Rev. Frank Schürer-Behrmann, Evangelical Church in Germany

1. What are the most burning issues you are facing regarding the role of the churches in your society?

The Evangelical Church has traditionally been socially very active and politically influential in Germany because of our past as state church and our present as a church that still counts about two thirds of the population as its members in many regions of our country.   However, due to the persecution by the Communist government in East Germany and to processes of secularization in West Germany since World War II and in East Germany since the end of communism, the cultural, social and political influence of our church has been declining, as has our capacity to address effectively all the relevant issues we identify.

The reality of our society that we are confronted with is that of an economically and technologically extremely successful society (“Exportweltmeister”) that increasingly has subjected all other considerations to the functioning of  the economy, understood as the success of the country’s large businesses active on a worldwide scale. Among other things, this has led to a growing gap between those people in our country who in some way are part of and beneficiaries of this businesses, and those who are not.

In my view, the main challenge for our church as a community of believers is whether, living in an economically successful, secular and still affluent country, we will let ourselves be seduced to becoming uncritical members of our society, living average lifestyles regardless of their spiritual, social and ecological consequences in our country and worldwide. We are tempted to fail to distinguish between the faith, values and beliefs proceeding from the teaching and the life of the people of the First Covenant and of Jesus Christ (Do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with God – Micah 6,8) and the faith, values and beliefs that help people succeed in our post-industrial capitalist society (Make money, seek your advantage, and talk about your own success).

One prominent example of this value-struggle is the ongoing political discussion about the understanding of Sundays. Powerful forces in our societies are trying to make Sundays work days like any other day, because this will supposedly produce even more prosperity. On the other hand, our churches and others are defending the special laws protecting Sundays as days of spiritual and social recreation. However, many members of our churches are fairly willing to make concessions on this issue, because they believe what they are told by the “apostles of prosperity”.

Another important issue is whether and how far we may use all results of technological research in spite of the various and oftentimes inestimable dangers they pose to human life. This question is connected to an issue of faith: do we believe that we will solve our society’s problems by yet greater technological progress without having to talk about structures of power and distribution of wealth. Or do we believe that the key to the answers to our challenges lies in the general ethics of our society: if we put human dignity for every member first, we then will be able to find solutions for all that may also have to do with living a life in plenty while having less.

At the same time, the main challenge for our churches as institutions is to decide whether we want to devote ourselves to defending our status as an institution or whether we attempt to hear God’s voice through the words of the Bible and the voices of truly all our members as it addresses the religious, social and political issues in our country - regardless of our fears what consequences this may have for our institutions.

For Protestant Christians, the status of the Church as a human institution is surely important, because it helps to define what means Christians have to pass on the Good News to their neighbours. However, we may not confuse our churches in their current political, legal and financial conditions with the church that we confess in our creeds – i.e. these conditions need not be defended at any cost, especially if this defence brings with it the temptation of putting the needs of the church as an institution before the needs of our neighbours as human beings created by God.  Some examples:

• When our church seeks to secure its future as a human institution by seeking close contact with those parties and groups that are assumed to be powerful in our society, we are less willing to speak out against these powerful groups in favour of the powerless and the poor.

In Germany, this specifically means that we have not been willing enough to understand the dynamics of our economic system and the role our churches and church members play in it on a national and international scale out of fear of having to confront some of our most important contributors and endangering our legal status. 

• When our church seeks to secure its influence even in the face of changing social realities caused e.g. by migration, we are less able to perceive the churches or even the religions representing those new groups as partners and challenges. We will tend to perceive them as threats that we feel urged to confront.

In Germany, this means that we have largely ignored the reality of other churches and religions in our midst for a long time and are now only recently trying to come to a political and theological understanding of their being here – and have to fend off fears and xenophobia in others and among ourselves.

In general, as a church with a past as a hegemonic factor in our society, we have to become more humble and understand the fact that we now have to share the influence we once had for ourselves – without rancour on the one hand and without ceasing to give testimony to our faith and the values we believe in on the other. 

2. How can the fellowship of member churches support the churches in the situation you are facing?

Sisters and brothers can put things into a new perspective. They can praise, console, encourage and admonish. I believe the first support the fellowship of churches can give to our church is to share our lives as individuals and as churches – to let us know about each other and thereby to help us understand each other and ourselves more deeply.

This is especially important in a world in which generalisations or propaganda by most often privately owned mass media substitute true experience and communication and form visions and convictions – the fellowship of churches should strive to offer a space for free and truthful observations unimpressed by ideologies or private or particular interests. (The role and structure of mass media in itself is an important object of study.) As church in Germany, we can learn from churches who have been living as minorities for years and centuries, as they may be able to learn from us about possibilities of exerting influence in favour of the faith and of the people that they are not aware of.  We can also better understand, value and criticize our reality as a prosperous country by hearing about complimentary realities.

All this means encouraging processes of visits, exchanges and educational programs of learning together, especially among young people. To me it seems that we have a specific task within Europe in this regard in fostering encounters and relationships between the churches in Western and in Eastern Europe and their members. While our governments sign treaties and form unions, our peoples and churches are often living in very different realities and still far from knowing each other and seeing each other as brothers and sisters.

Then, not only hearing from each other, but also trying to understand in study processes will help us come closer to the truths that make us free:

To me, a continuation of the following study processes seems to be especially important:

The study process on Christian Identity and Religious Plurality is essential for helping to enable churches to be factors of peace within our societies and between different societies. This process can help us understand and appreciate the fact that we have to share our claims to truth with others. Likewise, those processes that seek to appreciate unity in diversity among Christians.

The AGAPE-Process should be continued with an emphasis on a clearer vision of practical steps towards more just economies beyond the eternal-growth-paradigm.

The Peace Convocation should name concrete steps towards a more peaceful world that we as a local church can make public among our church members and ask our responsible governments to comply with (implementing the right to alternative service in every country).

3. In which regard and how can your experience enrich and be of relevance to the fellowship?

I believe the Protestant tradition of active involvement of lay members in church life and of the active involvement of churches in cultural, social and political issues in secular societies can be studied by other churches, as we can study the spiritual traditions of others.

The fall of the wall in Europe continues to be a source of inspiration to may in Germany, and we may become aware of the contribution to the churches as an encouragement for all those who are engaged in other places and facing seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

There are many other experiences in other fields that are well worth looking at:

Peace marches for the defence of a region’s identity against use as a military practicing ground, initiatives for religious dialogue, long-standing local church partnerships with churches all over the world as learning experiences, the specific relation between churches and society beyond the false alternative between the union of church and altar and the separation of church and state and many more.