary transformation of the economy, society and the state 1780-1870 In: History of the Canton of Zurich. Volume 3. Foundation New Zurich Cantonal History / Werd-Verlag, Zurich 1994. ISBN 3-85932-155-2 . P. 154
11. ↑ From public holidays and working days. The Zurich Evangelical Society in 1912/13. Evangelical Society 1914, p. 25.
12. ↑ Ernst Felix: From the history of the Free Church Uster. in Gemeindegruss 150 (October 1991), p. 9 (kept in the Paul-Kläui-Bibliothek Uster).
13. ↑ From public holidays and working days. The Zurich Evangelical Society in 1912/13. Evangelical Society, Zurich 1914, p. 28.
14. ^ Paul Kläui: History of the community of Uster, local council Uster 1974. P. 340
15. ↑ Herbert Pfister / Peter Wettstein / Thomas Wohler: 1863-2013 / 150 years of Freiee Kirche Uster / anniversary publication . Free Church Uster, Uster 2013, p. 8
16. ^ Paul Kläui: History of the community of Uster, local council Uster 1974. P. 340
17. ↑ From public holidays and working days. The Zurich Evangelical Society in 1912/13. Evangelical Society, Zurich 1914, p. 30.
18. ↑ Congregation regulations of the free evangelical congregation in Uster 1876. Uster, 2013.
19. ↑ Gustav Fleischhauer: Memories of an old pastor. s. ls a. (kept in the Paul Kläui library in Uster).
20. ↑ Kaspar Wirz: Budget of the Zurich Ministry from the Reformation to the Present. Höhr, Zurich 1890, p. 187.
21. ^ Helmut Meyer / Bernhard Schneider: Mission and Diakonie. The history of the Evangelical Society of the Canton of Zurich. Chronos, Zurich 2011, ISBN 978-3-0340-1060-3 , p. 104.
22. ↑ Uster. Associations - Economy - Political Parties. proinfo, Solothurn 2012, p. 72.
23. ^ Helmut Meyer / Bernhard Schneider: Mission and Diakonie. The history of the Evangelical Society of the Canton of Zurich. Chronos, Zurich 2011, ISBN 978-3-0340-1060-3 , pp. 104-105.
24. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from April 24, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Systematic collection 181.10 compared to earlier 181.12 (accessed on: April 24, 2014).  
25. ^ Helmut Meyer / Bernhard Schneider: Mission and Diakonie. The history of the Evangelical Society of the Canton of Zurich. Chronos, Zurich 2011, ISBN 978-3-0340-1060-3 , p. 104.
26. ↑ Zurich churches. Sigristen-Kantonalverlag, Zurich 1975, p. 80.
27. ^ Helmut Meyer / Bernhard Schneider: Mission and Diakonie. The history of the Evangelical Society of the Canton of Zurich. Chronos, Zurich 2011, ISBN 978-3-0340-1060-3 , pp. 104-105.
28. ↑ Jürgen Tibusek: One Faith - Many Churches. The Christian Religious Communities - Who They Are and What They Believe. Brunnen, Giessen 1994, ISBN 3-7655-1008-4 , pp. 189-190.
29. ↑ Uster. Associations - Economy - Political Parties. proinfo, Solothurn 2012, p. 72.
30. ^ Rolf Ch. Strasser: Protestant parties and evangelical-conservative Christians. Text archive of the Evangelical Remote Library 1996–2001. http://texte.efb.ch/adpp.htm (accessed on January 25, 2011).
31. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from January 8, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on: January 30, 2015).  
32. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from January 8, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on: November 19, 2012)  
33. ^ Anja Steinbeck: Association autonomy and third-party influence. DeGruyter, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-11-016476-0 , p. 143.

Coordinates: 47 ° 20 '51.7 "  N , 8 ° 42' 56.4"  E ; CH1903:  six hundred ninety-six thousand four hundred ninety-four  /  244877