Germany is a country where the Protestant Reformation was born and where the Lutheran state church has shaped national life for five centuries. In that context, the existence of a vibrant, independent free evangelical movement is itself a form of witness.
The Bund Freier Evangelischer Gemeinden — the FeG, or Federation of Free Evangelical Churches — is Germany's largest free evangelical body, with more than 500 congregations and approximately 42,000 members. Founded in 1874, it predates the German Empire and has navigated every upheaval of modern German history: Imperial Germany, Weimar, the Nazi period (a time of particular pressure for dissenting free churches who refused to align with the state-church accommodation to National Socialism), the postwar division, and reunification.
Theological identity
The FeG's self-understanding is explicitly within the free evangelical tradition: congregational polity, believers' church ecclesiology, the primary/secondary distinction, and a strong commitment to evangelism and church planting. Its theological training centre, the Theologische Hochschule Ewersbach (THE Ewersbach), provides formation for full-time workers across the denomination and serves as the educational anchor of the German free evangelical world. The Vereinigung Evangelischer Freikirchen (VEF), which celebrated its centennial in April 2026, gives free churches in Germany a common public voice alongside the much larger state-church bodies.
Church planting and youth
In recent years the FeG has made church planting a strategic priority, recognising that maintaining existing congregations is insufficient in a rapidly secularising context. FeG Gemeindegründung — the denomination's church planting arm — coordinates new starts across the country, with an emphasis on urban areas and underserved communities. Youth ministry has long been a FeG strength; the BUJU youth conference drew more than 3,350 young people to Erfurt in May 2026, one of the largest evangelical youth gatherings in Germany.
Global connections
The FeG is a member of IFFEC and maintains mission partnerships through Allianz-Mission, which coordinates global outreach across several German free evangelical bodies. The annual "Herzschlag global" festival, run by Allianz-Mission, brings the stories of worldwide mission work to FeG congregations and keeps the movement's global consciousness alive.
Germany's free evangelical tradition — rooted, resilient, and actively multiplying — is one of the IFFEC family's most important anchors in central Europe.
More: FeG Deutschland | IFFEC
