Search

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] Cooperation in mission began at the end of the 19th century, and the Committee of German Missionary Societies was formed in 1885. It was similar to national mission councils created in 1893 in North America, and in 1912 in Great Britain. As a consequence of the first World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh (Edinburgh Conference) in 1910, national mission councils were founded in 1912/1913 in India and other Asian countries; they represent an important step in the building of auto…

[German Version] National councils of churches and national Christian councils first emerged among Protestants as corporate forms and instruments of the ecumenical movement. Where the gospel must be proclaimed to the nation in word and deed but the separated churches have not yet found unity of faith and action, these interim instruments are needed. The year 1908 saw the birth of the Federal Council of Churches in the United States and 1948 the birth of the Council of Christian Churches in Germany…

[English Version] . Nachdem Ende des 19.Jh. die Zusammenarbeit in der Mission begonnen hatte, wurde 1885 der Ausschuß der dt. Missionsgesellschaften gebildet; ähnliche n.M. entstanden 1893 in Nordamerika und 1912 in Großbritannien. In Nachwirkung der 1. Weltmissionskonferenz von Edinburgh 1910 kam es 1912/13 in Indien und anderen Ländern Asiens zur Gründung von n.M., die einen wichtigen Schritt beim Aufbau eigener kirchl. Strukturen darstellen. Für Lateinamerika gab der Panama-Kongreß 1916 den Ans…

[English Version] . Als Verkörperung und Werkzeuge der ökumenischen Bewegung entstanden zunächst unter Protestanten nationale Kirchen- und Christenräte (National Councils of Churches/National Christian Councils [NCC]). Wo in Wort und Tat das Evangelium vor der Nation zu bekennen ist, wo aber die getrennten Kirchen noch nicht die Einheit des Glaubens und Handelns gefunden haben, braucht es dieses vorläufigen Instrumentes. So bildete sich z.B. 1908 der Federal Council of Churches of Christ in den US…