15.08.2019

From Wuppertal into the world

Since 1828 the Mission with its headquarters has been at home in the Rudolfstraße in Wuppertal-Barmen. The former Rhenish Mission Society ("Rheinische Missionsgesellschaft: RMG") was formed from the merger of the Elberfelder and the Barmer Mission Societies as well as the Mission Societies in Cologne and Wesel. In 1829 the RMG was registered as an association under Prussian law. As such, the legal successor, the United Evangelical Mission (UEM), is still in the register of associations today. At present about 70 employees work in the Mission House, which was inaugurated in 1981. Further UEM locations in Bielefeld-Bethel, Dar-es-Salaam (Tanzania) and North Sumatra (Indonesia) were added later.

Since the first mission of the RMG in 1829 about 3,000 missionaries and missionary sisters have been sent to the mission areas of Africa, Asia and Oceania and finally to the countries of today's member churches. For many years they had been prepared for their work at the Barmer Bible School.

Mission in the course of time

The best known example of missionary work is probably the small South African town of Wupperthal, founded in 1829 by the first Rhenish missionaries Theobald von Wurmb and Johann Gottlieb Leipholdt - long before the German city of Wuppertal was founded.

The then Rhenish Mission Society, which sent out its missionaries and later also sisters for "the conversion of unbelievers", has today become a contemporary international community, consisting of 38 Protestant churches in 12 countries with the von Bodelschwinghsch Foundations Bethel as a further member. Six German regional churches belong to the circle of UEM members. With 15 member churches from Africa and 17 churches from Asia, the mission today is interculturally shaped in every respect. Therefore, communication is exclusively in English.

"The relationship between colonialism and mission must be viewed in a differentiated way and can only be dealt with together with the churches in Asia and Africa. With the African and Asian majority, the interests of the Germans have long ceased to be the focus of our attention," said Volker Martin Dally, today's General Secretary of UEM.

Since 1996, all important decisions have been taken by all members on an equal footing. This also includes the fact that some of the board positions are filled by African and Asian employees. Whether the Commercial Councillor Heinrich Mittelsten Scheid, who was President of the Mission Society from 1907 to 1919, could have imagined that the Mission would be led by an African theologian almost 100 years later? From 2006 to 2015 the Tanzanian pastor Dr. Fidon Mwombeki led the UEM from the Wuppertal Mission House.

What is the worldwide mission doing today?

The UEM is an expert network that works in all directions. For example, a pastor from Indonesia works for several years in the congregation of the Thomas Church in Wuppertal or a Congolese doctor in West Papua. All members benefit from the diverse programmes and projects. For example, young people can spend a year working on a development policy project in Africa or Asia. In return, young Christians from the African and Asian churches spend a year working in social institutions in Germany. Another project supports the production of environmentally friendly cooking stoves in Rwanda. The UEM can help quickly in case of catastrophies, e.g. with regard to the frequent natural disasters in Southeast Asia because its member churches are already on the ground. UEM's work is mainly financed by donations, membership fees and third-party funds.

Mission also means interreligious dialogue, which is why UEM depends on a good relationship, for example with the mosque congregations. In doing so, the church fellowship benefits from the many experiences that its members in countries such as Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Tanzania have gained in dealing with other faith communities.

Visible network in the valley

Within Wuppertal there are numerous cooperation partners, for example with the municipal department for immigration and integration, the Initiative for Democracy and Tolerance or the association wuppertalaktiv! Only last year, together with the "Bürgerverein" of Unterbarmen and several hundred participants from the neighbourhood, a neighbourhood party was organised around the Mission House.

Then as now, the "Unterbarmer Hauptkirche" (main church of Unterbarmen) plays an important role: from here the missionaries were sent out into the world with God's blessing. Due to the membership of the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland, there is a close relationship to the church district of Wuppertal - an important link to the Protestant local congregations.

The proximity of the Mission House to the Rhenish railway line was also practical for the departure at that time. Today, many people cycle along the northern railway line to the Wichern Chapel, which was built with UEM funds. The missionaries are also associated with Wuppertal at death. The Mission has thus reserved its own cemetery for its returning missionaries and their families at the cemetery on "Oberbergische Straße".

Several hundred visitors a year come to the Mission House from the member churches. An important station of their journey is the "Museum auf der Hardt" of the Archive and Museum Foundation of UEM, which preserves the mission history next to the Protestant conference centre on the holy mountain. The theological university ("Kirchliche Hochschule") Wuppertal/Bethel, with which UEM has been working closely for many years, is located in the immediate vicinity.

Despite all these adaptations and developments, one thing has remained unchanged since 1828: the witness of faith as the core of mission. Martina Pauly