Olive Branch Newsletter For November, 2001
GERMANY: united after communism, the church finds its voice
By Martha Heneger
For years, the people walked past Friedenskirche (in English, "Peace Church"), some on their way to work downtown, the younger ones on their way to school.
They carried their parcels and walked their dogs in this quiet neighborhood of Chemnitz, in the former East Germany. But few glanced at the church building itself; fewer dared enter its doors.
It wasn't that attending church was forbidden during the long, dark years of communism, says Walter Klaiber, bishop of the church's Germany Central Conference.
However, "in the early 1960's, there was pressure from the government. We (the church) could not work in public. We were restricted in our youth work."
The pressure, he adds, was asserted mostly on individuals. "Young people had to be integrated into communism in order to gain the best education. Otherwise, they had to get jobs rather than go to the university. Church members had career limitations."
Thus restricted, fewer and fewer people attended the church, putting a strain on its resources.
"Although the work of the church remained rather stable," Klaiber says, the church buildings began to show the signs of neglect.
When the Cold War ended in the early 1990's, the church once again found its voice. "People needed contacts," says Peace Church's pastor, the Rev. Frank Eibisch. "We try in our youth club, which meets weekly, to deal with their special issues of faith and the social consequences of the gospel. We encourage them to bring their friends."
The reunification of West and East Germany had meant more freedom for the church in its outreach efforts. Eibisch participated in a radio broadcast of on-air devotionals.
Last fall, Peace Church set up an exhibit in a shopping center to explain its mission and programs. "This would have been unthinkable under socialism," the pastor marvels.
About 100 years ago, most Germans were members of churches, chiefly state-run Lutheran and Catholic congregations, Eibisch says. Germany's United Methodist churches have been "free from the beginning," he adds. That freedom was helped by the German church's connection to the worldwide United Methodist Church.
"We always felt it important, especially during communism, to be a part of the global United Methodist Church," says Eibisch. "We have an opportunity now to improve this relationship."
For more than 40 years, the 340-member Peace Church in Chemnitz has had a partner relationship with the 240-member First Church in Washington, Pa.
The relationship began just after World War II, when a member of Peace Church, Herbert Rosenfeld, received a gift package of food from Raymond and Lillian Bell of First Church.
Year of correspondence ensued, culminating in a series of annual common prayer services held on the first Sunday of March.
The date is significant, according to the Rev. Duane Thompson, pastor of First Church. On March 5, 1945, British planes bombed the city of Chemnitz. A bomb hit Peace Church, but did not explode. The building was undamaged.
Peace Church survived the shrill bombs of war and the stony silence of communism. It continues to find its voice today.
"A group of our members visits people who cannot leave their homes. Twice a year, we hold a worship service at the Methodist Hospital in Chemnitz" Thompson adds.
Meanwhile, Peace Church has renovated their church building, adding new rooms in the basement for small group meetings. Most funds for such repairs and additions have come from the churches themselves, with assistance from the General Board of Global Ministries, Klaiber expains.
Clearly the foundation laid at the beginnings of Methodism in Germany remained firm, even through the ravages of two world wars and the oppressive regime of communism.
Martha Heneger, DeLand, Fla., is a free-lance writer and editor. Interpretor, October 2001, page 17.
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