Chrischona International

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Chrischona International
logo
founding 1840
founder Christian Friedrich Spittler
Seat St. Chrischona SwitzerlandSwitzerland
resolution 2018
motto Experience Jesus - promote people - serve your neighbor
main emphasis Pietist community association and theological training center
Action space Switzerland , Germany , France , South Africa , Namibia and Luxembourg
people René Winkler (last director)
Website chrischona.org

Chrischona International (formerly the St. Chrischona pilgrimage mission until May 2014) was an evangelical community association in the pietistic tradition. 2019, the association's work has been set and some of the tasks to the points arising from this subsidiary Association Theological Seminary St. Chrischona (tsc) passed.

In 2018 there were almost 200 municipalities in Switzerland, Germany, France, South Africa, Namibia and Luxembourg. The communities continue to exist. They are frequented by around 20,000 visitors a week. They are still part of their national associations. Only the international association work was ended.

The origin and center of Chrischona International was in the hamlet of St. Chrischona , on the mountain of the same name in the municipality of Bettingen near Basel .

Faith

Chrischona International did not formulate any of its own confessions, but recognized the old church and Reformation confessions and represented the theological positions of the Evangelical Alliance and the Lausanne commitment .

In the Chrischona congregations, an evangelical faith with an evangelical character is represented.

In Switzerland , the almost 100 Chrischona parishes are members of the Association of Evangelical Free Churches and Parishes in Switzerland (VFG).

In Germany , the Chrischona community work is a free work within the Evangelical Church and belongs to the Evangelical Gnadauer Community Association ( community movement ). The Chrischona joint venture includes 69 communities and some plants, such as the Chrischona Service Society and the Flensunger Hof leisure and conference center in Mücke .

The spread of Christian values ​​in the form represented by St. Chrischona is promoted by a separate theological seminar, which was formerly called the St. Chrischona Pilgrimage Mission and is now called the St. Chrischona Theological Seminary .

history

The first church building on Bettinger Hill dates back to the 7th century. The name St. Chrischona was first mentioned in 1356 and probably refers to the grave of a saint Christiana. Christiana was canonized in 1504 and was the reason for today's late Gothic building, which was destroyed in the Thirty Years War .

Foundation and early days

On March 8, 1840, Christian Friedrich Spittler founded the St. Chrischona pilgrimage mission in the former pilgrimage church of St. Chrischona, which was rebuilt at his instigation, with the aim of training employed people who feel called to preaching, pastoral care and missionary service.

In addition to the distress in distant countries, he was also moved by the spiritual distress he observed of people who had been removed from the Church at home. His guiding principle was: "If we ensure that the Gentiles become Christians, we must not fail to ensure that the Christians do not become Gentiles." He trained young men to send them out into the world as "pilgrim missionaries".

After Spittler's death in 1867, Carl Heinrich Rappard took over this inheritance as an inspector until 1909. Together with his wife Dora Rappard , the "mother of Chrischona", he redesigned the training center into the first evangelistic school in the German-speaking area. In 1888 Rappard was one of the founders of the Gnadauer Community Conference. In 1895 Chrischona founded the China Inland Mission in cooperation with Hudson Taylor . In 1909, Friedrich Veiel became the new inspector and head of the pilgrimage mission, a position he held for 38 years. In the same year, the "Bible School for Daughters" was established in an almost progressive step.

In 1869, the first Chrischona community in Switzerland was established in Mattwil in the canton of Thurgau , which was then still known as the community; Markus Hauser was their first preacher. In 1878 the first Chrischona congregation in Germany was founded in Lich near Giessen . It was first founded in Alsace in 1913, in southern Africa in 1966 and in Luxembourg in 1992.

Over time, holiday, youth and old people's homes were also incorporated. St. Chrischona was involved in literature work and in 1919 founded his own publishing house, the Brunnen Verlag in the German city of Giessen.

Deaconess Mother House

In 1925 the Deaconess Mother House of St. Chrischona was founded and 20 sisters joined. The deaconesses live in a binding community of faith, life and service. At times 324 sisters belonged to this community, in 2015 there were still around 100. Since the restructuring of the organization and the establishment of the “Stiftung Diakonissen-Mutterhaus St. Chrischona (DMH)” in 2009, the mandate of the DMH has focused on these areas Elderly care, training (Elderly Care School Manoah, Lörrach) and the promotion of social missionary projects (2008: Lechaim e.V. , Lörrach and 2007 basecamp e.V. , Prenzlau). The superior is responsible for the management of the deaconess mother house St. Chrischona. In 2019 Christine Zimmermann took over this position from Sister Ursula Seebach. In May 2015 the new theological leader, Pastor Friedhelm Geiß, was introduced. One of his main tasks will be to design a multi-generational residential park that is to be built on St. Chrischona near Basel by 2019.

Time after 1933

The Nazi period from 1933 to 1945 was a difficult time for the Chrischona congregations and their members in Germany. Like other churches, they moved between much adjustment and little resistance and persecution. The end of the Second World War marked the end of flourishing community work in West and East Prussia . 1947–1967 Hans Staub was director of the pilgrimage mission. Edgar Schmid followed him from 1967–1991 and Karl Albietz from 1991–2001. A spacious conference center was built on St. Chrischona, which was inaugurated on May 10, 1992. In 1994 a study reform was carried out at the Theological Seminary, and a first youth meeting under the name CREA! could take place on St. Chrischona.

In March 2012 René Winkler replaced the previous director of the association, Markus Müller; he passed on his office as head of the Chrischona communities in Switzerland to Peter Gloor.

Since 2016, it has been officially possible at Chrischona Switzerland for women to become parish pastors, provided that the parish leaders agree.

resolution

On January 1st, 2019 the association work of Chrischona International was terminated and the association "Chrischona International" was renamed "Theological Seminary St. Chrischona" (tsc). Many of the organizations that were previously part of Chrischona International have joined the tsc network. This focuses on theological education and training.

Directors

  • Christian Friedrich Spittler (1782–1867), founder and leader 1840–1860
  • Carl Heinrich Rappard (1837–1909), inspector and director 1860–1909
  • Friedrich Veiel (1866–1950), inspector and director 1909–1947
  • Hans Staub (1898–1967), director 1947–1967
  • Edgar Schmid (1923–2003), director 1967–1991
  • Karl Albietz, director 1991–2001
  • Markus Müller, director 2001–2012
  • René Winkler, director 2012–2018

Association

The association included:

  • the Chrischona communities in Switzerland (about 100 communities), Germany (60), France (20), Luxembourg, Namibia and South Africa (6)
  • the St. Chrischona Theological Seminary (TSC)
  • the Chrischona campus with the conference center
  • the deaconess mother house St. Chrischona
  • the Association for the Messianic Witness to Israel ( amzi )
  • the Fountain Publishers (casting) and about 47 bookstores (including 13 ALPHA Bookstore branch stores and 18 franchises) in Germany. In June 2017, Brunnen Gießen and Alpha were taken over by Francke Marburg and Kawohl Wesel .
  • The Brunnen Verlag Basel was founded in 1921 . Since July 1, 2016, "Asaph AG Switzerland", which does not belong to Chrischona, and "Asaph GmbH Lüdenscheid" have moved even closer together: Asaph AG has renamed itself Fontis AG (based in Kreuzlingen TG) and then the Brunnen-Verlag Basel and the bookshops Bibelpanorama taken over. In the book trade, Fontis operates under the label Fontis - Brunnen Basel . The group was initially represented with 13 bookstores in Switzerland; in 2018 there were 10, employs around 90 people and made 15 million euros in sales in 2017.

literature

  • Carl Heinrich Rappard: Fifty years of pilgrimage on St. Chrischona. Basel 1890.
  • Carl Heinrich Rappard: The pilgrim mission to St. Chrischona, 1840–1908. Writings defeat at St. Chrischona, Basel 1908.
  • Hans Staub: We are his work: 125 years of the St. Chrischona pilgrimage mission near Basel. Brunnen-Verlag, Basel 1965.
  • 150 years of the St. Chrischona pilgrimage mission, 1840–1990. Brunnen-Verlag, Basel / Giessen 1990.
  • Michael Gross et al .: 175 years Chrischona 1840–2015. Jesus moves Chrischona moves us. Chrischona Panorama, Bettingen February 22, 2015

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Name change: Pilgrims' mission becomes Chrischona International , chrischona.org, message from June 15, 2014.
  2. ↑ [1]
  3. ↑ a b c d inforel.ch: Pilgrim Mission St. Chrischona, Evangelical Congregation and Mission. In: inforel.ch. April 5, 2011, archived from the original on April 5, 2011 ; Retrieved April 5, 2011 .
  4. ↑ a b Relinfo: Pilgrim Mission St. Chrischona. In: relinfo.ch. November 18, 2004, archived from the original on April 5, 2011 ; Retrieved April 5, 2011 .
  5. ↑ Michael Gross et al .: 175 years Chrischona 1840–2015. Jesus moves Chrischona moves us. Chrischona Panorama, Bettingen February 22, 2015, pages 4–5 below
  6. ↑ Timeline of the article Ursula Seebach: Renewal and growth as an opportunity. In: Chrischona Panorama. 1/2015, special edition 175 years Chrischona, p. 86
  7. ↑ Timeline of the article Ursula Seebach: Renewal and growth as an opportunity. In: Chrischona Panorama. 1/2015, special edition 175 years Chrischona, p. 87
  8. ↑ Lechaim - House of Life. In: dmh-chrischona.org. May 4, 2011, archived from the original on April 5, 2011 ; Retrieved April 5, 2011 .
  9. ↑ History >> Welcome. In: basecamp-prenzlau.de. April 5, 2011, archived from the original on April 5, 2011 ; Retrieved April 5, 2011 .
  10. ↑ Social City "base camp" in the town of Prenzlau | Urban development. In: mil.brandenburg.de. April 5, 2011, archived from the original on April 5, 2011 ; Retrieved April 5, 2011 .
  11. ↑ Women who leave marks | Casting | Giessen newspaper. In: giessener-zeitung.de. April 5, 2011, archived from the original on April 5, 2011 ; Retrieved April 5, 2011 .
  12. ↑ St. Chrischona: Change of staff in the deaconess mother house in Bettingen , ideaschweiz.ch, notification of November 25, 2019.
  13. ^ Diakonissen-Mutterhaus St. Chrischona: "At 90 we are far from being part of the senior citizens" , idea.de, message from May 12, 2015.
  14. ↑ A history of changes , Chrischona Panorama 1/18, St. Chrischona March 2018, pp. 18–19
  15. ↑ Directors of Chrischona International , chrischona.org, accessed on July 5, 2014.
  16. ↑ Michael Gross et al .: 175 years Chrischona 1840–2015. Jesus moves Chrischona moves us. Chrischona Panorama, Bettingen February 22, 2015, pages 4–8
  17. ↑ What is Chrischona International? , chrischona.org, accessed August 7, 2015
  18. ↑ Francke and Kawohl take over Brunnen, Alpha and ChrisMedia , pro-medienmagazin.de, accessed on August 15, 2017.
  19. ↑ Fontis: company history , fontis-verlag.com, accessed on 22 June 2016th
  20. ^ The Brunnen Verlag Basel and Asaph merge , bibelpanorama.ch, accessed on June 22, 2016.
  21. ↑ Karsten Huhn: Books - The trend goes to pious praline , ideaSpektrum , Wetzlar October 11, 2017, pp. 24-27.