1 - 2000

Mission in Germany

To Tell the World About God

To task for the mission of the church on the threshold of the third millenium

On 11 November 1999, the Synod of the Evangelical Church in Germany adopted a declaration on its mission emphasis. We here publish excerpts from this declaration.

This Synod meeting is sounding a call to the Evangelical Church: the church is giving priority to speaking about the faith, and to its vocation to mission. In doing so, it is making room for a variety of concepts and courses of action, and is concerned with cooperation and mutual enhancement among these concepts and courses of action.

On this day we declare together: transmission of the faith and growth of our local congregations are our most urgent task, and this is where our energies must be concentrated. No one can claim to be the sole legitimate representative of the church in this. We can only do justice to our call to mission if we affirm a variety of concepts and courses of action.

Within our church, plenty of possibilities are offered and help is available for missionary activity, both at the church-wide level and in the local churches. Independent agencies and associations have long played an important role. The Association of Missionary Services (AMD) brings together numerous institutions and initiatives which have been working tirelessly and imaginatively for decades in the field of missions. They offer counsel and suggestions, for example for Bible conferences, visitation, working with home groups or faith seminars.

In a situation in which, for financial reasons, new priorities are being set for church work, the offices for missionary service of the regional churches need our support. Stimuli are urgently needed in training for mission, not only in the specialised training institutions but especially in the training and further education of pastors in theological faculties, and in practical training institutes and courses for pastors. World missions and missionary activity here in our own country can inspire one another, as the work of regional mission societies and of the Association of Churches and Missions in Germany (EMW) shows.

Besides the special action programmes and possibilities, there is the mission dimension of the "normal" everyday life of churches and congregations. Occasions arise in many and various ways to reach people who have become alienated from the Christian faith or had no contact with it, and to speak to them: when the sacraments are administered, in youth work, and also at Sunday worship. Besides the places where the Christian message is directly communicated, the occasions should not be overlooked or missed where this can take place indirectly. There is an appealing indirectness in church music, church buildings, or the sabbath.

A church which stands up for Sunday as a day of rest is a church doing mission. Sunday interrupts the rhythm of our action-oriented and constantly achievement-centred lives in an elementary way. It thus witnesses indirectly to God who creates and who justifies even those creatures who live "godlessly".

The area of education is worth of special attention such as elementary educational institutions, schools, academies. In education, teaching, the transmission of culture, faith is passed on in dealing with life’s questions.

Diaconia, or service, is closely related to mission. Service is part of the church’s call to communicate the message of God’s love and justice and to invite persons to belief in Jesus Christ. People whom we are helping through deeds of neighbourly love also need words of comfort and encouragement.

Mission work understood in this way also includes more concentrated attentiveness to all members of the congregation. This "care of members" has not gone beyond the initial stages in our church. Either openly or subliminally, the dominating idea is that those who are already church members can - or even should - realise by themselves what the church offers and reach out for it. It is important to keep people in mind, to speak to them and visit them. Nothing can take the place of home visits. For a congregation to reach out in friendship to people who have just moved into its area it should be taken for granted to welcome them, help them find their way to church and offer to visit them.

In no way mission is only a matter for the institutions and special services of the church. Today our church recognises more clearly than ever, besides the importance of the role of full-time employees, what a treasure it has in volunteer workers. Here we must not just lean on the personal gifts and abilities which people offer spontaneously. They need to be encouraged and promoted.

Every Christian, wherever he or she is, is a messenger of Jesus Christ Ð man or woman, old or young, at the workplace or in everyday conversation in the street, in a professional capacity or through personal contact. There are great opportunities for mission today at this individual level. It means so much more when every individual Christian person puts his or her personal reputation and credibility on the line for the transmission of the faith.

The more the church goes forth on mission outside its own walls, the better it will also learn to know itself. In trying to open the eyes of the world, the church and every individual Christian have their own eyes opened as well, and see themselves. A church that brings its treasure to all people will be astonished to discover how rich it really is itself.

An important place in which the Christian faith can be passed on and made understandable is the family. This is where one first experiences, as the foundation for the future, what it is like to trust in God in one’s own life, to talk about God and to speak to God in prayer. We especially encourage mothers, fathers and grandparents to stand up for their faith and not to hide it.

All efforts at mission take place within a specific cultural context. The areas in which Christian faith encounters culture - especially education and knowledge, the media, art, cinema, and also the youth culture and the political culture - therefore need increased attention and care.

We are on the threshold of the third millennium. This is one point in time at which, everywhere in our church, the urgency of our vocation for mission is being recognised anew and taking centre stage. We need all the competencies and strength we can find. We trust that, as Martin Luther said, it is not we ourselves who can keep the church alive. It was not those who went before us who did so, and it will not be those who come after us either. It was, is now and will be the one who says, "Remember, I am with you always."

The Synod’s declaration is printed in German in epd Dokumentation 49/99 of the Evangelischer Pressedienst. Translated for publication in Ecumenical Dialogue 1/2000.