Mission Yearbook: Minute for Mission: Reformation Sunday

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In 1934, representatives of Germany’s Protestant churches gathered in Wuppertal, Barmen, and wrote a letter to the German people on the unity of the church and its freedom in Jesus Christ. We remember this modest text because of its situation — it accused the official church of Nazi Germany, the Reichskirche, of error.

The Theological Declaration Concerning the Present Situation of the German Church, without naming the Nazis, holds that the Fuhrerprinzip is incompatible with Christianity (Book of Confessions, 8.12). It avers that the Church does not orient itself based on “prevailing ideologies and political convictions” (8.18). At its most forceful, it says: “We reject the false doctrine, as though the State, over and beyond its special commission, should and could become the single and totalitarian order of human life, thus fulfilling the Church's vocation as well” (8.23). 

Few German Protestants opposed the Nazis — only about 10% of German ministers were members of the Confessing Church. And the drafters made clear that Barmen was a theological document, not a political one. Wilhelm Niemöller, whose brother Martin was amongst the Barmen drafters, wrote in 1956: “The confessing Church has never, neither during Hitler’s reign nor afterwards, made a point of being understood as a ‘resistance movement,’ or as an ‘opposition,’ or as a ‘front.’ It wanted to witness the one Word in our world and time.”

In preparing a new Book of Confessions for the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. in 1965 and 1966, the General Assembly’s Committee of Fifteen selected the Barmen declaration to represent modern Christendom. One member of the committee preached in his own congregation that in Barmen’s vision of life, “the church may not willingly become the victim of state power.” 

The banner representing Barmen was designed by the duo Avery and Marsh, better known for their musical theater and hymns. It shows the swastika struck through and the cross rising. 

McKenna Britton, Communications, Presbyterian Historical Society

Let us join in prayer for:

Teresa Bidart, Mission Specialist, Self-Development of People, Presbyterian Life & Witness
Ricky Blade, Customer Service Representative, Constituent Ministry, Presbyterian Life & Witness

Let us pray:

Creator God, guide us as we seek to remain faithful to the way of Jesus Christ. Give us wisdom to recognize when faith is shaped by forces that diminish the dignity and freedom of others. Open our hearts to truth, deepen our compassion, and give us courage to follow Christ’s call with humility and love. Amen.