The church grew out of the Reformation as early as 1525. Around 1600, during the so-called Second Reformation, the Protestant population of Bremen turned slowly to the Reformed confession. Soon after 1800 most of the congregations of the church became united. Today the Bremen Evangelical Church is one of the few churches in Germany with United, Lutheran and Reformed congregations. After the first world war the senate of Bremen agreed to a complete separation of church and state. Since 1920 the church has had its own constitution which provides for a maximum of autonomy for each local congregation. As a consequence the number of central programmes is small. World peace, justice and ecological problems receive a good deal of attention from the congregations. The church maintains particular relations with the Presbyterian Church of Ghana and the Evangelical Church of Togo.