Tent mission

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Invitation poster for a tent mission in Bretten / Württemberg

Tent mission is a form of evangelism . Tents are set up (usually for about a week) and a Christian program is offered for people in the area. The largest tents of the tent mission can hold more than 10,000 people and a. deployed in Africa by the German-South African evangelist Reinhard Bonnke .

Features and concerns of the tent mission

The tent church is the attempt to interest people distant from church and faith in the Christian faith in a neutral place. Characteristic of the tent mission is a folk way of preaching and relaxed programming.

The tent mission not only wants to inform about Jesus Christ , but also to invite people to believe. Most tented missions are followed by a call for decision following the tented sermon , to which the listener can react in different ways.

Due to its mobility, the tent mission can also respond flexibly to the needs of the missionary congregations and communities.

history

The tent mission has its origin in the revival movement . Jakob Vetter is considered to be the actual founder of the continental European tent mission . He was deeply impressed by the social and spiritual hardship of the industrial proletariat of the 19th century . He was particularly moved by the great distance that had grown in broad sections of the population through the bourgeoisisation of the churches from the church offers. Vetter saw the deeper cause of this development in theological liberalism and rationalism of the churches . In this context he was primarily concerned with the question of how the “common people” can be reached with the gospel . In his memoirs, Vetter tells of a vision in 1895 that gave him answers to his questions. He saw a "big tent" and heard the voice of God: "This is the place where you will accommodate the masses of the people." In this vision Vetter saw the entire construction as well as the interior of the tent according to his own statements: “This is how the tent mission was given by the loving Lord.” He wrote the following statement: “When people no longer go to church, then church must go to people!”

Tent Mission Organizations

The German tent mission

The German Tent Mission founded in 1902 by Jakob Vetter, which has been based in Geisweid near Siegen since 1904 , still exists today and sees itself as a modern service provider for Christian communities. With two tent pavilions, the dzm anniversary tent and a large festival hall, an extensive and modular concept for evangelistic events and a competent workforce, the German tent mission provides these congregations with all possibilities for evangelistic work free of charge. Even today, the mission work is supported by donations alone. Concepts for events without a tent were also included in the program.

Baptist tent mission

Modern form of the tent mission in the BEFG : tent church of the Ewigkite project

In 1934 the German Baptists began to set up their own tented mission, which developed here from the so-called wagon mission . The wagon mission, in which a horse-drawn vehicle with a converted caravan and material wagon was initially used, was originally a branch of Baptist youth work. The burgeoning tent mission was also initially part of the youth sector of the Baptists' missionary work. On May 10, 1934, Ascension Day , the first Baptist mission tent in Goslar was inaugurated. Franz Lüllau was the first tent evangelist .

Other carriers

In addition to the German Tent Mission and the Association of Evangelical Free Churches (Baptist and Brethren communities), the Methodist Church , the Association of Free Evangelical Congregations in Germany , the Youth Association Decided for Christ (EC), the Berlin City Mission and the German Indian Pioneers Mission (DIPM / Evangelism in Germany), the Barmer tent mission of the Brethren Movement and the tent mission of the Missionswerk Neues Leben . There are also smaller tented missions such as the Neulandmission Plettenberg , which is close to the Brethren movement , and the Ostfriesland Bible and Mission School founded by Claas Aeilts , which is associated with the East Frisian Community Association . A total of around 50 tents are on the way for the various Protestant churches, free churches and communities, most of which can hold between 300 and 1,000 visitors.

Tent mission today

Overall, there has been a decrease in tent missionary operations within Germany. In 1992 there were 240 missions, 102 in 2000 and 54 in 2015. The reasons for this are complex. The reasons are seen, on the one hand, in the fact that many congregations have integrated evangelism work into everyday congregation and prefer to organize regular guest services and basic evangelistic courses rather than organizing a tented mission. On the other hand, new major evangelistic events such as ProChrist and JesusHouse seem to have taken the place that was previously occupied by the tent mission. However, it can also be stated that the missionary motivation of the traditional congregations in Germany has generally decreased significantly. On the one hand, this also restricts tent missions, but also opens new doors for missionary tented evangelism with new church forms and concepts. Some of the tent missions in Germany have recognized this new path and are in greater demand again.

The tent mission is still an important tool in the so-called Neulandmission , which is carried out in areas with a high percentage of the church-distant population, as well as when building new congregations.

The newer tent evangelists also include non-theologians - for example the computer scientist Werner Gitt .

Tent evangelists

literature

  • Günter Balders : Art .: tent mission . In: Evangelical Lexicon for Theology and Congregation . Wuppertal / Zurich 1994, 2208.
  • Erich Beyreuther : Church on the move. History of evangelism and popular mission. 1968.
  • Hans Brandenburg : Art .: tent mission . In: Religion in Past and Present , Tübingen 1962, VI. Volume, Sp. 1894.
  • E. Decker: The German tent mission through the ages. German tent mission publisher. Hüttental-Geisweid 1969.
  • Mathieu Eggler (Ed.): Tent Mission - Chance for Europe. Verlag der Liebenzeller Mission 1989.
  • Paulus Scharpff: History of evangelism. 300 years of evangelism in Germany . Brunnen-Verlag, Giessen 1964.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 75 Years of Tent Mission, umc-europe.org, notification from November 16, 2001.
  2. ↑ Off to the tent! , in: IdeaSpektrum No.18.2015.