Boschker, Maria (2024) Church planting in the east of Germany: the importance of missions, discipleship, and community formation. Doctoral thesis, Asbury Theological Seminary.
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
The East of Germany is one of the most secularized regions in Europe. The German Democratic Republic managed to radically diminish the number of Christians living in the country. After the German reunion, sociologists expected a rapid rise in the number of churches and Christians, but this did not happen. Thirty years after the reunion, there are still only a few churches that are planted, and they are confronted with different challenges than their Western counterparts. The purpose of this study was to identify the importance of missions, discipleship, and community formation on the success of church plants in the East of Germany. Twenty-eight church planters who started churches since 2016 in the East of Germany filled out a computer-assisted telephone interview and participated in a semi-structured interview on Zoom. The two most important implications of this study are the importance of discipleship when planting churches in the East of Germany and the big overlap between missions and community formation. The study found that most church planters focused on community formation followed by missions and discipleship rather than the traditional sequencing of missions, discipleship, and community formation. All three aspects influenced each other. Relationships stood out as a key influence on missions, discipleship, and community formation. The statistical analysis showed a significant positive correlation between the number of hours a church planter invested in discipling the team and the whole church and the number of guests, conversions, and the growth of the church plant. Regression analysis showed a significant outcome with discipleship being the best predictor for a higher number of guests, conversions, and growth. Missions and community formation did not show any significant results.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | new church development, church planting, Germany, east, case studies, discipling, Christianity, missions, communities, religious aspects, interpersonal relations |
| Subjects: | B Mission theology/theory > Evangelism/Proclamation of Gospel C Types of Christian Ministry > Church Planting C Types of Christian Ministry > Discipleship G Christian traditions/Denominations > Evangelical |
| Divisions: | Eastern Germany |
| Depositing User: | Katharina Penner |
| Date Deposited: | 26 Apr 2026 16:46 |
| Last Modified: | 26 Apr 2026 16:46 |
| URI: | https://ceamol.osims.org/id/eprint/3275 |
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