A. How it came about.
Neuendettelsau was a small
village, unknown and unimportant, in the 19th century. A change took
place when Wilhelm Löhe became
pastor in Neuendettelsau. He intensified the congregational life, put an
emphasis on liturgy and discipline. In 1841, he heard about the German
emigrants in North America. They had left the country because of poverty. In
North America they did not all become millionaires but many of them lived a
poor life. They were also spiritually poor. Therefore Löhe made an appeal for “messengers”
to go to North America to serve the people spiritually. They often had no
church services, no holy communion, no church burials, weddings, baptisms because
of the shortage of pastors. Löhe
found two young craftsmen and trained them.
On July 11th, 1842
he sent them to North America. They started work, and founded what later become
a part of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS) AND THE Evangelical Lutheran
Church of America (ELCA). Later on Löhe
had difficulties with his ‘spiritual children’ and reduced the intensive
contacts to LCMS and concentrated on ELCA.
He founded a seminary for missionaries in 1847, first in
Nuremberg town which later moved to Neuendettelsau. It continued to exist until
1985. More than a thousand young men were trained to be missionaries. They did
not become fully ordained pastors but the seminary gave them a chance to become
missionaries without having to complete high school and university training,
which is usually required in Germany for an ordained minister. The Mission
Society which was founded in 1859 sent missionaries to the following countries
in its first decades; Australia (1875), Papua New Guinea (1886), Brazil (1897)
and Eastern Europe, Palestine (1930). The Lutheran Churches in these countries
were influenced by Bavarian pastors.
Löhe also founded the diaconic institutions in Neuendettelsau,
starting from 1854, and Neuendettelsau become a place worldwide known. The
village is dominated by church institutions with thousands of people working in
them and the economy of the community depends on the church. But the village
also has its normal life, as far as this is possible with ninety pastors,
active and retired, inside its boundaries.
The mission work was carried on for more than a century by the
Neuendettelsau Mission Society. The official church, which was a state church
until 1918, did not care about mission work. Many of the congregations and
individual friends contributed to the mission work by donations. The missionaries
had small salaries and lived a poor and adventurous life overseas. Their terms
were seven years and more, and during the first year they were not allowed to bring
their spouses so they could not distort their attention in the initial period
of work. Many served overseas for their whole lives.
In 1961 the International Mission Council merged with the
World Council of Churches in the Conference of New Delhi. This led to the
initiatives towards integrating Churches and Missions in Germany. The rationale
was: not only individual Christians, private associations or friends should be
witnesses to the Lord but the Church herself bears a responsibility to bring
the Gospel to the nations. One of the results of this movement is our Mission
One World formerly known as “Missionswerk” in English “Division for World
Mission”, which was founded in 1972. It was designed to be a department of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria. Its budget is a part of the church
budget, and missionaries and co-workers are employed by the Church. But it
still depends on donations from congregations and individuals. It has now taken
over the work of the Leipzig Mission in East Africa and began to send
missionaries to Tanzania and subsequently to Kenya, Congo and Mozambique.
B. How do we
understand Mission?
Mission means sending. God sends us into the world, as he sent
his son Jesus Christ. “As my Father has sent me, even so send I you” (John
20:21). We are sent to spread the good news to the people who do not know
Christ or have forgotten him, or abandoned his word. As Löhe said, “Mission is the one
church in its movement.” Mission motivates people to move, to cross borders and
preach the Gospel till the ends of the earth. In Germany for many people the
word mission does not have a positive connotation; it may be connected with colonialism.
People tend to consider missionaries to be agents of the colonial powers. It is
said that missionaries destroyed cultures; they forced people to leave their
traditional paradise and pressed them into a Western type religion.
Mission One World has been following the concept of the
Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in its mission activities. LWF has published a
document “Together in God’s Mission: A LWF Contribution to the Understanding of
Mission”. It starts with the following
statement:
“Participation in the mission of
God is the central purpose of the church. The mission of the church is derived
from God’s own mission and is embedded in the self-revelation of God. The church
participates in God’s mission by proclaiming in word and deeds both the
presence and the coming of the kingdom and by conveying the message of
salvation in Jesus Christ to the world. The3 mission of the church always takes
place within specific, changing historical contexts and differing cultural
situations and therefore bears their marks. Its continuity however is based on
Gods own activity in the world as revealed uniquely in the person of Jesus
Christ and in the sending of the Holy Spirit.
The character of mission is
therefore determined by two fundamental objectives; Mission is the ongoing
saving work of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit; and mission is God’s mandate
to Gods people to participate in this continuing saving work.”
From these, there are several important aspects to the work of
Mission:
1) We do not perform our mission
work, but we participate in the Mission of God. We are co-workers in God’s mission.
The triune God is the head of all mission work. Only through his Holy Spirit he
can convert people. Mission is the work of the triune God. But God wants to
work through us. Therefore mission is our task to which we are called. Mission
is more than missionising. Our witness is important not the number of those baptized
or converted. We should do our best and leave the result to God.
2) We understand mission work in a
holistic sense. God wants to assist people not only spiritually, but also
physically. We see this example in Mathew 9:35 “And Jesus went about all the
cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of
the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.”
Jesus preached the Gospel and healed the sick, fed the hungry and taught the
will of God.
From the beginning the
missionaries did the same. They first learned the language, in order to preach
the Gospel. They helped the people in their everyday life, giving medical help
and care, teaching how to read and write. Mission and development belong
together from the beginning. More than half of the eighty missionaries are
non-theologians: doctors, nurses, agricultural engineers, administrative
experts, accountants, financial personnel, etc.
3) World mission is a central
expression of the church. It does not start outside Europe, but starts in
Europe, “at the front door”. Mission in each place is also the privilege and
common responsibility of the worldwide church. Each church should do its own
mission work. The term ‘missionary’ traditionally is used for white person. In
the future we should replace it by a new term, example ‘ecumenical co-worker,’
or apply to it to every pastor or evangelist. World Mission assist churches on
their request in their own mission Endeavour’s, including sharing of resources
in personnel and finances. But this is done under the supervision of the local
church. Missionaries are co-workers of the local churches which mainly provide
their salaries. They usually serve for the term of four (4) years. They have to
obey the rules of the partner churches. The world mission does not have
property overseas and do not work outside a local church. It also does not send
personnel into “empty spots”.
Mission is a two-way traffic with
pastors from partner churches serving as ex-change pastors or in a teaching
preaching mission in Bavaria as its needs to have witnesses to its
congregations. Missions are currently taking place in six (6) continents thus
European churches needs to corporate with other churches in order to meet
together the missionary challenge of the universal Church.
4) South-South exchange is being encouraged.
It takes place, example in the Summer School, in regional scholarships, or
Women’s and Youth leaders Consultations. This encourages partner churches not
only to look North but to look South. Therefore, it supported the initiative of
LWF in regionalization: Churches in a given region should intensify their corporation,
and share their resources.
Cooperation in mission work is multilateral
and international. Bilateral relationships among churches should be reduced in favor
of multilateral ones. We have a preference to get involved with churches which
have no German partners so far. ELCB have long term partnerships with Lutheran
churches in Papua New Guinea, Brazil, Australia and Tanzania. Other
partnerships to African, South American and Asian Churches developed during the
past 30 years. Inside Germany, Mission One World take part in an effort to
coordinate the operations of the main line Protestant mission departments in
order to optimize the operations of the main line Protestant mission
departments in order to optimize the work.
5) Mission One World looks for
missionaries, selecting them and trains them. It does not look for idealists.
It is aware of the unsolved problem of the moratorium thus encourage the
independence and self-reliance of partner churches. It requires people on its
staff who are able to learn, to cooperation, to be patient and open-minded. Missionaries
are sent only of there is a sincere request, and the right person for the job
is available. Since many churches are short of pastors of specialists,
missionaries are being sent. The main projects includes continuing education
and theological training; religious instructions, schools, vocational
trainings; administration and finances; development projects and diaconic
activities.
6) In order to bring mission work to
the grass root level, a new partnership programs among districts in partner
churches and in the ELCB. Bavaria has 80 church districts and are encouraging
partnerships, exchange of visitors, prayers, thoughts, letters and after all,
funding. Many Christians are active in these partnership relations. This
provides a platform for ecumenical learning, encounter between people from
different churches, cultures and even religions.
7) Living in a multi-religious world,
there are millions of Muslims, and people of other faiths. Many Germans tend to
follow new religious ideas and movements. Therefore engaging in inter-religious
dialogue in order to promote a spirit of mutual understanding and cooperation
is promoted. To be engaged in dialogue with other religions does not mean to
betray Christ. Christ himself did not only preach the Gospel, but also
practiced dialogue with Pharisees, Samaritans, Romans and pagans. Christians
have to engage in a dialogue with people of other faiths. This is a way of
witnessing Christ. All religions are part of creation and stand under the
lordship of Christ. Dialogue is not a substitute of mission, but accompanies
our witness. There is a necessity in the world that people of different
religions do not fight each other but live together in peace. Thus it deals
with other religions in its Institute for Studies of World Mission. It is
important to learn how to live together, although having different faith.
With this regard, the ELCB is
cooperating with the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission in a project of
mission among Muslim Turks in the city of Nuremberg called “The Bridge”. There
the mission and dialogue are practice in one.
8) It also aims to bring the concerns
of the people of South America, Africa and Asia to the people in Bavaria and
Germany. By this, the Mission One World tries to be the voice of the voiceless
and advocates of its partner churches, especially in regard to;
·
Justice
and development, the growing gap between North and South, rich and poor. 80% of
the world’s population have only access to 20% of the resources;
·
Ecology,
integrity of creation, preservation of nature;
·
World
peace, development work;
·
Globalization;
·
Information
about other churches, religions and cultures; and
·
Sharing
of spiritual experiences and theological insights of world Christianity.
These tasks are met through
seminars, media and website with other regular publications. Edition of press
statements are also conducted through the evangelical press service and radio
stations as well as television films. Most media publications are sold or lend
to congregations, schools, etc.
9) The ELCB Mission One World also works
closely together with other churches within the Lutheran World Federation and
the World Council of Churches.
C. How do we work?
The Mission One World has a domestic staff of about seventy
people, many of them part time. A lot of administrative work is done through
committees, consultations and the like. It is a department of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in Bavaria (ELCB) with its headquarters in Munich. The
respective bodies of the ELCB make the ultimate decisions in basic affairs.
The executive board of the department is called “Kollegium”,
consisting of the heads of the eight departments. The Kollegium meets once a
week in order to make the important decisions, to hear reports from
missionaries, to meet visitors and develop concepts. There is a Board of
Directors (“Kuratorium”) overlooking the work of the whole Division.
1. The Director’s Office (Rev. Peter
Weigand) is responsible for policy questions, coordination of the whole office,
personnel matters, women’s concerns, press work and publications, documentation
and archives.
2. The Department for Partnership and
Parish Work (Rev. Reinhild Schneidere) is responsible for missionary input into
the life of the parishes and districts of ELCB; this task is achieved by;
· A
network of contact persons for every congregation and district who inform their
constituencies about missionary activities. These contact persons meet
regularly and receive information materials;
· Organization
for services, conferences and meetings under the aspect of world mission;
· Regular
contacts to mission friends and sponsors;
· Initiating,
organizing and deepening partnership schemes between Christians and
congregations in Bavaria and overseas.
·
Ecumenical
co-worker’s program.
3. The Africa Department organizes the
relationship with Lutheran Churches in Africa. Rev. Reinhard Hansen is the head
of the department, Rev. Manfred Scheckenbach the Secretary for Tanzania.
4. The
Department for Papua New Guinea/ Pacific/ East Asia: Rev. Dr. Traugott Farnbacher and
Rev. Thomas Paulsteiner organize the relationships with ELPNG and other
Churches in South East Asia. Affiliated with this Department is the Pacific
Information Office which itself is accompanied by a network of groups and
sponsored partly by other mission departments.
5. The Department for Development and Politics in Nuremburg (Mr. Dr.
Juergen Bergmann) shows its competence through presentations. It offers media
boxes, supports, and political activities and maintains a library specialized
in developmental politics.
6. The Department for Latin America, (Rev. Hans Zeller) organizes the
relationship with Lutheran Churches in Middle and South America.
7. The Department of Finance and Administration (Mr. Jochen Kronester) is
responsible for management, budget preparation, budget execution and control,
general administration, travel arrangements, guest house, conference centre,
donations and bookkeeping.
8. The Department for Mission and Intercultural Studies (Rev. Dr. Claudia
Jahnel) recruits, trainsand orientates full-time employees. They offer
seminars and meetings for awareness building concerning problems of the One
World, of religions, cultures designed for full-time and part-time church
workers as well as volunteers. The exhibition, the one-world-shop, and the
library are part of the institute.
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