The Diakonisches Werk of the EKD is an umbrella organization of a great number of initiatives undertaken in the field of church social services. The members represent some 29,000 independent institutions of different size and legal status with about 300,000 fulland part-time employees. Integrated in social legislation, the Diakonisches Werk coordinates and represents, for example, activities in preschools, care of the sick and disabled, immigrants, care of the homeless, former prisoners, and the poor. The main office coordinates and represents the planning and funding for many different tasks that also include aid in disasters and assistance known as “Brot für die Welt” (Bread for the World). In a time of challenge through outbursts of hatred, the German churches have taken a stand on behalf of thousands of refugees from African and Asian countries. Synodical meetings have expressed their concern and have called for Christian love and hospitality for those who have come applying for asylum.
Mission
In the early 1970s German Protestant churches structurally involved themselves in mission work by founding regional associations of mission (“Missionswerke”). The “Missionswerke” accepted the challenge presented by the WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES (WCC) to act against social injustices such as racism and economic exploitation, and to work for justice, peace, and the preservation of creation. To promote mutual ecumenical encounters, German churches invite ecumenical workers to assume pastoral work in traditional parishes or to join those who inform congregations about new developments in the field of mission and ECUMENISM. An increasing number of congregations or church districts have set up direct links with overseas partners. The regional associations of mission have established new international structures where different churches share their multiple needs and possibilities. This means no more “one-way traffic” and not only “two-way traffic” but a multilaterally committed Christian community.
Church Membership
Undoubtedly many formal church members have become discouraged in their faith, and the young generation’s indifference toward Christianity is on the increase. Secularization and the attractions of modern life have contributed to a measurable decrease in personal belief and church membership. On the other hand, the German Evangelical “KIRCHENTAG (Church Rally),” founded in 1949 as a lay movement and held every second year, attracts more than one hundred thousand people and is particularly fascinating to the younger generation.
New Spirituality
Particularly in the western part of Germany people are expecting less and less from the church, and a free market of vague spirituality and esoteric counseling is flourishing. Reincarnation therapists, astrologers, religious healers, and other representatives of esoteric religion offer their services.
More and more people feel the need of some kind of religious experience. Pentecostal and charismatic groups find it easier than the established churches to meet the challenge (see PENTECOSTALISM). Experts of the regional churches and the Protestant Center on Questions of Weltanschauung—Evangelisches Zentrum fur Weltaunschauung (EZW)—offer orientation and warning, where necessary. However, it seems that the desire for more spirituality also indicates shortcomings of the churches. The questions about dealing with one’s own soul, healing the sick (see FAITH HEALING), looking after the dying (see DEATH AND DYING), meditation, and spiritual experience are not dealt with often enough and sometimes disappear behind social and political involvement. There is, however, a growing readiness within the churches to search for new forms of Christian spirituality and to revive forgotten resources of the Christian faith.
Ecology
After pastors and congregations in the 1960s had already given attention to certain environmental problems, the 1970s brought the ecological question to the agenda of many church synods. Initially, it was the discussion about the use of nuclear energy for the production of electricity that led to a passionate debate on the chances of survival of a lifestyle based on a permanent rise of electrical demand. But how to reduce the consumption of energy and to manage the regeneration of power sources? How to avoid enormous mountains of garbage, and how to develop a healthier relationship with nature and the environment? Projects of ecological analysis were initiated and the awareness increased that belief in God as Creator of the World leads Christians to adopt a responsible attitude toward the gifts of creation.
Women
The long tradition of Protestant women’s religious orders, the mother-houses of DEACONESSES and sisterhoods, goes back to the middle of the nineteenth century, when Christian unmarried women used the chance of being trained to do social work in the communities. However, because social change does not stop at church portals, the number of those seeking admittance to such orders has become very small. However, WOMEN are still the foundation of the church as active believers and volunteers. In every regional church the Women’s Service is autonomous and the umbrella organization on EKD-level covers a wide scope of activities of more than forty women’s unions and associations. Women were very much engaged in the Peace and Antiapartheid Movements and through the World Day of Prayer ecumenical contacts and personal relationships develop beyond geographical, social, and cultural boundaries. Although women were allowed to study theology in the 1920s—and it was not until the end of the 1960s that the first women were ordained and called to serve as pastors—today 40 percent of theological students are women and their numbers increase steadily in congregations. Women no longer allow themselves to be put off with subordinate functions, but assume leadership roles in the church. In 1992 Maria Jepsen from Hamburg became the first Lutheran woman bishop. The discussion about equality of women gained momentum with the women’s movements in the 1970s and found a strong backing at the Women’s Forum of the “Kirchentag.” FEMINIST THEOLOGY—quite often a stumbling block and a cause of offense—has become an important source of renewal from within the church.
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