Editorial

Germany has now been reunified for over a decade. For many school children today, the era of division and of the Wall is only history. The rest of the population as well has long since taken for granted to be able to travel throughout the country. The visible traces of the East German state’s martial border defences have almost all been cleared away; a few have been preserved in museums.

But the traces of division which remain in the society and in people’s minds are harder to overcome. For four decades there was little contact between East and West Germans, and their economic and social development went in different directions. Even a decade after reunification this is still noticeable, especially since a wide economic gap remains between East and West.

All of this has direct effects on the German churches. When the West German and East German Protestant churches were reunited, ten years ago, in the Evangelical Church in Germany, many people in the East were worried that they were now being taken over by the West. Some people still have this feeling, despite progress in normalising relations today.

It is encouraging that a growing number of Christians in East and West recognise that their church faces enormous tasks, which they can only manage together. Beyond financial problems and gradually declining membership figures one of the major question is what future the church has in a society, which considers itself secular, but in which many people have deep unmet religious needs.

A critical debate on the problems of society and church is therefore an essential step towards a united church, which can challenge and move people. In this issue of Ecumenical Dialogue we present, as an example of such a debate, two villages, one in East and one in West Germany.

Editorial

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