Church for Christ

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The Congregation for Christ (GfC) is a Pietist free church with roots and a majority in the canton of Bern . Founded in 1909 as an association of the Free Blue Cross , it was renamed Evangelischer Brüderverein (EBV) in 1914 and then in 2009 as Congregation for Christ . In 2017 there were around 75 municipalities in Switzerland and 25 in Germany; However, no information is given about the number of people attending the service, it is estimated to be around 10,000.

history

Origins

The origins of the community go back to the awakening movement in the Emmental , Gürbetal and the Bernese Oberland in the 19th century and specifically to the so-called sanctification movement . At that time, men like Elias Schrenk , Arnold Bovet and Franz Eugen Schlachter worked in Bern as part of the Evangelical Society . In the wake of the butcher also lay evangelists such as Albrecht cheese maker (1860-1937), were Christian Grünig (1858-1925), Christian Portner (1870-1951), Gottfried Schwarz (1877-1958), Fritz Ryser (1857-1926), Christian Streit (1846–1926), Christian Fankhauser (1863–1937) or Fritz Schüpbach (1841–1917).

Fritz Berger

The founder of the Evangelical Brothers Association Fritz Berger (1868–1950) also came from this environment. By profession he was a Wagner and small farmer. He suffered from alcoholism , gambling addiction and poaching . According to his own statements, he experienced a conversion in 1899 , joined the Blue Cross , began a decent lifestyle and became abstinent . Exactly three years later he experienced a rebirth and experienced a deep assurance of salvation .

founding

Fritz Berger then began to work within the framework of the Blue Cross and the Evangelical Society . In 1908 he was expelled from the Evangelical Society for working with the suspended evangelists Portner and Grünig. In 1909 he founded the Dürrgraben Association of the Free Blue Cross. From 1913 own assembly buildings were built. In 1914 the plant was converted into an association and renamed the Evangelical Brother Association .

First evangelists

The plant employed its own full-time preachers, so-called evangelists, such as B. 1917 Johann Schneider. Fritz Berger also worked full-time. In the Bernese Jura, the manufacturer Louis Schwab worked in the spirit of Berger. Fritz Röthlisberger was one of the other evangelists in the work. He had come to believe through Fritz Berger.

Spread to Germany

In the following years the work expanded continuously and also opened branches in Germany , e.g. For example, at Karl Kugler from the Weidenhof near Welzheim and in Stuttgart-Vaihingen , a gathering was set up around Jakob Braun. In southern Germany , local congregations with their own meetinghouses then continuously emerged. Meetings were also held in the halls and rooms provided. There are now individual meeting places in other parts of Germany; In 2017 there were a total of 25 meeting places. In addition to several smaller regional evangelistic campaigns, there are two large conferences each year. In Germany, too, their own evangelists were gradually employed.

organization

The congregation for Christ is organized according to Swiss association law. The fraternity consists of the delegates from each congregation. The management is done by the committee, which distributes the tasks to various commissions. The association is represented by the president. There are no member lists and no membership fees; because a member is who is born again and counts himself to the meetings of the congregation. Financing is done exclusively through voluntary contributions. Similar regulations apply to Germany.

Presidents of the Church for Christ

From 1914 to 1929, Hans Stucki was the first president of the Evangelical Brothers Association. He was succeeded by Fritz Berger in 1929. After his death in 1950, his son-in-law Max Graf became president. He was followed by Fritz Pulfer in 1979, Max Schlumpf in 2001 and Beat Strässler in 2007.

cleavage

In the 1960s, the Brethren Association, which at that time had around 240 meeting places in Switzerland, split into a larger, more conservative and a smaller, more open direction. The conservatives stuck to the previous delimiting and legal doctrine, centralistic and authoritarian leadership; the more open people wanted changes that could be more biblically justified and lived. In particular, 45 men under the leadership of the evangelist Peter Zürcher constituted themselves on December 9, 1967 to form the Association of Free Missionary Congregations (VFMG). In a short time 70 congregations and assemblies came into being, which today work closely with the Free Evangelical Congregations and the St. Chrischona pilgrim mission . After the split, the Brotherhood still had 168 meeting places.

Reorientation

The more conservative direction went through a reform since the beginning of the 21st century with the aim of proclaiming the biblical teaching unreservedly, without sectarian tendencies (“self-carved hobbyhorses”) and in a simple but contemporary framework and largely to forego fundamentalist details.

The relationship between the Church for Christ and the Association of Free Missionary Churches has also relaxed significantly. In 2009, on the initiative of the leadership of the church for Christ, a reconciliation meeting took place to deal with the split of 1967 and to continue in peace as two church associations.

After a comprehensive survey of members, the Brothers Council decided by a large majority to give the congregation the new name “Congregation for Christ” on the occasion of the 100th anniversary on July 4, 2009 . The Evangelical Brothers Association in Germany joined this name change in 2010.

Central teachings

  • Authority of the Bible as the inspired word of God
  • Differentiation between repentance, conversion and rebirth
  • Sanctification is setting apart from the world for a life with God
  • Salvation in Christ according to Rom 6  LUT –8 LUT

mission

Since 1954, the Brotherhood has had its own missionary activity in Papua New Guinea under the name Swiss Evangelical Brotherhood Mission (SEBM). In 1974 a local church with the name Evangelical Brotherhood Church (EBC) was founded. It comprised over 100,000 Papuans in 2012 and employed 173 local pastors and 1,800 Sunday School teachers. After up to 80 Swiss and German missionaries were active in the 1970s, in 2012 only 41 western missionaries were mainly active in support and counseling services, which is continuing to decline.

Later there were mission fields in Australia , Austria , France , Canada and among guest workers in Switzerland . In Romania , Italy , Ghana and Bolivia as well as within the framework of the mission airline Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF), missionaries of the Evangelical Brothers' Association support pastors and missionaries from other evangelical free churches. Christian literature in many languages ​​is sent all over the world through the dissemination of Christian writings in Biel .

Cooperation with other communities

By tradition, the church for Christ is not a member of higher organizations such as B. the Evangelical Alliance . But it teaches that all converted and born again Christians form the worldwide church of Christ, regardless of which organization they belong to. The congregation maintains friendly contacts with Christians from other evangelical free churches and missions, mainly of a conservative character, and also makes its infrastructure available to them. The evangelists (preachers) are not only trained in their own Bible school in Widibühl near Oberdiessbach , but also in cooperation with other Bible schools, such as the Academy for World Mission (AWM) in Korntal and the State-independent Theological University (STH) in Basel . The training of the employees in child and youth work takes place in collaboration with the child evangelization movement (KEB) in Bern . In 2018, the community association had observer status with the Association of Evangelical Free Churches and Congregations in Switzerland .

literature

General publications

Community publications

  • Fritz Berger: About the exuberant grace of God in my life. 1988.
  • Ernst Käser: The justification of life. 1984.
  • Keep my word 75 years of the Evangelical Brothers Association 1909-1984. Publisher of the Evangelical Brothers Association, Herbligen BE, 1985.
  • An open door in Papua New Guinea. 25 years mission of the Evangelical Brothers Association. 1975.
  • Monthly peace message : own German-language editions for Switzerland, Germany and Austria. Also editorially independent editions in French, Italian, English and Spanish.
  • Monthly magazine Auf der Spur (formerly Schäflihirt ) for children. Similar publications in French ( Le Petit Messager ) and Spanish ( Rescatados ).
  • Anniversary brochure: On the road with Christ - Review - 100 years of the Evangelical Brothers Association , 2009.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bernhard von Allmen and Walter Donzé: Always reflecting on God's vision anew , ideaSpektrum No. 32/33 August 17, 2017, pp. 10–11
  2. ↑ Rudolf Dellsperger, Markus Nägeli, Hansueli Ramser: On your word. Berchtold Haller Verlag, Bern, 1981, ISBN 3-85570-082-6
  3. ^ Alfred Güdel: Fritz Berger and the Evangelical Brothers Association. A contribution to the investigation of religious trends in the canton of Bern since the end of the 19th century . Basler and Berner studies on historical and systematic theology, Bern, 1980, ISBN 3-26104-671-6
  4. ↑ GfC Germany website with an overview of the municipalities
  5. ↑ Evangelical Brothers Association: On the Road with Christ - Review - 100 Years of Evangelical Brothers Association , 2009. pp. 18–20.
  6. ↑ Helena Gysin: History of a Separation , ideaSpektrum No. 32/33 August 17, 2017, pp. 12–15
  7. ↑ Bernhard von Allmen and Walter Donzé: Always reflecting on God's vision anew , ideaSpektrum No. 32/33 August 17, 2017, pp. 10–11
  8. ↑ Sanctification: Definition of terms
  9. ^ Heidi Gmür: Promised Missionaries , NZZ, Zurich December 18, 2012
  10. ↑ https://freikirchen.ch/organisation/beobachter/