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Since its constitution in 1849 the Central-Ausschuß für Innere Mission (CA) (Central Committee for Inner Mission) organised regular specialist congresses at a central level, in which experts discussed fundamental themes from social and missionary work. The first congresses treated themes such as the care of detainees and released prisoners, the relationship between church and general care of the poor, the welfare of emigrants and the recruitment of workers for the inner mission. The conferences served both for discussion and training as well as the personnel unification of the members of the CA with its agents and correspondents throughout the country as well as the experts out in the regions. Many themes out of the social work were discussed for the first time ever at the inner mission congresses and new initiative set in motion. So, in the 1870s, for example there were discussions about the question of factory workers, the work free Sunday, Christian art and journalism, or the assignment of female volunteers for the care of young girls.

The Inner Mission Congresses were from the very beginning closely tied to the Church Conference of the German Protestant Church. The CA, that was itself a product of the first Church Conference in Wittenberg in 1848, was committed by its statutes to hold a congress for the inner mission at the same time and in the same place as the Church Conference. The two day congress always followed the two day general church gathering, which at the beginning was held annually and then biannually from 1858 onwards. The close connection between both meetings was an important concern for the initiator of the Central-Ausschuß, Johann Hinrich Wichern, because he regarded social work as a central expression of church life.

In terms of organisation this connection became, with time, ever more of a problem because the Church Conference was denied the right to speak for the whole of the protestant church from, on the one side, Culture Protestantism and, from the other side, by Confessional Lutheranism. As of 1872 the Church Conference no longer took place and also the attempt by Wichern and the CA to replace it with a new collective form of meeting failed. The Congresses, whose factual necessity was generally recognised, survived the crisis and now took place independently for four days biannually.

This development is reflected in the appearance of the congress reports. Up to 1852 they had been published independently, but the discussion protocols of the 5th to 16th congresses (1853 – 1872) appeared as part of the church conference report (title: Die Verhandlungen des … deutschen evangelischen Kirchentages). By the restart of independent publishing the original numbering was continued with volume 17. Because of the close connections between the two series both of them have been edited here. In this way, Wichern’s famous call to inner mission at the Wittenberg Church Conference is also documented.

Shortened alternative to the last two paragraphs

The Inner Mission Congresses were closely tied to the Church Conferences of the German Protestant Church. That is why the reports of the 5th to 16th congresses did not appear separately but as a special section of the corresponding church conference report (title: Die Verhandlungen des … deutschen evangelischen Kirchentages). After the church conferences ceased to exist the renewed publication of independent discussion protocols began with the 17th congress in 1875.

After the First world War the congresses only took place sporadically and ceased to exist altogether with the world economic crisis. The reports were edited by the secretaries of the respective congresses which explains the differences in outward appearance. The (most important) contributions to the discussions were also documented alongside the lecture manuscripts. This enables us to follow the dynamic developments in the protestant social work, a fact, that together with the detailed lists of the participants creates the special value of these congress reports.