Die kirchenrechtliche Struktur internationaler Gemeinden in der evangelischen Kirche in Deutschland

Abstract

The "international congregations" within the Evangelical Church in Germany are congregations whose members are native to Germany. At the same time, they feel connected to other regions of the world and serve as links between different nationalities, building bridges within a global Christian community. They are contrasted with native congregations that are opening themselves up to intercultural exchange. Through this mutual encounter, they strengthen one another. From a church law perspective, this is achieved through various structural models that are continuously evolving to find a suitable structure and to connect with existing congregations. One example is cooperative coexistence; other forms can be found, for instance, in the Evangelical Church in Baden and the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland.