Kirche der Freiheit and A Systems Theory Of Church

Abstract

The article deals with our understanding of ongoing reform processes taking place in the German and Czech churches, specifically the protestant ones. Are we ready to overcome the stress connected with too much uncertainty? Congregations, like human beings, live between the polarities of order and freedom. The tension between these two polarities gives birth to a renewal. Thinking systematically means seeing the multiplicity of factors and search for causation in a given environment. Acting systematically means seeing opportunities, creating mental models and influencing the environment. There may be historic tensions and group‘s dynamics leading to a permanent conflict. There may be too much liberalism leading to the vague picture of one‘s identity. There may be too much responsibility carried by a few people working voluntarily. There may be too much orthodoxy closing itself in the system of “eternal truths.” We introduce a Systems Theory of Church that takes into account a struggle between the use of traditional instruments used to describe self-reference of the church (ecclesiology) and the use of management tools in the church in recent years, and combine this with the Luhmann‘ s Theory of Social Systems. We propose in the text a theory that takes seriously a language of one of the leading social theories, adapt it to the theological context in order to apply it to a new communication strategy. The language we use is not innocent; it creates its own reality. We cannot grow against the trend. But doing things right as well as doing right things – it is all about “planting, growing and taking care” with patience. A hermeneutic circle, a semantic triangle and a communication model embody a “creation view” can helps us to see the whole picture again.