Mülheim declaration

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The Mülheim Declaration of 1909 was a response to the “ Berlin Declaration ” with which the pietistic community movement distanced itself from the burgeoning Pentecostal movement in the same year .

Already in 1905 a revival had begun in Mülheim an der Ruhr , which was shaped by the revival movement of Wales and was under the influence of the sanctification movement (and Keswick movement ). It was accompanied by a strong expectation for a new Pentecost. Leading men of the German community movement were shaped by these expectations. Influential were z. B. The Mülheim pastors Ernst Modersohn and Martin Girkon . " Gifts of the Holy Spirit " (healing illnesses, miraculous powers, prophetic speaking, differentiation of spirits , speaking in tongues) appliedua) as a direct sign of God's presence. In the so-called “Berlin Declaration” of September 15, 1909, the leaders of the community movement distanced themselves from the Pentecostal movement that was just emerging.

On the "II. Conference of the Pentecostal Movement ”on September 29, 1909, the unnamed authors then declared in three sections that they were aware of the dangers of the“ spiritual movement ”, but saw the“ love for Jesus ”as the driving force behind it. They also stated that the "offensive excesses" were for the most part pure rumors.

In January 2009, 100 years after the Berlin Declaration was signed, the Gnadau Community Association and the Mülheim Association of Free Church Evangelical Congregations published a joint declaration on the Berlin Declaration. These two associations are in the traditions of those two camps that faced each other in 1909, the Gnadauer Association in the tradition of the Berlin Declaration, and the Mülheim Association in the tradition of the Pentecostal movement and the Mülheim Declaration. The 2009 declaration states, among other things:

“We recognize in the 'Berlin Declaration' as well as in the Mülheim reply that there is a serious spiritual struggle to avert damage to the community of Jesus in critical times. However, these historical documents are of no significance for the current cooperation between the Gnadauer and Mülheimer Verband. We know that the Spirit of Jesus Christ is at work in the other movement. "

Furthermore, the declaration welcomes existing forms of cooperation between the two associations and confirms the intention to further intensify this cooperation in the future. Even in the declaration of 2009, however, the community movement could not bring itself to distance itself from its historical blanket judgment; reference has only been made to the current situation.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Joint declaration of the Evangelical Gnadau Community Association and the Mülheim Association of Free Church Evangelical Congregations on the "Berlin Declaration" of 1909. In: ead.de, an evangelical alliance in Germany. German Evangelical Alliance V., January 16, 2009, accessed January 20, 2011 .

literature

  • Ernst Giese: And mend the nets. Documents on the 20th century revival history. 2nd edition, Ernst Franz, Metzingen 1987, p. 103ff u. 129-133.

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