Frerich Bohlken

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Bohlken at a Northwest German mission workers conference (bottom row, second from left)

Frerich Bohlken (born November 1, 1812 in Halsbek , Westerstede office ; † April 23, 1871 Halsbek ) was a farmer and a leading figure in the first generation of northwest German Baptist congregations . The introduction of the " civil marriage " in 1855 goes back to his submissions to the Grand Duke of Oldenburg .

Beginnings

Frerich Bohlken was born into a simple Ammerland farming family. His parents ran a so-called quarter farm . He attended elementary school in Halsbek until his 14th birthday . His father, who taught him how to use the Bible , died very early, so that Bohlken was already confronted with the task of taking over his father's farm as an adolescent. In order to improve his meager income, he began trading in wood. In his memoirs it says:

“When I stood by my workbench at times, I couldn't help but rush off to a lonely place to pray. Books lay open at my work to be read. Around this time a Christian friend from Aurich -Oldendorf ( East Friesland ), who had traveled abroad with a brother, often visited me and told me about the prayer hours he had attended on the trip, which I did not know. "

Through this contact he became a seeker of truth. As a result of his Bible study, he experienced a deep conversion to Christianity and began to speak to neighbors and business friends about his newfound faith.

Bohlken's path to the Baptists

His business trips also took him to neighboring Jever . Here he met the bookseller Anton Friedrich Remmers and former assistant teacher Johann Ludwig Hinrichs . Both belonged to the young Jever Baptist church, which they also presided over as elders . He invited them to Halsbek and opened his house for Bible studies , which both of them led. His personal Bible study and the exchange with Remmers and Hinrichs made Bohlken want to receive the baptism of believers . On February 1, 1844, he was baptized in Varel by the deacon Heinrich Krüger, member of the board of the Hamburg Baptist Congregation. He was the first Baptist in the Ammerland.

Church planting in Halsbek-Felde-Westerstede

In the period that followed, Bohlken developed a strong missionary commitment. He invited to meetings at which he soon preached. He used his native Low German language. His preaching was characterized on the one hand by great simplicity and on the other hand by extensive knowledge of the Bible. Just five years after his baptism, the Halsbek Baptist congregation was founded, which was later renamed the Felde Baptist congregation after the prayer house was built in Felde (1850). The house of prayer, which still exists and is used today, is the oldest Baptist church in Germany. In the meantime, the focus of Baptist church work in the Ammerland has shifted to Westerstede and Bad Zwischenahn .

As a community leader, Frerich Bohlken was in constant dispute with church and state authorities. The files that can be viewed in the Oldenburg State Archives include a. the story of a maid employed by Bohlken, whose outstanding confirmation was requested by the Lutheran regional church through official channels. As was the custom at the time, Bohlken had to ensure that his servants and maids took part in confirmation classes. Bohlken refused to influence his maid because "she herself had seen the unbiblical nature of this custom". As a result, Frerich Bohlken was sentenced to a significant fine. Since he couldn't pay her, a cow was seized. The maid, who was sentenced several times to shorter prison terms due to her refusal to attend confirmation class, later joined the Felde Baptist church.

Bohlken and civil marriage

Bohlken's wife Helena-Sophia (née Frers) died on February 1, 1848. A good four months later he wrote to the Westerstede office: "Since my wife died on February 1st of this year, I feel compelled to take a wife in view of the current situation in my situation for the second time ..."

At that time, marriages were only possible through appointed clergy from the respective state church . Since Bohlken in connection with his baptism in the Lutheran State Church had left, he considered it "messy [...] when I ought to be instructed to obtain the validity of marriage, to appeal to a preacher of such a church. " In the further course of the letter, Bohlken, as a staunch Free Church member , rejected any amalgamation of state and church and asked the grand-ducal authority in Oldenburg " to schedule an appointment for me to enter into a contract to make the marriage valid. "

This entry is given a negative decision: “... and a contract cannot be concluded before the office. According to local law (note: law of 1814), priestly blessing is an essential requirement for the full validity of a closed marriage . "

Bohlken's tombstone on the Felde Baptist Cemetery

Bohlken objected to this decision. He declared his willingness to be “blessed priestly” and therefore proposed Johann Gerhard Oncken , the founder of the German Baptist congregations, as his pastor.

When the authorities again reacted negatively, Bohlken took the route of civil disobedience . He published an advertisement in the Oldenburgischer Anzeiger , in which he announced the following to the public: We recommend ourselves to all friends and acquaintances as fiancés: Frerich Bohlken zu Halsbek in the Westerstede office, born in 1812, November 1, A. Elisabeth Wehlau, born in 1819 , September 11th. Since up to now, requests to the relevant government authorities up to the highest order of this country for an instruction and provision to enter into marriage before the same have not been sufficient, it is therefore intended in the next month of August to enter into marriage in front of a preacher of the evangelically baptized communities , and those who think they have something against it are hereby invited to turn to the undersigned. Frerich Bohlken.

On August 29, 1848, Frerich Bohlken and Elisabeth Wehlau were married in Johann Gerhard Oncken's apartment in the presence of witnesses from the Baptist congregations of Jever and Bremen . He had previously obtained a certificate from the Westerstede Office that there was nothing wrong with getting married.

Bohlken's marriage was of course not recognized. The three children born in this marriage were considered out of wedlock. It was not until May 31, 1855 that the Grand Duke of Oldenburg, Nikolaus Friedrich Peter, issued a law on civil marriage . The Varel Baptist pastor August Friedrich Wilhelm Haese and his fiancée Metta Schütte were the first to be married under civil law on the basis of this law, and Bohlken repeated his marriage seven years after his actual marriage before the Westerstede office.

Martin Hood Wilken, envoy from the British Baptist Union, met Bohlken at the Conference of Continental Baptist Congregations in Hamburg in 1857. In a report for Primitive Church Magazine he described him as follows: [I met] good old Frerich Bohlken there, too tireless perseverance and unyielding steadfastness, and practically single-handedly, has convinced the government to gradually reduce its harsh actions, so that it has so far successfully achieved almost complete religious freedom for him and his (religious) brothers. He is a simple, uneducated man, but obviously of a strong and determined character, and yet at the same time a truly humble Christian spirit.

literature

  • Evangelical-Free Church Community Westerstede (ed.): Br. Bohlken, the loyal servant of the Lord , Westerstede 1989
  • Günter Balders (Ed.): One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism. 150 Years of Baptist Congregations in Germany , Kassel 1985, ISBN 3-7893-7883-6
  • Margarete Jelten: Under God's roof tiles. Beginnings of Baptism in Northwest Germany , Bremerhaven 1984
  • Rudolf Donat: The growing work. Expansion of the German Baptist congregations over 60 years (1849–1909) , Kassel 1960
  • Friedrich Oltmanns: Frerich Bohlken . In the magazine: Missionsblatt , Cassel 1872 (Part I January 1872; Part II February 1872)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ quoted from Joseph Lehmann: History of the German Baptists , Volume II (revised by Friedrich Wilhelm Herrmann), Cassel 1922, p. 36
  2. ^ Joseph Lehmann: History of the German Baptists , Volume II (revised by Friedrich Wilhelm Herrmann), Cassel 1922, p. 36
  3. ↑ Martin Hood Wilken: To the Editor of the Primitive Church Magazine , in: The Primitive Church Magazine , Vol XIII, London, p. 288, Sp II - available online at Google Books ; Accessed October 30, 2008
personal data
SURNAME Bohlken, Frerich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Farmer and figure in the first generation of the northwest German Baptist congregations
DATE OF BIRTH November 1, 1812
PLACE OF BIRTH Halsbek , Westerstede Office
DATE OF DEATH April 23, 1871
Place of death Halsbek