​The Christian Community - Movement for Religious Renewal 
emerged from the disaster and terror of the First World War.

Like millions of human beings around the world at that time, future priests and members shared the trauma of violence, death, hunger, poverty, and illness. They were also acutely aware of the devastating effects of the Influenza Pandemic of 1918 - known as the Spanish Flu - which in the course of just one year caused more deaths worldwide than the war itself. Out of this confrontation with the ashes of the old world - confrontation with death, illness, and despair - an impulse arose in the hearts of a few religious men and women that led to the founding of the Christian Community in Dornach, Switzerland in September 1922. ​However, the questions that led these people to Rudolf Steiner and Anthroposophy - and in effect enabled the restoration of the original Christian form of worship, the Sacraments - were not at all of a theoretical or theological nature. They were rooted in the genius of human conscience:

 

"What can we do to contribute to goodness and healing?

What can we do to help our fellow human beings and the world to rise from the ashes of despair and destruction? How can we be truly human in these inhumane times, when all outer authorities, be it political, religious, or cultural have failed to provide forms in which our humanity can be supported and thrive?"​

This deeply Christian moral consciousness of a small group of people, their sense of responsibility for others and the world, and their will to serve helped pave the way for the new experience of Christ. ​This initial impulse with which the Christian Community entered the stream of history is the true signature of our religious work and mission in the modern world. Indeed, the Christian Community is a truly apocalyptic impulse of renewal - rooted in the spiritual world and given to humanity as the torch of hope, as the vehicle of Christ's presence in the world.
A church of crisis: born out of crisis for the times of crisis.
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This is why our task in the world, even as a "church among other churches," will always be different from all other religious-spiritual-cultural communities active in our times and culture. Our consciousness of Christ's omnipresence in nature, in historical world events, in the events of our biographies, and in the sacraments is the ground upon which we meet and cultivate our church life.
("Lo, I am with you always even until the end of time" Mt 28:20).

And it is just this existential awareness of Christ's presence and working in our times "in us and through us" that we strive to offer our fellow human beings - especially in times of growth pains: in joys and sorrows of existence.

We see the possibility of forming genuine Christian Communities as a gift of destiny that each of us can only be grateful for in deep humility and quiet joy of the soul as we gather around the altars of our churches worldwide.