wfn.org | Declaration by German churches in 1934 inspires Reformed churches today

["Franziska Surber" <Franziska.Surber@warc.ch>]

>World Alliance of Reformed Churches
>News Feature
>28 May 2009

Declaration by German churches in 1934 inspires Reformed
churches today 

The actions of a group of German church members in 1934 to
resist the Nazi regime still serve as a powerful model for
churches today according to the General Secretary of the World
Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC). 

Sunday, 31 May marks the 75th anniversary of the publication of
a statement by the group that has come to be known as the “Barmen
Declaration.”

Clergy, theologians and church members who disagreed with the
leadership of the German church which was willing to follow the
orders of the Reich government, gathered in the city of Barmen to
prepare a declaration that said only the scriptures have
authority over the church.

“That at a critical and dangerous time in history, the
Confessing churches in Germany took a courageous stand for
justice and life has left its mark on the world forever,” Setri
Nyomi says from Geneva where WARC’s executive committee is
meeting.

Some of the founding members of the group paid for their
adherence to its principles with their lives.  Dietrich
Bonhoeffer, a German pastor and theologian, was executed for his
role in plotting to overthrow the Reich. Others met clandestinely
to study and pray at great risk.

Nyomi celebrates the impact on the Reformed church movement of
the group of Reformed, United and Lutheran churches who called
themselves the Confessing Churches.  

“We in WARC are grateful for the theologians and churches who
offered this gift to the world. The Barmen Declaration has
inspired WARC in the stands it has taken against apartheid and
against the dominant world economic order which harms vulnerable
people and the environment.”

The Barmen Declaration, drafted by the Swiss Reformed church
theologian Karl Barth, calls upon Christians to accept a list of
six “confessions” in opposition to the growing influence of the
government over senior church leaders.

“A ‘confession’ fixes what counts for a church in a particular
context”, says theologian Peter Bukowski of the German Reformed
Alliance. 

“It declares what the church believes, not individuals. By
adopting a ‘confession’ of beliefs in reaction to a concrete
situation the Confessing churches in Germany were saying in
effect that if you couldn’t agree to this confession then you
didn’t belong in that church.”

In 1986 members of WARC were inspired by the model of the Barmen
Declaration in issuing the Belhar Confession in reaction to the
apartheid regime in South Africa. In it the churches declare that
apartheid is not just a political or social question but that it
contradicts the fundamentals of Christian belief and as such is a
sin.

“This means”, says Bukowski, “that it is not possible to belong
to WARC and say apartheid is alright.”

There is still one church in South Africa unable to accept the
Belhar Confession. Recent negotiations between church leaders and
senior WARC leaders failed to resolve the issue. For now the
church’s membership in WARC has been suspended.

In 2004 at meetings in Ghana, WARC’s global general assembly
endorsed the “Accra Confession” which declares that economic and
social systems that condemn people to poverty and marginalization
and imperil the earth’s natural environment are a sin.  

Member churches continue to debate whether this is in fact a
“confession” and thus a pre-requisite to membership in the
organization or whether it is a “faith stance” in which beliefs
are articulated that are not binding.  

Bukowski believes that there are elements of the Accra
Confession which state fundamental beliefs and are not open to
discussion.  

“Social justice has substantially to do with our Christian
faith,” he states. “But how to fight against what some call
‘neo-liberalism’, this is open to discussion.”  

For now Bukowski says it is good that these discussions
continue. “Confessing didn’t just happen in the 16th century,”
the theologian says. “Confessing challenges us at all times.”

>***

>Contact:
>Kristine Greenaway 
>Executive Secretary, Communications
>World Alliance of Reformed Churches
>150 Route de Ferney
>P.O. Box 2100
>1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland
>tel.  +41.22 791 62 43 / +41 79 508 20 43
>fax: +41.22 791 65 05
>web: www.warc.ch ( http://www.warc.ch/ ) 
>e-mail: kgr@warc.ch
>