Reformed Apostolic Church Federation

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The Reformed Apostolic Congregation Association (RAG) was a Christian free church from 1921 to 1994 in the tradition of the Catholic-Apostolic congregations . Its main distribution area was Saxony and Thuringia with other communities in Silesia, southern Germany and the Netherlands.

history

The Apostolic in Germany, an overview

The Reformed Apostolic Congregation Federation (RAG) was created through the exclusion of the Apostles Carl August Brückner (1872-1949) and Max Ecke (1876-1965) from the New Apostolic Church (NAK) in May 1921 by the then Chief Apostle and main leader Hermann Niehaus . Apostle Brückner had turned against the power of the chief apostle office and called for contemporary reforms of teaching and life. In particular, the chief apostle's prophetic statements about the positive outcome of the war changed the relationship from 1917 and especially after the war was lost. There were also tensions over the succession plan in the Chief Apostle ministry. Brückner himself was actually intended to be his successor, but his Frankfurt colleague Johann Gottfried Bischoff was appointed. There were also disputes about the New Apostolic Review magazine , which, contrary to its name, was not published by the New Apostolic Church or the Chief Apostle, but a product of the Leipzig congregation located in Brückner's district.

On May 5, 1921, 89 ministers expressed their solidarity with Apostle Brückner and around 6,000 parishioners joined them. Independent Reformed Apostolic Congregations came into being, but it was not until 1924 that they were organized in the Reformed Apostolic Congregation Federation. The highest governing body of the RAG was the Federal Council, headed by Apostle CA Brückner as the so-called Apostle Elder. Contact was made with the Apostolic Church of Queensland and Apostolic Church of South Africa - Apostle Unity, which were established in Australia and South Africa . A contact was also developed with Hendrik Jacobus Smit in the Netherlands, who then formed the Dutch branch of the RAG from around 1934 with the Hersteld Evangelisch Apostolische Gemeente . In 1950, Smit was appointed Apostle by Apostel Ecke in Hagen / Westphalia.

Under Apostle CA Brückner there was a clear liberalization of New Apostolic teaching. Reason was emphasized more and the Bible viewed critically. The ubiquitous end-time hope in the NAK receded sharply. Rather, the main concern was education in practical Christianity. With the onset of National Socialism, the heyday of the community was over and the ban was avoided through extensive, but not undisputed, adaptation within the circle of officials. In 1933, under the leadership of Robert Brückner senior, separated. (the brother) as well as his son many members of the congregations Leipzig and Netzschkau from the RAG and entered the Protestant regional church. The son Robert Brückner jun. was editor of the Reformed Apostolic Review , which was renamed the Reformed Apostolic Message in 1932 . In 1926 he had already taken over more songs from the regional church hymn book into the new Reformed Apostolic hymn book than planned and increasingly doubted the salvific importance of the apostleship. His father, however, emphasized the independence of the individual communities vis-à-vis the federal government. Apostle Friedrich Heinrichs, who had joined the RAG with his congregation in Berlin years ago, was also considered a critic of the adaptation course to the Nazis and was therefore limited in his sphere of activity to Berlin.

The new beginning and the reconsideration were taken over by Apostle Max Ecke after the war. The restrictive attitude of the SED regime in the GDR towards Christian denominations prompted the Christian denominations to work more closely together, from which the RAG also developed good ecumenical relations with regional Protestant churches . In 1956 he succeeded in reaching an agreement with other excluded apostles and congregations in Düsseldorf. The Association of Apostolic Congregations was founded. This was the first and only time that apostolic communities united, and not separated. The West German Reformed Apostolic congregations were united with the congregations of the Apostolic Community - also because of the political events of the Cold War . In the Netherlands, the reformed apostolic congregations of the Hersteld Evangelische Apostolische Gemeente, founded in 1926, and the Apostolische Stichting, founded in 1955, merged to form the Apostolische Geloofsgemeenschap (from 1980: Gemeente van Apostolische Christenen ). On August 8, 1947, at the age of seventy, Max Ecke took over the chairmanship of the RAG and led it with Alwin Ostermann and, from 1951, Paul Schmidt. On April 8, 1949, Carl August Brückner died in Dresden at the age of 77. In 1955 Paul Schmidt from Görlitz died, who was supposed to succeed Apostle Max Ecke. He therefore asked the evangelist Rudolf Ludwig to move to Görlitz in 1956 and gave him the office of bishop in 1958 and, on August 12, 1962, the apostle office together with Erich Rabe. On November 19, 1954, Max Müller was ordained an apostle for the Vogtland. Apostle Ostermann died in July 1958. On October 22, 1961, Max Ecke celebrated his 50th anniversary as an apostle, and on January 16, 1965, he died after a long illness. Apostle Ludwig took over the chairmanship of the Federal Council at the suggestion of Apostle Peter Kuhlen and with the consent of the other RAG apostles. Apostle Rabe became deputy and Apostle Max Müller waived further duties due to his poor health. Max Müller then died on November 27, 1967 on his way home from a service on Sunday in Görlitz. In 1972 the 3rd, modified edition of the hymn book appeared with 723 songs, two blessings and the Lord's Prayer as well as explanations of words. In 1973 Kurt Kretzschmar was ordained in the Vogtland and in 1978 Frank Volkmer in Dresden. On April 21, 1974 Apostle Rabe was retired at the age of 71 by Apostle Ludwig in the presence of Apostles Kurt Kretzschmar (Vogtland) and Rudolf Gaßmeyer (Düsseldorf - Chairman of the Apostolic Community). He died in February 1985, the funeral service took place on February 14, 1985 in Chemnitz. After the retirement of Apostle Rudolf Ludwig on April 20, 1980, Kurt Kretzschmar took over the chairmanship of the Reformed-Apostolic Congregation Association and on December 2, 1992 he retired, he died on November 28, 1996 in Netzschkau. Rudolf Ludwig died on March 8, 1991. He had shaped the RAG for many years. Apostle Roland Böhm was called in 1989 (retirement on October 19, 2003), who, together with Apostle Frank Volkmer, brought the RAG together with the Apostolic Community in 1994 after the political change. In 2006 Apostle Volkmer retired. Until the ordination of Gert Loose from Radeberg on July 1, 2007, the East German congregations were temporarily out of their own area without an apostolic office. They were looked after by Apostle Matthias Knauth from the North-West district. However, this himself came from the RAG and was asked by Apostle Frank Volkmer at the beginning of 1983 to work in the administration of the community association in Dresden, where he began his full-time service on January 1, 1984. From 1986 until the merger of the RAG with the Apostolic Community in 1994, he led the RAG administration. He has been living in Duisburg since the summer of 1995, where he has been installed in the enlarged community since 1995 as the elder of what was then the Hanover district (now the North Region) by Bishop Komm. In a festive service in Oberhausen on September 13, 1998, Matthias Knauth was appointed by Apostle Ernst Lenser as his successor as Apostle for the then Apostle District Duisburg.

After German reunification, ways were sought to bring the two free German apostolic communities, the RAG and the Apostolic Community, together. Due to missing the deadline, a merger of the two clubs could not be carried out. A merger therefore only succeeded in 1994 when the RAG was dissolved and the members of the RAG joined the Düsseldorf "Apostolic Community eV". At that time, the RAG had 1,072 members in four districts (Netzschkau 501, Greiz 200, Radeberg / Görlitz 172 and Dresden 200) and 99 ordained ministers. Considerations to introduce a new name for the "new" community as a whole were made by representatives of the Apostolic Community e. V. not supported. Thus, the RAG was absorbed into the "Apostolic Community" by giving up its name, but not its cause. Many of the RAG's doctrinal bases are now part of the teaching of the Apostolic Community.

Teaching

The RAG had a teaching system comparable to that of the New Apostolic Church. From 1921, a clear liberalization of the New Apostolic teaching began in the RAG. Reason was emphasized more and the Bible viewed critically. The ubiquitous end-time hope in the NAK receded strongly. Rather, the main concern was education in practical Christianity. They also turned against a master apostolic leadership model and emphasized the importance of the independent apostolic office and collective leadership. The NAK's exclusive claim to other churches was also not represented.

The RAG had a four-article creed starting in 1924:

  1. I believe in One God, the Almighty Father, Creator of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.
  2. I believe in the one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten by the Father before all time, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten and not created, One being with the Father, through whom all Things were made, who came down from heaven for human beings and for our salvation and became flesh, made man out of Mary the Virgin through the Holy Spirit; also crucified for us under Pontio Pilato. He died, buried, and rose on the third day according to the Scriptures, ascended to heaven, seated at the right hand of the Father, and will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. There will be no end to his kingdom.
  3. I believe in the Holy Spirit who is Lord and gives life; who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who is adored and glorified at the same time with the Father and the Son, who has spoken through the prophets and the apostles and wants to rule, speak and work in his community to the end through apostles.
  4. I believe in a holy general apostolic church. I confess baptism as the bath of water in the word, holy communion for the forgiveness of sins and a holy sealing for the sanctification of the spiritual life and I wait for the resurrection of the flesh and for the life of the world to come according to the promises made by Jesus Christ according to the holy scriptures .

rite

The baptism, which was usually performed in a trinitarian manner in infancy, emphasized the forgiveness of sins, but not the gift of the Holy Spirit. The sacrament service was celebrated as a memorial, love, community and reconciliation meal . As a third sacrament, the RAG knew the sacrament of sealing. The Holy Spirit was conveyed through the laying on of hands by an apostle. Confirmation was also of great importance , when the children were accepted into the congregation after they had been baptized and sealed. In doing so, they were blessed with the laying on of hands and spoke the first three, and if particularly qualified, all nine articles of the Reformed Apostolic Creed.

literature

  • Knowledge, People in Focus, Monthly of the Association of the Apostolic Communities, 1st year Sep./Oct. 2011 pp. 34–39, article "Our origins - our way: Part 9 - Apostolic Reformation"
  • Knowledge, Volker: Called to Freedom - a portrait of the Association of Apostolic Congregations and their member churches, ReDiRoma Verlag, Remscheid 2008, ISBN 978-3-86870-030-5
  • Handbook of Religious Communities for d. VELKDE working group on behalf of d. Luth. Church Office ed. by Horst Reller, Gütersloher Verlagshaus Gerd Mohn, Gütersloh 1978, 2nd edition 1979, ISBN 3-579-03585-1

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