Small Christian Communities

In the Roman Catholic Church in German-speaking countries, the term Small Christian Communities (KCG) describes a content-pastoral and at the same time structural-organizational model of church life in a parish .

definition

"Small Christian Communities" in Germany is the code for processes of local church development that try to realize the church vision of the Second Vatican Council : Church is God's people on the way, in which every baptized and confirmed bearer of the Holy Spirit and as a Part of this church is called and gifted to contribute something to the development and life of the church in the congregations. The name "Small Christian Communities" is taken from the term "Small Christian Communities" , which is used in Africa and Asia for the decentralized substructures of large parishes in which the parishioners meet regularly in their social area ("neighborhood"). The KCG are not groups, but meetings of the active parishioners of a KCG district to which all Catholics who live there belong. The English word “community” has to be translated here both with “community” and with “community”.

The cipher "Small Christian Communities" stands for a new way of being church and has the following elements:

Principle of networking KCGs

Community: Regular meetings as a church on site in the area of the neighborhood, the social area, the settlement or the village (usually in private apartments).
Spirituality: Common prayer and Bible sharing as a liturgical celebration of the presence of Jesus in the word of the Scriptures and in community.
Action: Social and church action are integrated; Listening to the Word of God helps the KCG to discover its mission and to perceive with sensitivity what its specific task here and now is for its specific living space and for the parish to which it belongs.
Church: Networking with the parish and thus with the entire church: the Small Christian Community is connected to the church through specific network structures (commissioning, meetings of the KCG leaders with the parish leadership, training courses, etc.)
Leadership: In this model leadership is ideally perceived not to be dominant at all levels of the parish and diocese, but rather participatory, enabling and strengthening and inspiring people.

origin

The pastoral model of the Small Christian Communities was created during and, increasingly after, the Second Vatican Council at the same time in Latin America, Asia (here first in Mindanao , Philippines), Africa (East Africa and South Africa). In all three continents, the term “ basic ecclesiastical communities ” ( Basic Ecclesial Communities; Comunidades Eclesiales de Base ) was used to denote the parish substructures of the often huge parishes . The term “Small Christian Communities” as a designation for decentralized parish substructures did not emerge until the 1970s and is in use today in South and East Africa and in parts of Asia. In some dioceses the often numerous chapel congregations in large parishes are called “basic ecclesiastical congregations” and their neighborhood subdivisions are called “small Christian communities”.

Small Christian communities or basic church communities are widespread in the Catholic Church today in almost all countries of the world. There are regional conceptual differences, as the concrete form of this participatory approach from the church to the specific social, cultural and (church) political situation arises in processes of local church development.

In German-speaking countries, u. a. The shortage of priests and the associated formation of large pastoral spaces (intensified since 2000) prompted the Catholic dioceses to think about how faith and the Church with its service for the people on site in the districts, quarters and villages and can stay alive even with fewer full-time staff. In this situation, pastoral impulses from the local churches in the south, which work according to the model of the Small Christian Communities and Church Base Congregations, are very inspiring and have set in motion a process of learning and experimentation in which pastoral actors from pastoral care offices and parishes network across diocesan borders are.

In Africa, the pastoral institute of the South African Bishops' Conference in Lumko helped to develop and shape the model through the development of practical methods. In Asia, for example, B. in the Philippines as well as with the help of Lumko from 1990 on behalf of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences FABC developed the "Asian Integral Pastoral Approach" (AsIPA). The Roman Catholic Pastoral Institute in Singapore as well as a number of other Catholic institutions, experts and dioceses in Asia were involved in this.

The dissemination of information about this church model in Germany was strongly promoted by the international Catholic missionary organization Missio in Aachen and Munich, which had financially supported the development of this pastoral approach in Africa and Asia for over 30 years.

Difference to "spiritual movements"

There are a variety of spiritual movements in the Catholic Church, each of which cultivates a particular form of spirituality. The spiritual communities are organized on a supra-parish basis.

Small Christian communities are not part of the New Spiritual Movements in the Catholic Church. They are a subdivision of the local parish. In the Catholic Church, the parish is a geographic, pastoral area that is structured differently and of different sizes depending on the country or region. In the model of the Small Christian Communities, members of the parish meet regularly in private apartments in their geographical vicinity (neighborhood, district, settlement, village) to practice their liturgical and parish life. In doing so, they take on tasks in the social and ecclesiastical areas for their specific area.

Small Christian communities do not follow a basic spiritual direction like spiritual movements, but remain parish-related and thus also open to all members of the parish in the specific part of the parish. Depending on the size of the parish, there can be up to 300 Small Christian Communities. In Germany, the number of Small Christian Communities in the parishes that are on the way to this pastoral approach has so far been lower.

aims

The main goal of the Small Christian Communities is the greatest possible participation of the faithful in the execution of church life. Believers are the subjects of church life and through the Small Christian Communities can live more intensely and closer than church to people and discover their mission for these people and translate it into social and church activities. Priests and full-time officials in the parish support the members of the Small Christian Communities by exercising leadership as a service to the unity and by training leaders and members of the groups for their service to the people.

Through the Small Christian Communities, the church is supposed to be alive in the neighborhoods, villages, settlements and quarters and to serve the people who live there.

Development of the Small Christian Communities in Germany

Since 2000, the international Catholic missionary organization Missio has initiated and supported a continuous development of the pastoral model of the Small Christian Communities in Germany. In various German dioceses, parishes have begun to live in the spirit of the Small Christian Communities approach, to set up such groups and thus to make community life livelier (e.g. the dioceses of Hildesheim, Hamburg, Osnabrück, Würzburg, Augsburg, Eichstätt, but also Zurich and Basel in Switzerland). Almost everywhere, the development of Small Christian Communities is still in its infancy. They are pilot projects that are accompanied by the ordinariats and pastoral offices.

A delegation from the German Bishops' Conference went on a study trip to South Korea in April 2009 to get to know the pastoral model of the Small Christian Communities better. In the Archdiocese of Seoul alone there are 20,000 Small Christian Communities with around 250,000 members.

Since 2004, employees in the development of Small Christian Communities from various German dioceses have networked and the “National Team Small Christian Communities in Germany” has been formed to coordinate the development as well as courses and events. In addition to annual networking meetings, international scientific symposia have taken place in 2006, 2008 and 2010, some of the results of which are also available in book form. The national team designs and maintains a website as an information and communication platform.

literature

Oswald Hirmer, Georg Steins: Community in Word. Workbook on Bible sharing, Munich 1999

Klaus Vellguth: The sun rises in the east , in: Pastoralblatt 10/2002, 251-254

Norbert Nagler: Spirituality and community education - a new way of being a church , In: Lebendige Seelsorge , issue 4/2005

Dieter Tewes: Church in the Neighborhood - From AsIPA to Small Christian Communities . In: Lebendige Seelsorge , issue 4/2005

Klaus Vellguth: A new way of being the church, the emergence and spread of the Small Christian Communities and Bible sharing in Africa and Asia, Freiburg Theological Studies , Freiburg 2005

Bernd Lutz: Small Christian communities - a global but very heterogeneous phenomenon. In: Pastoral Theological Information, Issue 1/2006

Alexander Foitzik: Church in the neighborhood. World church impulses for community renewal. In: Herder Korrespondenz 9/2006

Oswald Hirmer: Small Christian Communities - a powerful tool for internal reform of the church. In: Anzeiger für die Seelsorge, 9/2006

Matthias Kaune / Christian Hennecke: More than sharing the Bible. On the way to a “church in the neighborhood” in the diocese of Hildesheim. In: Anzeiger für die Seelsorge 9/2006

Simone Rappel: A new way of being a church, pastoral work from Africa and Asia - an inspiration for Germany? In: Anzeiger für die Seelsorge 9/2006

Dieter Tewes: So that the local church stays alive. Small Christian communities in the community network. In: Anzeiger für die Seelsorge , 9/2006

Klaus Vellguth: The Hermeneutics of Bible Sharing. When Christianity takes hold of its roots , in: Anzeiger für die Seelsorge 116 (2007) 5, 20-23.

Josef Schäfers: Small Christian communities in this country. Reports from a symposium . In: Diakonia 3/2007

Klaus Vellguth: The hour of bible sharing was born. East and South African roots of a Bible pastoral method , in: Catholic Biblical Federation (ed.), Bulletin Dei Verbum No. 84/85 (German edition), 3–4 2007, 19–25.

Klaus Vellguth: A new way of being a church. Origin and spread of the Small Christian Communities and Bible Sharing in Africa and Asia , in: Pastoralblatt 10/2007, 311-316.

Bernhard Spielberg: Imported goods or driving force? What is the Asian Integral Pastoral Approach? In: Diakonia 3/2007

Small Christian Communities - a new way to be church with people. Goals - stage of development - principles. Basic texts on the pastoral model of the Small Christian Communities in Germany , ed. from the national team KCG Germany, April 1st, 2008

Christian Hennecke (ed.): Understanding Small Christian Communities , Würzburg, 2009

Klaus Vellguth: Large African Family and Small Christian Communities. Reflections on the Foundation of the Small Christian Communities , in: Zeitschrift für Missionswissenschaft und Religionswissenschaft 93 (2009) 1–2, 48–57.

Alexander Foitzik: New forms of community life - a conversation with Regens Christian Hennecke about images of churches . In: Herder Korrespondenz 4/2010

Dieter Tewes / Klaus Vellguth: Thinking the church from the ground up. Small Christian communities as a model of a church in close proximity (together with Dieter Tewes), in: Anzeiger für die Seelsorge 119 (2010) 10, 33–36.

Klaus Vellguth: Between inculturation of a prophetic approach and prophetic contextualization , in: Mariano Delgado / Michael Sievernich (eds.), Mission and prophecy in times of interculturality. FS for the 100th anniversary of the International Institute for Mission Research 1911-2011 , St. Ottilien 2011, 261–271.

Klaus Vellguth: Father of Bible Sharing. Obituary for Oswald Hirmer , in: Verbum SVD 52 (2011) 4, 511-513.

Klaus Vellguth: So that the flame burns. Ways of Biblical Pastoral Care in Africa , in: Bibel und Kirche 67 (2012) 3, 176-180.