H a m b u r g – Germany’s oldest Baptist congregation, Hamburg’s Johann-Gerhard-Oncken-Congregation, is 175 years old. Its four-day-long anniversary festivities were accompanied by unexpected mutual apologies between Baptists and Lutherans. The congregation had been officially formed on 23 April 1834 after the American missionary and pedagogue Prof. Barnas Sears had baptised seven persons by immersion the previous day in the Elbe River. One of those baptised was the publisher Johann-Gerhard Oncken (1800-1884), the founder of the German Baptist movement. The present pastor, Dr. Dietmar Lütz, noted that the very first Baptists had not been free from committing errors. He called the initial title of “congregation of Christians baptised as believers” an “arrogant term”. He concluded: “We acted as though we were the only truly-baptised Christians.” This had been unjust. The Oncken congregation now recognises the baptism of other denominations if the person had found faith in Jesus Christ there. One practices a “conversion baptism”, not a “transfer baptism”. Yet most German Baptist congregations reject infant baptism as unbiblical.

In a word of greeting, Maria Jepsen (Hamburg), Bishop of the North-Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church, also apologised. In their formative years, her church had treated Baptists unjustly. Initially, Baptists were repeatedly repressed and imprisoned for their faith. Denton Lotz (Forestdale/Massachusetts), the past President of the Baptist World Alliance, appealed in a festive sermon for more evangelistic fervour. The world indeed has changed since the beginnings, but people today are still in need of salvation through Jesus Christ. Words of greeting were also received from Monsignor Wilm Sanders of the Roman Catholic Archbishopric, Ruben Herzberg from Hamburg’s Jewish community and Bülent Gükay from Turkey’s General Consulate. President Emanuel Brandt (Hamburg) und General-Secretary Regina Claas (Elstal near Berlin) represented Germany’s largely-Baptist “Federation of Evangelical-Free Churches”. Hamburg politicians also participated in the celebratory service.

Lütz reported to EBPS that festivities clearly intended to underscore the global nature of the Baptist movement. For that reason, Tannie Barbington Johnson (Freetown/Sierra Leone), Pastor of Africa’s oldest Baptist congregation (founded 1792), and Kalman Meszaros (Budapest), President of Hungary’s Baptist Union, were also present. Hamburg’s Johann-Gerhard-Oncken-Congregation has approximately 250 members. Hamburg has a total of 14 Baptist congregations with a membership of roughly 2.000.