Support for school start-up initiatives

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The VEBS supports parents and congregations who want to found an independent Evangelical school!

The 156 schools that are members of the VEBS were founded by parents and are independent of regional churches; they only employ people of faith (and are allowed to do so, see § 9 AGG).
The VEBS provides support in founding a school – this page offers an initial overview!

For all those who are serious about founding a school,
— there is an online handbook on founding a school with many founding aids and templates
— and free founding seminars and webinars (information and registration here).

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Profile and goals of a Protestant denominational school

• Teaching by teachers who are conscious Christians and who convince through the credibility of their own following of Jesus.
• Compliance with the educational objectives of the federal state
• Orientation of lesson content to the interpretative framework of the Bible.
• Educational content according to a separate curriculum or according to the curriculum of the federal state, permeated by the Protestant confession.

Thereby mediation of:

• sense and orientation and the ability to engage independently with other systems of interpretation.
• Strengthening of the personality through a pedagogy based on the biblical view of man, experience of recognition and security as well as boundaries and demands, resulting in high motivation, willingness to perform and self-responsibility.
• Getting to know the gospel of Jesus Christ as life orientation and saving power.

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Fundamentals of Evangelical schools

Denominational elementary school are a fundamental right of our constitution (Article 7). This requires a clear religious confession that should permeate the entire (!) school system (according to the Federal Administrative Court since 1992).

Since 1973, Christian Evangelical schools have been established in more than 130 towns and cities in Germany, and almost 40,000 daycare children and pupils are taught in 155 elementary school, secondary schools and vocational schools as well as 50 daycare centers. The schools (and daycare centers) are run by non-profit associations *).

The schools are not inferior to state schools in terms of teaching objectives, facilities and the academic training of teachers – Evangelical schools are often actually better equipped than comparable state schools.
Evangelical schools are also under the supervision of the state education authorities. They teach the contents of the state education plans, provided this is compatible with the denomination – they are also allowed to develop their own.
As state-approved/recognized “alternative schools”, they and the certificates they issue meet all state requirements.
Evangelical schools are partially funded by the federal states, but only with approx. 50 to 80 percent of all costs actually incurred (varies greatly depending on the federal state). As a result, Evangelical schools are unfortunately forced by the state to charge school fees, which are comparatively low and socially graduated according to income and family size.

*) or gGmbHs

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History of Evangelical schools

With the receipt of God’s commandments on Mount Sinai, the children of Israel were entrusted with the educational commandment, which from then on was of fundamental importance in Jewish culture.

The best known are the verses 6-9 following the famous “Shma Yisrael” in Deuteronomy 6, verses 4-5, whose fundamental characteristic is the orientation of practical life to the standard of the Holy Scriptures. Biblical education must not be merely a form, but must reach the reality of life.

“And these words which I command thee this day thou shalt take
unto thine heart, and shalt inculcate them upon thy children, and shalt talk of them,
when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest,
and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand,
and they shall be for a sign between thine eyes,
and thou shalt write them upon the posts of thine house, and upon the gates.”

In the New Testament, the mission to proclaim the good news of Jesus’ redemption was also placed in the close context of the divine mission to shape the personality and orient the thinking of young people, exemplified here in the Letter to the Ephesians (chapter 6, verse 4).

“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up
in the teaching and mindset (literally) of the Lord.”

In the so-called Christian West, school then developed from the baptismal education provided by the churches, which, in conjunction with influences from the Greco-Roman context, was spiritually and philosophically oriented until the Middle Ages and was predominantly reserved for children from wealthy families until the Middle Ages. Ultimately, it was primarily Christian educators who worked to make education accessible to all.

Wherever in the history of Jesus’ church people discovered the enormous dimensions of Christ’s redemption and were moved to pass it on, the concern for Christian education grew in them at the same time.

In his essay “To the councillors of all German cities, that they may establish and maintain Christian schools”, Martin Luther named the founding of Christian schools as one of the primary goals for parents, the church and the authorities.

Johann Amos Comenius, the bishop of the Bohemian Brethren Church, became a pioneer of media education in the 17th century with his illustrated textbook “Orbis pictus”, which was used in schools around the world for over 250 years. His aim was to make the world comprehensible from God’s perspective. His “Great Didactics” is one of the first textbooks of modern pedagogy.

August Hermann Francke, a pastor who founded schools in Halle an der Saale around 1700, is considered the father of the confessional school movement. His schools could also be attended by non-wealthy pupils and girls. His overall spiritual view of education led him to pedagogical innovations that are still groundbreaking today. By introducing real objects into the classroom, he made education tangible. For Francke, a Christian-oriented education had to be a preparation for life. This is why vocational orientation was so important: there were workshops in his schools. At the same time, he sent his pupils out into the world with a spiritual mission. The first missionaries of the new missionary history were “pupils” of his schools. And it was at his instigation that the first modern missionary society was founded.

Friedrich Spittler, the founder of the Basel Mission and the St. Chrischona Pilgrim Mission, founded the first Swiss teacher training seminar in combination with a Christian school at Beuggen Castle in Baden together with Heinrich Zeller in 1820. The men had realized that it was “not enough to send missionaries to distant lands” when the need in their own country was so great.

The pioneer of the Inland Mission and founder of the Rauen Haus, Johann Heinrich Wichern, also promoted the cause of Christian schools.

In the Bergisches Land region, the principal Friedrich Wilhelm Dörpfeld actively promoted Christian education.

And in the Netherlands, Abraham Kuyper, later Minister of the Interior and founder of the Free University of Amsterdam, founded the “Schools with the Bible” movement. This is related to the fact that private schools and state schools are still financed equally by the state today. This makes it possible for Christian Evangelical schools in the Netherlands to run their own state-recognized pedagogical colleges.

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Legal basis

“Evangelical schools” are named after a legal category of the Basic Law within which “elementary schools” (today : elementary school) can also be operated by parents under non-governmental sponsorship.

This is an expression of fundamental rights such as the right to freedom of religion and the parental right to education. These fundamental rights are so strong that the constitution provides for exceptions to the exclusive operation of elementary school by state providers.

The prerequisite for approval is “not lagging behind” (meaning: not being inferior to) state schools in terms of “teaching objectives and facilities” – meaning the comparability of the quality of teaching, rooms and equipment, teaching objectives and content – as well as the “equivalence” of the academic training of the teaching staff.

In addition, the possible level of school fees means that there should not be a school only for the rich.

As “alternative schools” recognized by the state, independent Evangelical schools replace attendance at state schools (compulsory education), but they are also subject to supervision by the state education authorities.

A prerequisite for “Evangelical schools” is that the concept is characterized by an underlying “confession”. This is characterized by the fact that it contains a “closed world view encompassing all areas of life”. It is mandatory that the entire curriculum is shaped by this world view. This applies to the applied pedagogy and the meaningful orientation of the teaching content.

Evangelical schools must also teach the general educational principles. For this reason, the teaching content provided for in the state education plans is covered. Teaching at Evangelical schools may promote the denomination, but it must not be indoctrinating, but must ensure the free formation of opinion, the development of personal identity and the confrontation with other interpretations.

Legal sources: Basic Law Article 7, paragraphs 4 and 5 as well as the two related judgments of the Federal Administrative Court 6 C 3.91 on denominational schools and 6 C 5.91 on ideological schools of February 19, 1992.

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Confessions of Evangelical schools in the VEBS

The sponsors of Evangelical schools who are members of the VEBS are independent.

What they all have in common, however, is their conceptual connection to the Bible as a basis. The interaction within the school, the applied pedagogy and the orientation of the teaching content are based on this.

All free Evangelical schools founded after 1992 profess the Common Basis of Faith of the German Evangelical Alliance in addition to the ApostolicCreed, because these together were declared in 1992 in a landmark ruling by the Federal Administrative Court to be a sufficient basis within the meaning of Article 7 Paragraph 5 of the Basic Law. Older schools, such as the Georg-Müller-Schulen in Bielefeld, have slightly different confessions of faith of their own.

ApostolicCreed(Apostles’ Creed)

I believe in God,
the Father, the Almighty,
the Creator of heaven and earth.

And to Jesus Christ,
his only begotten Son, our Lord,
conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried,
descended into the realm of death,
rose from the dead on the third day,
ascended into heaven;
he sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from there he will come to judge
the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Holy Catholic (Protestant: Christian[1]) Church,
communion of saints,
forgiveness of sins,
resurrection of the dead
and eternal life.

Amen.

^{(Translation of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft für liturgische Texte der Kirchen des deutschen Sprachgebietes, 1970)}

Common Basis of Faith of the German Evangelical Alliance

• We believe in the triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He created the world, loves it and sustains it. In this he shows his sovereignty and grace.
• As the image of God, human beings have an unmistakable dignity. They are created male and female. They are separated from God through sin and guilt.
• Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man, died as a substitute for all people. His sacrificial death alone is the basis for the forgiveness of guilt, for liberation from the power of sin and for acquittal in God’s judgment.
  Jesus Christ, raised from the dead by God, is the only way to God. Man is justified by God’s grace through faith in him alone.
• People recognize God through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit creates new life through rebirth and enables believers to live according to God’s will. He gives them gifts for service.
• Jesus Christ is building his worldwide church. He calls and empowers believers to proclaim the gospel and to act lovingly and justly.
• Jesus Christ will return in power and glory for all to see, judge the living and the dead and complete the kingdom of God. He will create a new heaven and a new earth.
• The Bible, consisting of the writings of the Old and New Testaments, is the revelation of the triune God. It is inspired by God’s Spirit, reliable and the highest authority in all matters of faith and conduct.
  
  (Basis of faith of the Evangelical Alliance from September 2, 1846, revised 2018)

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Educational institutions in the VEBS

Here you can see in which regions, cities and towns there are schools and daycare centers that belong to the VEBS: