The Northelbian Centre for World Mission and Church World Service is an institution of the Northelbian Evangelical Lutheran Church. In the NMZ the active commitment of mission support groups, the active partnerschip of church districts and congregations and the ecumenical missionary responsibility of the whole church are brought together.

The NMZ maintains the Northelbian Church s relations with its partner churches in India, Africa, Papua New Guinea, East Asia, the Philippines, Latin America and the Middle East.

This includes, among other things, the exchange of personnel and know-how, as well as financial support in those areas where our partners are not yet able to meet their budgets, and for the implementation of important projects. Moreover, it is an important task and aim of the NMZ to make our overseas partners and issues of the Two-thirds World known to Christians and congregations in Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg.

The NMZ shares its knowledge and experience about the partner churches in their respective religious, cultural, social and political contexts; it gathers Northelbian advocates for the concerns of the Two-thirds World. Their problems cannot be regarded separately from the political and economic structures of the rich industrialised countries, therefore Northelbian Mission Centre in HamburNorthelbian Hamburg this raises questions of lifestyle both at a social and an individual level.

To make people aware of this, and to change people’s attitudes is above all the task of the Church World Service within the NMZ. World Mission means proclaiming the gospel in word and deed. Coordination and cooperation are essential, not only between the NMZ and partner churches overseas, but also with other supporting churches and agencies. Coordinating committees have been set up to plan and accompany the partnership. World mission is no longer a one way road.

A brief look into history

The driving force of the Schleswig-Holstein Evangelical Lutheran Mission Society which was established in Breklum in September 1876 was the Breklum pastor Christian Jensen. Soon mission support groups were founded in Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg.
Men and women came forward who were prepared to support God’s mission to the world both with prayers and donations. In those days the main task was to set out for far away countries which had not yet heard of Christ, and to bring them the Gospel - through words and deeds.
At the turn of the century there were 25 missionaries, both men and women, working in the area of Jeypore Kingdom in India. In 1912, missionaries went from Breklum to Tanzania, then German East Africa, and in 1921 the Breklum Mission Society took over the work of the Kiel Mission Society in the south of China.
Overseas mission fields have since become independent partner churches with a growing number of Christians. However, they have now become so called sister churches. North and South have become partners in God’s mission to the world.
The work of active support groups achieved that world mission became a matter of the church as a whole. It was a logical step therefore, that in 1971 the Northelbian Centre for World Mission and Church World Service was formed by agreement between the Schleswig- Holstein Mission Society and the Lutheran Churches of Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg.