|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
The "classical mill town" in the extreme southeast of the Lueneburg Heath saw since the
administrative reform of 1974, not least thanks to the booming car manufacturing industry and due to
migratory movements in the wake of the German reunification, an over 40% increase of inhabitants to about
43,000 inhabitants today. The Landkreis of the same name has one of the highest fertility rates throughout
Germany.
Gifhorn is located at the periphery of the area of the great Lutheran revival in the Lueneburg Heath
during the 19th century that was related to the ministry of Reverend Ludwig Harms, Hermannsburg, and that
resulted in the development of a Lutheran free church, a predecessor of today's SELK. This is the reason
why there is a remarkably high number of SELK churches (often having "classical" church
buildings), and the church-owned publishing house VLB is headquartered in Gross Oesingen (20 km north of
Gifhorn). The local SELK church in Gifhorn, however, is a missionary church planting of the 90s.
Starting in 1973, Gifhorn and Leiferde became, through the ministry of pastor Holger Bethge (St Nicolaus's
Gifhorn / St Vite's Leiferde), locale of a reviving awakening inside the people's church, particularly among
the youth. The youth ministry gained in part supra-regional recognition due to the "spontan"-services
and the "Christliche Teestube Gifhorn". In the 80s, after a change in the superintendentship,
these activities encountered resistance from several other pastors of the Kirchenkreis and were heavily
attacked esp. by local committees and local politicians of the political party DIE GRÜNEN ("The
Greens") and were defamed via tendentious and inaccurate reporting of the local newspapers as
"sectarian", "engendering pangs of conscience", and "breach of family peace".
Similar to the situation in Buchholz, the public campaign against the spiritual
awakening reached its climax in 1990, when it finally led to the capitulation of pastor Bethge.
( Book review
Moeckel/Nestvogel: Volkskirche am Abgrund?
("People's Church on the Brink of Precipice?")).
Not least thanks to this spiritual awakening, the percentage of Bible-believing Christians in Gifhorn is
higher than average today, what is reflected in a presence of comparatively large free churches and Christian
institutions and initiatives that is remarkable for a town of this size - it was even possible to start
establishing a free Christian faith-based school with success.
|
|
 |
Kinderheimat Gifhorn, an institution of the
Evangelisch-Freikirchliches Sozialwerk, Hanover
|
 |
VLB Heinrich Harms, SELK Publishing House,
Martin-Luther-Weg 1, 29393 Groß Oesingen
|
 |
Immanuel-Schule Gifhorn, free Christian faith-based school, Knickwall 6, 38518 Gifhorn
|
 |
Bücherstube Gifhorn, Herzog-Franz-Str. 12, 38518 Gifhorn
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
![[Gifhorn]](../images/button_180x36_gifhorn_active.gif){kind=small}
