Schaumburg-Lippe experiences worldwide ecumenism
The living power of the Gospel has left its mark on Schaumburg-Lippe. Anyone following these traces will soon come across the work of the Hermannsburg Mission. After just a few days, an unplanned visit by Ludwig Harms to Schaumburg awakened the hearts of many men and women to a gospel that changes lives and overcomes boundaries. Ludwig Harms' sermon led to a spiritual awakening in congregations that has remained tangible even after 150 years.
In the 1970s, the Youth and Mission Day in Hermannsburg attracted crowds of young people from Schaumburg-Lippe and aroused interest in the missionary seminary and the study opportunities there. With a view to the global church, young people from Schaumburg-Lippe travelled to South Africa with the regional youth ministry to take part in several church building projects in the ELCSA. They spent several weeks building parsonages and churches with African
young people, sharing their lives and experiencing piety in a different culture.
North-south partnerships developed.
They led to visits by African women and men from South Africa to parishes in Schaumburg-Lippe. These encounters revealed the challenge of how to organise the church in the context of a society with unjust structures and how to stand up for people's rights.
When missionary festivals were celebrated in Schaumburg-Lippe 100 years ago, this was done in the awareness that the spread of the Gospel and diaconal work in another country could be made possible from within a Christian majority society and that missionary families could be supported in their work. It soon became clear that mission could not be justified by Western achievements. The two world wars had left so-called Western civilisation with too much to explain. The new focus on the Missio Dei, i.e. God's work with people in every culture, opened up the willingness for mutual missionary activity in ecumenical solidarity. Some of today's partner churches of the ELM grew from so-called mission churches with their own staff, who often led their congregations on a voluntary basis.
Numerous church buildings in Ethiopia were co-financed by congregations in Schaumburg-Lippe in the 1980s and 1990s. As an employee of the ELM in Ethiopia, who was seconded from Schaumburg-Lippe, I very much recognised and appreciated this interest in a growing church, which is also spreading beyond its own congregational boundaries through trained volunteers. Today, young people are making their mark on the history
of partnership with their experiences, for example in the "Seitenwechsel" volunteer programme.
North-South exchange and South-North exchange are therefore part of how we experience ecumenical solidarity in Schaumburg Lippe today. Biographical mission reports, such as those I read and collected 50 years ago in the Hermannsburger Missionsblatt, have been replaced by multiple personal encounters in the digital space: a congregation from South Africa is connected to a partnership service via livestream. Encounters and faith also take place in the digital space across cultural boundaries. The ecumenical solidarity of our regional church has undergone a transformation that will continue to leave its mark in the 21st century.
Dr Burkhard Peter was sent to Ethiopia by the ELM from 1985 to 2000. He was Superintendent of the Schaumburg-Lippe church district until his retirement in June 2024.
