Learning from Evangelism in Germany

In recent decades, the German church has suffered a painful experience of loss. Many members have left the churches, the public and social face of the church has declined, and the financial resources of the denominations have diminished. An increasing process of ‘unchurching’, secularisation, individualism and pluralism of religion is at work. Christian influence on families, schools and society in general are declining, and the proportion of the population with no connection to church is increasing (many of those from the former GDR, who grew up under atheist communism, have no religious education at all). In some of the cities in the Western part of Germany about 50% of the inhabitants belong to a Christian church, but in Eastern regions that proportion falls to around 10%, and the rate of infant baptism is falling rapidly. Church is no longer a constitutive element of life.

As a result, the ‘Folk Churches’ of Germany have been forced to restructure their work and re-assess priorities. Church buildings have been sold, more and more parishes have been combined, and the institutional future of the German church is uncertain. (On the other hand, some migrant workers in German cities have formed their own churches, which are very active and missionary by nature. But a working ecumenical relationship with them has not yet been established.)

Since the 1990s not only the evangelical free churches (which are usually mission-oriented) but most of the established church traditions in Germany have been engaged in a process of dialogue under the slogan “towards a missionary oikumene”, and with the programmatic statement “The most important task of the churches in Europe is to proclaim in word and action the Gospel of salvation for all people.”

As the churches have worked together toward this end, they have found that conflicts and disagreements between traditions have been avoided, and the focus of discussion has been more and more on those areas of agreement and convergence between churches. (Despite this ecumenical co-operation, though, many churches still focus on themselves. Critics have claimed that the new interest in mission is no more than a self-interested, self-saving programme of action, and it is true that the missionary aim of many of the German churches seems oriented towards consolidation, pragmatism and re-organisation.)

However, a number of significant initiatives are taking place:

• The Roman Catholic church has responded to falling rates of infant baptism by offering courses introducing the Christian faith to adults, awakening interest in baptism and integration in church life. This process of ‘catechumenate of adults’ is growing in popularity, especially in urban parishes, and is becoming a catalyst for congregational development.
• The Protestant churches have tended to focus more on those who have been baptised, but who have left the church for a variety of reasons. Many churches are beginning to offer informal ‘locations for rejoining the church’, providing information, counselling, prayer, special services and social projects. This approach is also growing in popularity, especially in urban areas. And, in many places, the project is planned as a regular ecumenical event.
• Some of the free churches have begun establishing new congregations, church-plants from existing congregations and fellowship groups, which are missionary in character and informal in form and liturgy.

For the German church, it is becoming more and more apparent that mission and ecumenism must go hand in hand. All of the churches are facing the same challenges, and adjusting to the same cultural changes. In their post-Christian society there is an urgency to reflect together on the meaning and practice of contextual mission, and to encourage and inspire one another in the proclamation of the Gospel.

The German cultural context has many parallels with the state of the church in the UK, where nearly 80% of the population want to describe themselves as ‘Christian’ but only about 7% attend church. Many of our denominations have been engaged in church-planting projects, and there is still some impetus for such strategies, but the rate of church-planting has been declining. There are also available in the UK a wide variety of courses offering an introduction to the Christian faith, and this process of ‘catechumenate’ has, in the last few years, had quite some impact (look at the effect of the ‘Alpha’ course). However, interest in such courses as ‘Alpha’ seems to be declining, most of those who attend the courses are already on the fringes of the church (or the ‘de-churched’ in society),and many churches are realising the urgency of reaching those who are totally ‘un-churched’ (a rapidly increasing proportion of the population).

While church-planting and Alpha-course styled initiatives may not exactly have ‘had their day’ in the UK context, it is becoming apparent that other approaches are needed. I am taken with the German concept of “locations for rejoining the church”, and I wonder if a strategy along those lines might be appropriate here? But I am also convinced that even more creative thinking must take place in their context and in ours if our proclamation of the Gospel is to be effective.