Wuppertal, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany: Baptist congregation on Wartburgstrasse dissolves after 171 years as membership falls

The Evangelical Free Church community of the Baptists in Barmen, in Wuppertal, is ending its community work at the end of the month, according to the source. The congregation, which meets on Wartburgstrasse, is one of the few Baptist communities in the city to close in recent years, and its management includes Bärbel Küper and Helmut Hoffmann.

Hoffmann, the congregation’s leader, said the reason for the closure had been known for some time. “In recent years, the number of members has fallen steadily,” he said. He said the community was now too small to sustain its common life.

The congregation has a long history in the city. In the 1960s, it still had 400 members, and it was known as the “Mother Church of the Rhenish Baptist congregations.” Attendance has since declined sharply. Sunday services were last attended by only about ten people.

Hoffmann said the decision to close was made by the congregation in August of the previous year. “Since we are permanently lacking the powers and resources, the congregation decided in August last year that we will now stop in April,” he said. The source gives both the end of the month and April as closing points, and does not explain the difference. The source also frames the closure as an end to a church that had been a strong Christian voice in Wuppertal, while the congregation’s own members describe a shortage of people and resources.

The church building will not stand empty. In May, the Assemblées de Dieu will move in.

Source: Read the original report (translated from German)