Mennonite Free Church Austria

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Logo of the MFÖ

The Mennonite Free Church Austria ( MFÖ ) is an association of several Mennonite congregations in Austria with a total of around 300 members. Through the merger with four other congregational federations ( Baptists , Evangelicals , Elaia Christian congregations , Free Christian congregation - Pentecostal congregation ), the religious community Free Churches in Austria was established as a legally recognized church in 2013 .

history

prehistory

The Mennonites are part of the Anabaptist movement that arose during the Reformation . The Anabaptist movement was particularly widespread in Tyrol from 1525 onwards. Their ideas were propagated in Austria by Balthasar Hubmaier , Jakob Huter , Hans Hut , Hans Schlaffer and Leonhard Schiemer , among others . Characteristic features were the baptism of believers and the separation of church and state . In Austria they were persecuted as heretics from 1527 . Nevertheless, in Upper Austria , for example , there were still communities belonging to the Philippine community in the 1530s .

The term "Mennonites" was derived from the name of the Anabaptist reformer Menno Simons , who came from the Dutch Friesland . Initially as a name for the North German-Dutch Anabaptists, the term was soon also used for Anabaptists from other regions.

Today's Austrian Mennonites tie in with a longer prehistory in Galicia at the time of the Habsburg Monarchy . At the end of the 18th century, Anabaptist Mennonites had settled in Galicia, which was then part of Austria. Their communities were partly tolerated and partly approved by the Viennese government (Emperor Josef II's settlement patents in 1781 and 1782 for Danube Swabians, Christian-Mennonite community Kiernica - Lemberg 1908). The Galician Mennonites published the Mennonite Community Gazette for Austria .

Second republic

Mennonite missions in Austria began after the Second World War, primarily through US and Canadian missionaries from the Mennonite Brethren . These were created in the 19th century by a pietistic revival movement within the Mennonite colonies in Russia. According to a recommendation of the international Mennonite Central Committee , which had been involved in charitable work in refugee work in Austria since 1947 , Linz was to become a new center for the Mennonite mission. This was taken up by the North American mission society Mennonite Brethren Mission and Service International  (MBMSI) and missionaries were sent to Austria, including Abe and Irene Neufeld. The aim was to found independent congregational congregations. For this purpose, the Working Group of Mennonite Brethren in Austria  (AMBÖ) was established around 1970 . In 1958 Mennonite communities were founded in Linz and Steyr . In the same year the first assembly building was opened. Other communities later emerged in Vienna , Wels , Salzburg and Gmunden . The development can be seen in the magazine Quelle des Lebens (published from 1958 to 1995).

The Mennonites were able to assert themselves in Austria through a sponsoring association and working groups, but had limited opportunities due to legal restrictions. In the last census in 2001, 381 Austrians committed to the Mennonite Free Church. On July 30, 2001, the Mennonite Free Church Austria was registered as a religious denominational community .

After the Salzburg Peace Community was dissolved in 2010 , there were still five Mennonite communities in Austria.

Legal recognition from 2013

An application by the Mennonite Free Church for recognition as a legally recognized church was rejected in 2009 by the Federal Minister for Education, Art and Culture. Since the small number of members stood in the way as an obstacle (which has to be more than 2 ‰ of the population, about 16,000, for recognition), the application was made with reference to the tolerance of the Mennonites who once lived in Imperial Austrian Galicia. The following complaint by the Mennonites was dismissed as unfounded by the Administrative Court in 2012.

In order to gain state recognition as a church community, the Mennonite Free Church joined forces in 2013 with other Evangelical Free Churches, the Federation of Baptist Congregations , the Federation of Evangelical Congregations , the Free Christian Congregation - Pentecostal Congregation and the Elaia Christian Congregations to form the umbrella organization Free Churches in Austria  (FKÖ), the then officially recognized as a church (religious society ) since August 2013 by ordinance of the Minister of Education ( Federal Law Gazette II No. 250/2013 ).

organization

Church members are baptized Christians who have joined a local church. Possibilities to leave are deregistration with the district authority, exclusion, deletion, transfer to another municipality or death. All active members are entitled to vote in the community assembly. The general assembly, to which the community assembly sends delegates, has a higher priority. The seat of the Free Church as an organization is Vienna-Liesing  (23rd).

The Mennonite Free Church Austria has been publishing the magazine Together since 1992 .

At the international level, the Mennonite Free Church is a member of the International Committee of Mennonite Brethren and also an associated member of the Mennonite World Conference .

Communities
communities of Mennonites (as of mid 2014):

  • Mennonite Free Church Vienna , Vienna-Meidling
  • Mennonite Free Church Wels , Upper Austria
  • Mennonite Free Church of Steyr , Upper Austria
  • Mennonite Free Church Gmunden
  • Mennonite Free Church Linz , Upper Austria

See also

literature

  • Franz Rathmair: History of the Mennonites in Austria from 1947 to 1987. In: Yearbook for the history of Protestantism in Austria . 119, 2003, pp. 244-282 ( anno.onb.ac.at ).
  • Franz Graf-Stuhlhofer : Free churches in Austria since 1846. On the sources and on questions of method. In: Yearbook for the history of Protestantism in Austria. No. 124/125 (2008/2009), Evangelische Verlags-Anstalt, Leipzig 2010, pp. 270–302 ( anno.onb.ac.at ).
  • Martin Podobri: The Mennonites in Austria. Origin, historical development and outlook. Volume 9 in the series Studies on the History of Christian Movements of the Reformation Tradition in Austria. Publishing house for culture and science, Bonn 2014, ISBN 978-3-86269-027-5 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ As presented by Karl Schwarz: The Mennonite Free Church in Austria and its historical recognition. In: Austrian Archive for Law and Religion. 51, 2004, pp. 149-165.
  2. ↑ a b Decision of the Administrative Court (VwGH) , business number 2010/10/0230, September 20, 2012 (online, ris.bka ) - with detailed justification.
  3. ^ Mennonite Free Church Austria wants to be a recognized church. Mennonews.de, March 2, 2005;
    see article Galicia (Poland & Ukraine) , Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online, GAMEO.org.
  4. ↑ Martin Podobri: When death leads to new life ... In: Johann Hirnsperger, Christian Wessely (Ed.): Paths to salvation? Religious confessional communities in Austria: Elaia Christengemeinden (...) (= theology in cultural dialogue. 7c). Innsbruck 2014, pp. 169–180, there 169.
  5. ↑ Municipalities ( Memento from June 24, 2014 in the web archive archive.today ) , mennoniten.at

L.

  1. ↑ Mennonite Free Church Vienna (mfw.at)
  2. ↑ Mennonite Free Church in Wels (mfwels.at)
  3. ↑ Mennonite Free Church of Steyr (gemeinde-am-schlosspark.at)
  4. ↑ Mennonite Free Church Linz (mflinz.at)

Coordinates: 48 ° 8 '11.5 "  N , 16 ° 17' 0.7"  E