History

The aim of uniting

Compared to the history of Protestant mission from the 18th century, EMS is still young.
In 1972 six churches and five mission societies joined together to do their mission work through a united association. They had the aim of uniting what had long been separated: up to the mid-20th century mission work was carried out by autonomous societies and associations, including the Basel Mission, the Moravian Mission, the German East Asian Mission and the Association for the Syrian Orphanage, the present Evangelical Association for the Schneller Schools (EVS). There were only loose links with the churches in southwest Germany through the “Southwest German working group for world mission”. However, independent churches had long since emerged in Africa and Asia, which no longer wanted to be identified as subsidiary churches of mission societies. Rather they wished to enjoy partnership relations with churches worldwide. Hence the International Mission Council and with it many “young churches” became fully fledged members of the ecumenical movement and the worldwide fellowship of churches at the World Council of Churches assembly in New Delhi in 1961.

A good example catches on

The eleven founding members of EMS followed this example in 1972 and took on the challenge of partnership with the churches that had emerged from missions. The one-way traffic of the past had become a two-way street. “Receive and pass on” was the slogan with which the newly founded EMS expressed its understanding of mission. Ecumenical co-workers from the South were invited to come and work in Germany. The first church partnerships were initiated at church circuit or district level.

Joint witness

Contacts were first kept up at the bilateral level. The founding of EMS ushered in a new learning process in order to try out and deepen cooperation and exchange among one another. In recent history, churches and mission societies in three continents have grown into an EMS fellowship. Milestones on this path were international consultations in 1983 in Bad Boll and in 1991 in Jerusalem. The delegates from all churches and societies at the Jerusalem Forum passed recommendations on the future course of EMS: “common witness” was to bind the fellowship and this became the basis of all planning and activities. Everyone was to participate in the decision-making process.

Successful model

In 1994 the EMS synod decided to amend the constitution to include international representation in the governing bodies. The international Mission Council, in which each church and mission society is represented with voting rights, first met in 1995. Since then governance has been carried out together. Everyone shares responsibility. The two-way street between churches in Germany and “partner” churches in other continents has become a round table and an ecumenical network. Missionary witness happens at every location. Everyone shares and contributes, everyone learns from and with one another. EMS has developed into an exemplary case of sharing in common witness.