When Cold War and State Reform meet the Church: The Origin of the Denomination of the Free Evangelical Churches in Flanders
This article summarizes the origins of Flemish denomination Vrije Evangelische Gemeenten (VEG - Free Evangelical Churches). It aims to demonstrate that the financial policy and situation of the founding Mission as well as (inter)national political developments are inextricably connected to the miles...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Amsterdam University Press
[2017]
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| In: |
Trajecta
Year: 2017, Volume: 26, Issue: 2, Pages: 253-274 |
| IxTheo Classification: | KAJ Church history 1914-; recent history KBD Benelux countries KDG Free church RJ Mission; missiology |
| Further subjects: | B
Flanders; History
B Evangelical Churches B Reforms B Catholic Church B Cold War, 1945-1991 |
| Summary: | This article summarizes the origins of Flemish denomination Vrije Evangelische Gemeenten (VEG - Free Evangelical Churches). It aims to demonstrate that the financial policy and situation of the founding Mission as well as (inter)national political developments are inextricably connected to the milestones of this denomination. By yearly covering deficits on their budgets, with US funds, the local churches that were planted had no incentives to become self-sufficient. This did not change when US-donations continued to decrease from the 1930s onwards. The US fear of a communist invasion of Western Europe in the 1950s played a major role in the decision to found a Belgian Free Evangelical Denomination in 1963. The process which led in 1993 to the subdivision of the national organization into a separate French-speaking and Flemish denomination coincided with constitutional changes in Belgium. Churches on either side of the language-divide had increasingly divergent needs and expectations in the changing political and cultural landscape. |
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| ISSN: | 2665-9484 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Trajecta
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