K a s s e l  – The slight drop in membership numbers in the Union of Evangelical Free Church congregations continues, as Pastor Friedrich Schneider (Oldenburg) of the Union’s board reported to free churches, 90 percent of which are Baptist, at the Federal Council Meeting in Kassel.  The Federal Council is the highest decision-making body.  In 2011, the Free Church lost 490 members (-0.6%).  It now has 82,174 members.  The number of churches dropped during the same time period from 814 to 809.  Last year, 1,599 people were baptized in those churches, 154 fewer than in 2010.  That is a decrease of 8.8%, and a record low.

In the deliberations of the 553 delegates, the discussion was whether churches should be more open to Christians who insist on the validity of their infant baptism, and allow through pastoral exceptions the acceptance of those Christians as members or associate members.  Schneider presented an online survey on the topic, in which 405 churches participated.  Forty-six percent allow no exceptions to the traditional practice of receiving into membership only those who were baptized as believers.  In all other churches, there are rules for exceptions, such as allowing membership or associate membership through a profession of Christian faith.  Schneider asked the churches to consider such exceptions more carefully.  Experience shows that churches with a more open membership practice also show higher rates of baptisms.

A convergence document, published in April 2009, after a six-year dialogue between Lutherans and Baptists in the German state of Bavaria, came out in favor of a flat recognition of infant baptism “as a legitimate interpretation of the one gospel.  In Kassel, the Free Church presented an interim report from a theological task force.  According to the report, there is no consensus on this question.  Further discussions must take place between Lutherans and Baptists.  Uwe Swarat (Elstal near Berlin), a Baptist professor of theology, pointed out in a Bible study that the order of faith and baptism is not arbitrary.  In the New Testament, becoming a Christian precedes baptism.  Swarat rejected a compromise on the question, which would underline the unity of Christians on baptism:  “That would be a man-made unity”.

President Hartmut Riemenschneider (Pinneberg) and Secretary General Regina Claas (Elstal near Berlin) evaluated the Federal Council Meeting positively.  The meeting, they said, had led people to “look forward and to forge ahead with missionary work”.  Even though the number of members had gone down slightly in the last year, more and more churches were experiencing a mood of revival, they said.  In fact, social action, which many churches realized was their obligation, has led to the observation:  “God is doing something in our city.”  According to Riemenschneider, one must “not just look at the statistics”.  Church growth does not just occur in membership.  Many churches have experienced clear growth in the number of worship service attendees.  The two did however regret that of the 809 churches, only 362, 45%, were represented in Kassel.

The fact that in the national protestant churches (Landeskirchen) significantly more adults are baptized than in the Free Church—in Baptist and Brethren churches, 1,599 people were baptized in 2011, in the Evangelical Church of Germany, 18,957 in 2010—was perceived by both Baptist leaders as “grounds for celebration” and not as unwelcome competition.  Riemenschneider and Claas are of the opinion that the future belongs to the Free Churches as “voluntary” churches.  Both see indications that many leaders in the main-line churches are beginning to recognize that the church can also function on a voluntary basis.

The Baptists also announced that they would like to support more strongly the planting of new churches.  To this end, they have called Pastor Klaus Schönberg (Waldeck) as head of Church Planting.  The 54 year-old pastor will begin his half-time position in the area of missions on July 1.  His assignment will be to initiate church plants, to provide training for current initiatives, to advise them and network them, as well as to develop new concepts.  In addition to the half-time position, Schönberg works as professor for Evangelism at the Wiedenest Forum (formerly, Wiedenest Missions House Bible School), and leads the “Paradise Project” of the Church Consulting Institute.