4 - 1997

The future of the church

Dialoque

 


 

Editorial

The future of the church, or more precisely, the future of the Protestant churches in Germany is the focus of this edition of Ecumenical Dialogue.

At present, this topic is top of the agenda of the churches in Germany. External circumstances, in particular, force the church to address this problem on all levels. A constant decline in membership figures, economic stagnation and amended tax legislation reduce church revenues and make drastic cutbacks unavoidable.

But decisions about cutting back on activities and jobs are always decisions on the future of the church.

The future of the church is a particularly controversial issue, because the situation of the churches in Germany has changed along with German society over the past few years. Theologian Johannes Althausen (East Berlin, ex_GDR) has described the situation as follows: "Religion has made a comeback. This doesn’t mean that church membership figures are rising, but its challenges are growing. This creates a controversial situation. The churches are ever_diminishing institutions with ever_increasing tasks, but smaller means."

So how can the churches in Germany be and remain churches under these conditions and what they will look like in the future? This issue has roused a passionate discussion in Germany. We have documented extracts of the debate in this edition of Ecumenical Dialogue.

The Association of Protestant Churches and Missions in Germany (EMW) and the Association of Protestant Mission Conferences (VEMK) have also contributed to the debate. The Mission 1997 Yearbook published by the two organisations focuses on the topic "Future of the Church _ Church of the Future". It features contributions from twenty_one distinguished authors from all over the world. This was an attempt to infuse and spur the German debate with impulses from the ecumenical movement.

We would like to point out that the authors of the articles in this edition of Ecumenical Dialogue are responsible for their contributions.

We would appreciate any letters, queries and suggestions from your part on this edition of Ecumenical Dialogue or on this new series in general. Ecumenical Dialogue seeks to convey the discussion in the German churches on topical issues to the English_speaking ecumenical community and to spur the ecumenical dialogue across the language barriers.

The Editors