Institute for Research into Evangelism and Church Development

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Institute for research into evangelism and community development at
the Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald
(IEEG)
Institute for research into evangelism and community development at the Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald (IEEG)
Institute logo
Category: University institute
Carrier: University of Greifswald
Legal form of the carrier: Kdö.R.
Seat of the wearer: Greifswald
Facility location: Greifswald
Type of research: Applied research
Subjects: Practical theology
Basic funding: Third-party funding
Management: Michael Herbst
Employee: 11
Homepage: www.ieeg-egoswald.de

The Institute for Research into Evangelism and Church Development (IEEG) is a theological institution of the University of Greifswald . The university institute of the theological faculty is the only one in Germany that deals with the topics of evangelism and community development in university research and teaching . Its founding in 2004 was inspired by the EKD Synod in Leipzig in 1999. Interdisciplinary research results are made generally accessible in the faculty's range of courses, in publications, at symposia and conferences. The IEEG works in cooperation with the Working Group Missionary Services (AMD) and the Pomeranian Evangelical Church District of the Evangelical Church in Northern Germany (until 2012 Pomeranian Evangelical Church ). Michael Herbst is the director .

history

The EKD Synod 1999 in Leipzig worked on the main topic "Speeches from God in the world - The missionary mandate of the church on the threshold of the 3rd millennium." In a rally the Synod stated that "the congregations, the governing bodies, the full-time staff, the volunteers and all Christians [...] are called to reconsider their missionary mandate". Under Article IV, point 1, it was emphasized: "The Protestant Church puts the issue of faith and the missionary mandate in the first place, [...] passing on the faith and the growth of the congregations are our priority tasks, at this point our forces must be concentrated. "

The study published in May 2001 and approved by the EKD Council “Bringing the Gospel to the People. On the missionary service of the Church in our country. Hanover 2000. ”contained the proposal to establish an“ Institute for Evangelism ”.

The Synod of the Pomeranian Evangelical Church (PEK) decided on June 15, 2003 to provide the IEEG with a six-year pastoral position. As an agency for missionary services, the IEEG should take on tasks in the area of ​​the PEK. For this purpose, a parish priest was sent to this post for the first time by resolution of October 7, 2003. An agreement regulates the cooperation aspects.

After the original consideration of designing the institute in the legal form of a gGmbH as an affiliated institute , in December 2003 the opportunity arose to establish the new facility as an institute of the theological faculty. The Pomeranian Evangelical Church and the AMD Trust Council agreed. The Faculty Council of the Theological Faculty and the Senate of the University of Greifswald also agreed. The application to the rectorate was answered positively on January 27, 2004.

The institute started its work on April 1st, 2004. The institute was officially opened on May 6, 2004 with a symposium on "Missionary Perspectives for the Church of the Future". Under the title "Break up or go under" & # 147; The Catholic Viennese sociologist of religion and professor of pastoral theology Paul M. Zulehner Paul Zulehner gave a celebratory lecture. In addition to the Pomeranian Church, the two West German regional churches of Baden and Württemberg also financed employee positions at the IEEG. The founding directors were the theology professors Michael Herbst , holder of the chair for practical theology at the University of Greifswald, and Jörg Ohlemacher until his retirement in 2008.

From the establishment of the institute until 2010, the scientific managing director was Johannes Zimmermann, a doctor of the New Testament, whose position was financed from third-party funds provided by the Württemberg regional church. The Baden regional church sent Pastor Martin Reppenhagen to the IEEG. First, the work of the institute was structured with further scientific employees.

Goal setting

Michael Herbst describes the presence of "regular scientific speechlessness in questions of mission" and points to the challenge of "credible communication of the Gospel". The director of the IEEG formulates the aim of the institute research motto:

"Say what we believe and believe what we say. Church in congregation, school and society capable of speaking and providing information." (Michael Herbst)

At the regional synod of the Northern Church in November 2012, Bishop Hans-Jürgen Abromeit pointed out that the dialogue with non-denominational people in Pomerania “is particularly supported by the Institute for Research into Evangelism and Congregation Development (IEEG) at the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University in Greifswald. The church work in our rural and structurally weak areas is scientifically reflected on and further developed. "

Based on a theology of evangelism , the Greifswald Institute is to develop models for a missionary orientation in the work of parishes and pastors. Practical research approaches form a "hermeneutical foundation of a mission theology for the German-speaking, late or post-folk church context, development of evangelistic homiletics, theory and practice of new forms of worship for those who are distant from the church and those without a denomination."

Working method

IEEG headquarters, Rudolf-Petershagen-Allee 1

The main tasks of the IEEG's work are empirical research into the religious landscape and the investigation of historical issues relating to popular missions and community development.

The institute's work focuses on four major subject areas:

  • History and social science basics
  • Evangelism
  • Community development
  • Education, Diakonia and Mission.

The subject of research is also the connection between education and mission as well as the connection between diakonia and mission. The offers of the institute apply to the students of the theological faculty and serve the further education of pastors all over Germany. Churches and works are advised on questions of evangelism and community development. The reference to the Pomeranian Evangelical Church is a specialty. The institute performs the functions of an agency for missionary services in the area of ​​the Pomeranian Evangelical Church District. The institute provides advice for congregations - regarding the implementation of faith courses, perspective development processes, the introduction of new forms of worship, the support and promotion of volunteer workers, the establishment of house groups, etc.

Since the establishment of the institute, the employees have intensively researched fundamental questions of missionary church development . Among other things, it was investigated whether and how traditional forms of community can be enriched with new forms of expression of community work. International and ecumenical impulses for church development play an important role at the IEEG . Particular attention is paid to developments in the Anglican Church and the corresponding adaptation options. Experiences there with “fresh expressions of church” are being tested for the (East) German church sector. "Partnership for Missional Church" (PMC) is a missionary community development process from the USA and South Africa , the experiences of which are processed by the IEEG. The International Research Consortium for Congregational Studies and Social Sciences has met annually since 2004. Theologians and sociologists of religion from Amsterdam , Greifswald, Copenhagen , Oslo , Princeton , Saint Paul (Minnesota) and Stellenbosch are involved . German members of the consortium are Michael Herbst and Martin Reppenhagen from the IEEG.

Examples of research and supported projects are the Rotensee 2007 community planting in Bergen (current project name "next door") and the youth church in Stralsund , whose activities are scientifically supported by the IEEG. With a longitudinal study , the scientists recorded changes in the religiosity of young adults. For this purpose, participants of the Christival 2008 at the festival and 18 months later were asked about their ways of life and faith. Changes in religious attitudes in connection with biographical influences are researched.

A special service offer for pastors is the summer sabbatical . Congregational practitioners can reflect on their own work and study at the same time for a semester at the university in order to deepen their theological knowledge. A special feature is that this is done in a group of colleagues and with an accompanying program specially tailored to them.

On IEEG be promotions and Habilitation accompanied. Colloquia for doctoral students take place on a regular basis . Since 2004, several doctoral and habilitation projects have been successfully completed, which were published in the BEG series.

Cooperations

The EKD Center for Mission in the Region works closely with the IEEG. The IEEG accompanies the work of the center scientifically and brings in particular the perspective of strongly de-churched and peripheral rural regions.

In cooperation with the Alfried-Krupp-Wissenschaftskolleg , the institute regularly organizes conferences and symposia in Greifswald.

  • Working Group Missionary Services (AMD) in the Diakonisches Werk of the EKD
  • Workplace "Church in Dialogue" (Rostock)
  • International Research Consortium for Congregational Studies and Social Sciences
  • Missionary College in Stavanger (cooperation partner of the Theological Faculty)

society

The association for the promotion of research into evangelism and community development e. V. was founded in 2004. The board of directors includes the Nordkirchen Bishop Gerhard Ulrich , the Pomeranian Bishop Hans-Jürgen Abromeit , General Secretary of the AMD OKR Erhard Berneburg , Pastor Margret Laudan and IEEG Director Michael Herbst. According to the decision of the Greifswald tax office, donations for the association are tax-privileged because the purpose of the association is to promote science.

Publications

The institute sends out 2 newsletters, in German and published in English .

The IEEG publishes the scientific series "BEG" (articles on evangelism and community development) at Neukirchener Verlag . In this series of studies monographs , doctorates, habilitations, essays and congress reports appear.

In the practice series "BEG praxis" books are published which are geared towards church and community practice.

The course "EMMAUS - On the Path of Faith" originating from the Anglican Church was transferred to the German context and published by the IEEG.

Selection:

  • Michael Herbst, Jörg Ohlemacher, Johannes Zimmermann (eds.): Missionary Perspectives for a Church of the Future , Neukirchen-Vluyn 2008, ISBN 978-3-7887-2129-9 .
  • Michael Herbst, Ulrich Laepple (ed.): The missionary mandate of Diakonie (BEG 7), Neukirchen-Vluyn 2009, ISBN 978-3-7887-2354-5 .
  • Martin Reppenhagen (ed.): Church between postmodern culture and gospel (BEG 15), Neukirchen-Vluyn 2010, ISBN 978-3-7887-2452-8 .
  • Martin Reppenhagen (ed.): On the way to a missional church (BEG 17), Neukirchen-Vluyn 2011, ISBN 978-3-7887-2508-2 .
  • Martin Reppenhagen (Ed.): Conversion between empirical research and theological reflection (BEG 18), Neukirchen-Vluyn 2012, ISBN 978-3-7887-2552-5 .
  • John T. Finney: To Germany with Love (BEG-Praxis), Neukirchen-Vluyn 2011, ISBN 978-3-7615-5825-6 .
  • Thomas Schlegel, Martin Alex: Leuchtfeuer or Lichternetz (BEG practice), Neukirchen-Vluyn 2012, ISBN 978-3-7615-5882-9 .
  • Michael Herbst (Ed.): On the way of faith - The introduction , Neukirchen-Vluyn 2010, ISBN 978-3-7615-5770-9 .
  • Michael Herbst, Matthias Schneider: … we don't preach ourselves , Neukirchen-Vluyn 2012, ISBN 978-3-7615-5187-5 .

The 3E magazine appears with the participation of the IEEG. It wants to network people involved in the church, give ideas for church work and present innovative models and new initiatives within the EKD.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Demonstration on the main topic "Speeches from God in the world - The missionary mandate of the church on the threshold of the 3rd millennium" ( Memento of the original from February 2, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , on: EKD website, resolutions, November 11, 1999.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ekd.de
  2. ↑ Franz Helm, Martin Stowasser (ed.): Mission in the European Context: Interdisciplinary Contributions to a Contemporary Understanding of Mission , ViennaUniversityPress / V&R unipress 2011, p. 24.
  3. ↑ “ Bringing the Gospel to the People. On the missionary service of the Church in our country. Hanover 2000. ” , series“ EKD texts ”(vol. 68) 2001, excerpt:“ In an international comparison, academic research and teaching in evangelism in Germany are not as developed as would be necessary for the future of the church. The evangelizing action of the church needs scientific support. So far there has been no organizational framework to relate the findings relevant to evangelism in the individual theological disciplines to one another, to align them with practice in the churches and to analyze church practice in terms of its capacity for renewal. Such a thing could happen in an 'institute for evangelization' which is affiliated to an Evangelical Theological Faculty and supported jointly by several regional churches in the catchment area of ​​this faculty. It is recommended that the EKD include these considerations in its reform plans and investigate the willingness to implement them ”(p. 40).
  4. ↑ Agreement between PEK and IEEG  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , on: Homepage Church MV, under VII: Interchurch agreements; Mission and Ecumenism, accessed July 19, 2013.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.kirche-mv.de  
  5. ↑ epd: First institute for evangelization research opened in Greifswald , on: Kirche-MV.de, accessed on July 19, 2013.
  6. ↑ Rosalinde Conzelmann: The joy in Endingen is great , in: Zollern-Alb Kurier from September 25, 2010.
  7. ↑ Dörte Gebhard: Faith comes from hearsay | Studies on the renaissance of mission and apologetics , Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2011, p. 62.
  8. ↑ Silke Stöterau: Bishop's Council presents district reports and main areas of the northern church ( Memento of the original from February 1, 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. , on: nordkirche .de from November 15, 2012, accessed on July 19, 2013. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nordkirche.de
  9. ↑ Dörte Gebhard: Faith comes from hearsay | Studies on the renaissance of mission and apologetics , Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2011, p. 62.
  10. ↑ First institute for evangelization starts work in Greifswald , on: Church MV of March 31, 2004.
  11. ↑ Sybille Marx: In the middle of them  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , in: Evangelische Zeitung edition 22/2011 from June 3, 2011.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.dieevangelische.de  
  12. ↑ Summer Sabbatical ( Memento of the original from September 20, 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. , on the IEEG website, teaching and further education  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.theologie.uni-greifswald.de
  13. ↑ Rebekka Poesch: Sabbatical for Pastors - Even theologians sometimes have to recharge their batteries , in: Die Welt from May 23, 2010, accessed on July 24, 2013.
  14. ↑ Current and completed doctoral degrees and habilitation theses ( memento of the original from October 21, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.theologie.uni-greifswald.de
  15. ↑ BEG study series
  16. ↑ Practice series BEG praxis


Coordinates: 54 ° 5 '35.9 "  N , 13 ° 23' 34.4"  E