Introductory Informations of the Evangelisch - Freikirchliche Gemeinde Kempten * our roots * who we are * our intentions Evangelisch - Freikirchliche Gemeinde Kempten, 2004
Welcome! Based on four questions we would like to introduce our church to you: A.) How did our church come to exist? B.) What is our spiritual fundament? C.) What aims does our church want to achieve? D.) What ministries can you find in our church? A.) How did our church come to exist? In 1919 a few people started a missionary homegroup activity in Kempten. They were supported by the Baptist churches from Munich and Augsburg. In 1959 the church that had meantime been founded moved to a building in Alpenstrasse 11, that they had erected themselves. That church center had a seating capacity of 180. By the grace of God the congregation grew from 70 up to 380 members today. This growth was the result of people putting their faith to the word of the bible and to a newborn living relationship to God and Jesus Christ generated by the Holy Spirit. Because of this expansion we needed a new church center to which we moved in 1997. We belong to the denomination Bund evangelisch-freikirchlicher Gemeinden in Deutschland (Union of the Baptist churches in Germany), whose legal seat is in Bad Homburg v.d.h. This denomination is officially recognised by the state. We would now like to explain to you the meaning of our name Evangelilsch-Freikirchliche Gemeinde: Evangelisch (evangelical) - the gospel (a translation of the Greek word euangelion which means good news ) is the fundament of our faith. This good news unites us with all bible believing congregations and Christians in the whole world. Freikirchlich (independant) - all our members belong to our church because of their own personal and free decision. We bear our expenses ourselves and do not depend on taxes collected by the state. Gemeinde (congregation) - personal faith and following Jesus Christ find their expression in the binding community of believers. B.) What is our spiritual fundament? 1.) The salvation in Jesus - living by the grace of God The living God offers to you his salvation through his son Jesus Christ. By this you are challenged to decide, whether you are willing to surrender your life to Jesus and to be put under the authority of the Holy Spirit. Are you following Jesus and have you accepted his work of salvation? Then you will experience these facts:
* you have revieved Gods s saving mercy by faith * you have been convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit * you have known that you are lost without Jesus * you have accepted Jesus as your personal saviour by faith * you have recieved peace from God through the power of the Holy Spirit * you are now rejoicing in the knowledge of eternal salvation * you are longing to follow Jesus with all of your heart * you are willing to join spiritual community in the church * your desire is to read the bible and pray * you are waiting for the second coming of Jesus full of hope Without Jesus you are lost forever! Therefore the most important decision of your life is to accept the salvation through Jesus Christ and to follow him. Jesus says: If a man love me, he will keep my words (the bible): and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode to him. (John 14:23) Has the liberating mercy in Jesus Christ conquered your life? 2.) Cleansing your life - living in the power of the spirit If want to experience the unique quality of your new life in Jesus it is extremely important to clearly put an end to your godless lifestyle. The more and clearer you finish your old sinful life, the better you will enter into the new life in Christ Jesus. You can check out your life according to the ten commandments and you can ask God s Spirit to show you the aspects where you need forgiveness and cleansing by Jesus Christ. To confess your sins in counseling puts a clear end to your old life. In this respect it may be important to ask other people to forgive you and - if possible - restitute the damage you have caused. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1. John 1:9) 3.) Baptism in water - a total surrender Once you have turned away from your old lifestyle, it is a biblical command to get baptised. Trough Baptism God makes clear that he has accepted you as son or daughter through mercy. But it also expresses the decision of any believer to follow Jesus with all of his heart and to surrender his whole life to the trinitarian God! By getting baptised you personally accept the offer of God s love in front of the visible and unvisible world. As a consequence the Holy Spirit will fill your heart and make possible a powerful dicipleship. Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall recieve the gift of the Holy Ghost. (Acts 2:38) 4.) Church - the family of God To be baptised in the name of the Trinity means also to be integrated into the body of
Christ, the church. Baptism is the foundation of commuity with God and his people. Therefore every Christian is obliged to attend a local church that honors the word of God and to minister to Christians and to other people there. In the community of believers we learn to accept spiritual promises but also to take over responibility: i.e. listening to biblical teaching, having fellowship in a homegroup, attending the church service and seaking counseling. It is a joy and a priviledge, to invest your life into the church by ministering with your gifts, spending time with other believers and give money (tithing). And they continued stedfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking bread, and in prayers. (Acts 2:42) Are you willing to continue stedfastly in our church? 5.) Transformation by the word of God and His Holy Spirit The word of God (the bible) gives us orientation in all aspects of our faith and our life i.e. in our marriages, families, finances, worklife etc. The Scripture is our guideline in the heights and the depths of life. It encourges but it also exhorts us. The bible does not only contain God s word, it is God s word. As a church we underline the importance of a balanced biblical teaching and practicing the gifts of the Holy Spirit revealing to us the God s thoughts and intentions for our lives. In this way our spiritual growth will be promoted and our life will be fundamentally transformed. During our weekly evening bible school (ABS - Abendbibelschule ) we would like to give to anyone the opportunity to build a new life on a solid spiritual fundament. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. (2.Tim 3:16) Are you willing to adjust your life to the principles of God s word by the help of the Holy Spirit? The five aspects mentioned above are the basis of our church. The questions you were asked are intended to help you to find out your own standpoint. We would like to encourage you to write down your questions concerning these fundamental aspects of faith and to talk them over with Jesus and with the person accompanying you. These are my questions:
C.) What aims does our church want to achieve? Mainly two statements by Jesus describe the purpose of his church. These words are the guidelines of our congregation. 1. The command to love and be loved Jesus challenges us to love God our neighbour and ourrselfs. Thous shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. (Matth 22:37-39) 2. The great commandment Jesus demands us to make people come to him and follow him All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. (Matth 28:18-20) All of our life is based on the love that Jesus offers to us. Based on this we are willing to share with other perople the gospel that allone hs got the power to save. The command of Jesus to love and be loved - the basis of our life The great commandment - our first aim A vision makes the aims of Jesus become more concrete A vision shows us the way God wants to lead us as his church to achieve his goals. Our vision is to make disciples in all cities and villages of our region (the Allgäu) and establish there small group of believers. The Allgäu shall be enlighted by the gospel of Jesus Christ that alone has got the power to save. 1. How can we promote the love to God, to our neighbour and to ourselves? 2. How can we promote evangelism and discipleship among our neighbours? In our church we therefore focus on two aspects: A. Church service B. Homegroups We strongly recommend each member of our church to join us in these areas. This means specifically * attending our service with joy * joining a homegroup continually
A. Church service On Sunday we gather in our center to give honour to God, to praise Him in common and to listen to biblical techings that will show us the way how to follow Jesus. Our services focus on the saving of the lost and on the edifying of believers through worship and praise, but also through sermon and preaching. Main purpose of the service is to glorify God. But we also experience God s presence in His word and His spirit and thus we get encouraged and strengthend, yet the Lord may correct and exhort us as well as far as our everyday life is concerned. The church service is the spiritual center of our congregation. At the same time the children may attend their own groups according to their age where they are ministered to by members of our church. We believe our children to be very precious gifts given to us from God. Our wish is that they may come to know the Lord as early as possible. And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together... (Hebr 10:24-25) B. Homegroups The first Christians attended common services but also gathered in their homes in small groups. Homegroups are groups of disciples (6 to 15 members), who meet weekly, in most cases on Friday evening. Homegroup evenings focus on worship and praise, times of edifying oneselves, of intercession and fellowship. In these groups we try to recpitulate the sunday teachings and answer questions in a personal way. Our intention is to establish this kind of groups everywhere in Kempten and ist surroundings. They are to center on three aspects; 1. We wish to grow in the love to our Lord 2. We wish to intensify the relationships among ourselves 3. We wish to better minister to those who have not yet become Christians. By these three aims we would like to achieve * that anyone grows spiritually in his discipleship * that the gospel becomes practicable in in everyday life * that anyone comes to know that it is more important to give than to recieve * that we meet the personal needs of the single person * that new converts find a spiritual partner quickly and thus are being integrated into the life of the church * that we learn to take over responsibility towards our neighbour * that in our homegroups we start building bridges to those who do not yet know the Lord Summarizing we can say that any homegroup should have two purposes: 1. Homegroups are centered on the command of Jesus to love this means to edify ourselves: internal love 2. Homegroups fulfill the great commandment lifestyle of evangelism: external love
D.) What ministries can you find in our church? You can find many ministries in our church. A living congregation wants to see any of its members minister with their gifts. You are a precious son and daughter of the Allmighty God and you are cordially invited to work in the Kingdom of God. We would like to encourage you to pray and ask the Lord, in which area of the church he wants you to cooperate. You could also ask the pastor, one of the elders, a deacon, a leader of a homegroup or the person accompanying you. They are always ready to help you in any way possible. The leadership of our church For the time being the leadership of our church consists of one pastor (Stefan Vatter) and five elders (Christian Oberländer, Franz Schweiger, Toni Weixler, Michael Hutter und Georg Jakob-Steinhauser). Stefan Vatter is in charge of spiritual leadership and Christian Oberländer is head of the administration. Any ministry in the church is submitted to one of the elders or to the pastor, who is responsible in that area. Deacons are responsible for specific areas of the church and submitted to the pastor and the elders. The elders and the pastor meet every Tuesday to pray together, to discuss questions of leadership and to make plans for the future ot the church. Please remember to pray for us. Several times a year an internal convention of all the members of the congregation takes place in order to discuss important aspects of churchlife and take the necessary decisions. Some important informations concerning our congregation * the newsletter of the church appears once a month and you can find it left of the entrance. It will inform you about all important aspects of churchlife. Next to the newsletter you will find a summary of the Sunday sermon. * You can obtain many more information about topical events in the church by studying the boards in the entrance hall. Even more information can be found on our hompage www.efgkempten.de. * At the book table each member of the church may obtain a list of all the adresses of all the members of the congregation. * Every Wednesday at 8 p.m. the evening bible school will take place. We strongly recommend to visit this event regularly. Next to Sunday service and homegroup meetings the evening bible school is extremely important for your spiritual growth. Eyery first Wednesday of the month we gather for an evening of worship and intercession at 8 p.m. * We are planning to publish more of these booklets of informations (we call them the ABCseries). You may buy it in our office.
Our events Sunday, 9:30 a.m. public service childrens service at the same time Wednesday, 8 p.m. Evening bible school (open for everyone) - ABS every first Wednesday of the month - evening of worship and intercession Thursday, 9:30 a.m. mother-kids-group Friday, 4 p.m. Royal Rangers (Christian pathfinders - age from 9 to 13) Friday 6 p.m. homegroups of our youth Friday 8 p.m. homegroups meet (some also gather on Monday) Saturday 7:30 p.m. the youth of the church (starting with the age of 13) meets for specific events For further information please contact the pastor, an elder, a homegroup leader or the person accompanying you. May the Lord bless you richly on you way following our Lord Yours in Christ Jesus Stefan Vatter, pastor Evangelisch Freikirchliche Gemeinde Kempten/Allgäu Untere Eicher Strasse 11 87435 Kempten, opening hours of our office: Mon-Fri 9-12 a.m. Phone: +49-(0)831-18274 Fax: +49-(0)831-16927 Internet: http://www.efg-kempten.de Email: briefkasten@efg-kemtpen.de text: pastor Stefan Vatter, Tel +49-(0)831-584850 translation: Hubert Mathar