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Overview The term “church growth” can refer to church renewal, church organizational and structural maturation, the empirically verifiable numerical growth of churches, and the theory of how and why churches grow or decline. The so-called church growth movement (see 5) began in the United States in the 1960s, although not everyone who studies the dynamics of church growth and decline would consider themselves part of this movement. Corresponding to Eng. “church growth” is Ger. Gemeindeaufbau, which to a large extent has become a programmatic word today in the German…

[German Version] In the narrow sense, ministerial pastoral care refers to counseling given on special religious occasions (Ministerial offices). In a broader sense, it encompasses the church's care for people in individual situations of their lives. The prerequisite and component of this care is conversation. It serves firstly to acquaint the persons involved, and then to prepare the ceremonial act. Ever since the catechumenate of the Early Church, baptism as the elementary ministerial office has …

[German Version] I. Church History 1. Germany and Europe a. Definition. Pietism was a religious revival movement in late 17th- and 18th-century Protestantism (I, 1), alongside Anglo-Saxon Puritanism (Puritans) the most significant post-Reformation religious movement. Emerging within both the Lutheran and the Reformed churches, Pietism broke with orthodox Protestantism regulated by the authorities, which it perceived as a moribund Christianity of habit, pressed for an individualized and spiritualized rel…

[German Version] Ministerial or occasional offices are so called because they are usually performed by the minister (Pastoral office). But this is also true of other ministerial functions (e.g. celebration of the Lord's Supper) that are not included among the ministerial offices. The members of the congregation are as constitutive for the ministerial offices as the minister. They are also called occasional offices because they are performed on certain “occasions.” The core of the office is some ki…

[German Version] I. The Gustav-Adolf-Werk originated from two initiatives. First, the Leipzig superintendent and theology professor, Christian Gottlob Leberecht Großmann, suggested in 1832 on the occasion of a collection for a Gustav Adolf memorial that “an institution for fraternal support of oppressed fellow believers” be founded. The earnings, through interest, of the Gustav Adolf Stiftung (Gustav Adolf Fund) should support distressed Protestant congregations at home and abroad. Second, in Darms…

[German Version] I. European Christian Churches – II. Churches Worldwide – III. Islam I. European Christian Churches 1. Catholic Church A division of the church into clergy and laity does not coincide with New Testament evidence. The designation “laity” derives from laikós, the adjective form of λαός/ laós, “people.” In the Septuagint (LXX), this term describes the people of Israel in contrast to the (pagan) nations. In all important passages in the NT, it describes the people of God consisting of believers and dis…

[German Version] (Feb 26, 1832, Kamenz, Upper Lusatia – May 29, 1914, Bad Oeynhausen). As a pastor in Osnabrück, Chemnitz, and Dresden, Sulze recognized the need for church reform through congregational renewal. The mammoth metropolitan parishes (60,000 “souls” in Dresden-Neustadt!) were to be divided into districts, each headed by a “paterfamilias” responsible to the pastor. The goal was diaconal and pastoral “ministry of all to all” ( Gemeinde, 49). “The laity learn from the clergy and vice versa” ( Reform, 94). Theologically, it is essential for the concept of the unive…

[German Version] The grieving suffer from the loss of persons, or meaningful parts of life that they valued (e.g. work, health, home, ideals). The nature and circumstances of the loss vary greatly, and equally varied are the pastoral care situations. “The grieving process” (Spiegel) is neither uniform nor straightforward. Phases of shock and protest, scrutiny, regression, and adaptation intersect and recur; depression and aggression can make people speechless or provoke them. Pastoral care attempt…

[German Version] I. Fundamental Theology Although proclamation is not a specifically religious term, it plays a central role in Christianity. Generally speaking, it is “a form of address in which what is proclaimed takes effect in the moment it is proclaimed” (K.E. Løgstrup, 1358). It goes together with communication and message. While the term message has more to do with the content of the address, proclamation focuses more on the process. The term communication interprets the process as an objective event, whereas the term proclamation includes its effect on the person addre…

[German Version] The ministerial sermon is a spiritual address (Preaching) given on special religious occasions (Ministerial offices). Its task is to link the interpretation of concrete human fates with biblical messages. The homiletic problem (Homiletics) lies in the question of priority: does the exposition of the biblical text take precedence, or does the specific existential situation constitute the point of departure? Authors influenced by K. Barth sought to bring the witness of the gospel to bear upon the pastoral casus. They feared the predominance of the casus and the mis…

[German Version] 1. Franz Martin Leopold (Aug 1, 1860, Gütergotz near Potsdam – Mar 17, 1937, Leipzig-Schleußig). After serving as a pastor in Westerland, Eisenach, and Preetz, Rendtorff directed the Preetz Predigerseminar from 1896 onward. He became a Privatdozent in practical theology in Kiel in 1902, honorary professor in 1906, and full professor for practical theology and New Testament in Leipzig in 1910, where he also became director of the Predigerkolleg in 1912 and rector of the university in 1924. He postulated a Liturgisches Erbrecht (1913, repr. 1969 [Liturgical law o…

[German Version] (German Protestant Parish Conference). The conference emerged from the Gemeindeaufbaubewegung (Church growth movement), which was inspired by E. Sulze, M. Schian, and others. In 1909 pastor A. Stock ( ChW 23, 1064ff) expressed his deep concern that the community/parish ( Gemeinde) concept had lost its power to attract people. Assisted by M. Schian and M. Rade he therefore invited “friends of the Protestant parish concept from all theolog…

[German Version] Missionary preaching can be, first, a speech intended to win people to the (Christian) faith, and second, a preaching (Preaching) addressed to believers informing them about mission and intended to motivate them to engage in it. In what follows, missionary preaching will be understood in the first sense. With regard to its content, it is elementary and fundamental, concentrating on basic themes of faith, and rhetorically persuasive. The first evidence of Christian missionary preac…

[German Version] The Pfarrerinnen- und Pfarrergebetsbund (PGB) was founded in Halle in 1913, predominantly under the influence of pastors from the Community Movement (E. Modersohn, W. Michaelis, Alfred Christlieb, son of T. Christlieb, who was professor of practical theology and co-founder of the Gnadauer Verband), in order to stimulate the momentum of Pietism in the ordained ministry. Its tasks are the strengthening of personal and corporate spirituality, further development of theology (through conferences to which families are invited, and through the bi-monthly journal The…

[German Version] (Aug 23, 1803, Darmstadt – Jun 14, 1877, Darmstadt) initially worked as a teacher; in 1832 he was appointed court deacon. In 1835 he was appointed junior court chaplain in Darmstadt and in 1841 senior court chaplain. In 1847 he became prelate of the regional church of Hesse. He had a very active publishing career, serving as editor of several periodicals, including the Allgemeine Kirchenzeitung. In its issue of Oct 31, 1841, he called for the establishment of a “union for the support of needy Protestant communities”; on Sep 18, 1842, ¶ this initiative merged with the Gus…

[German Version] Minister Provincialis is the designation for the head (superior/prior) of a regional section of a monastic order with a centralized structure. The holder of this office is a higher superior and in clerical orders also an ordinary. His legal status is defined in detail in the codes of canon law ( CIC/1983, cc. 617–630; CCEO, cc. 511, 513–515) as well as in the particular laws of the individual orders. The minister provincialis assumes his office for a specific period of time either by virtue of elections in the province or by being appointed by the su…

1. Typical contents, societal role The graveside speech, or funeral sermon (Lat. oratio funebris, German Leichenpredigt, French  sermon funèbre), was a firmly established component of European burial culture discernible as far back as pre-Christian Greco-Roman antiquity. In the 16th century, the practice developed all over the Christian world of printing these sermons and distributing them to the survivors, relatives, and friends of the deceased. In the following two centuries, printed funeral sermons became widespread as a form of commemoration of the dead [5], especially …

1. Inhaltliche und soziale Aspekte Die Grabrede oder L. (lat. oratio funebris, engl. funeral sermon, franz. sermon funèbre) ist ein fester Bestandteil der europ. Sepulchralkultur, der sich bis in die vorchristl. griech.-röm. Antike nachweisen lässt. Im 16. Jh. entwickelte sich in der gesamten christl. Welt der Brauch, L. drucken zu lassen und an Hinterbliebene, Verwandte und Freunde zu verteilen. In den folgenden zwei Jahrhunderten wurden die gedruckten L. zu einer v. a. im protest. Bürgertum und im Adel weit verbreiteten Form des Totengedächtnisses [5]. Als Erbauungsliteratur…