Church development in transformation practices. Multi-perspective explorations in the EKBO area

The project understands church development as a transformative practice. In interdependent doctoral scholarships, three contexts of church development through transformative practices are analysed: church leadership practices (regional synod of the EKBO) pedagogical-professional practices (church work with children) and religious practices in the context of casual religion.

Three research perspectives link the projects: Firstly, church development issues are shifted from the future to the present. Church development is conceptualised as always already taking place, namely in concrete practices. It does not primarily emerge as a task yet to be realized, but is understood and valued as a social reality. Secondly, the focus on transformative practices of church development should expose the ambivalences of such practices. Transformative practices always take place in a mode of continuity and discontinuity. Development is never unilinear, never continuously forwards. It takes shape in a continuous interplay between progress and (apparent) standstill, preserving tradition and endeavouring to innovate. Thirdly, the project assumes that different types and levels can be differentiated and related to each other in a perspective of church development that is shaped by theories of practice. This brings the diversity of church transformation practices into view.

The sub-projects work empirically on specific material and are closely networked with each other, e.g. by joint seminars and workshops (also with external experts). The overall project is a cooperation between the Faculty of Theology at Humboldt-University Berlin, the Protestant University of Applied Sciences Berlin and the Evangelische Kirche Berlin-Brandenburg schlesische Oberlaussitz [Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia] (EKBO). Theological research and church work are consistently linked in an innovative way.

The overall project is funded by EKBO.