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Our Church History
The
Vienna Community Church was
founded August 29, 1957 to minister to the spiritual needs of
English speaking Christian who live, study, work or visit
Vienna. When the American Army Chaplain was called back from
Austria at the end of the Allied Occupation in Autumn 1955,
the Reverend Dr. Joseph F. Bartak, Minister of the Third
Methodist Church in Vienna, offered to preach a sermon in
English every Sunday in his church, in addition to the
services in German and Czech he already provided.
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1956, Dr. Bartak, knowing that he would be retiring at the
end of 1957, corresponded with the Methodist Church in
America and with the National Council of Churches of Christ
in the US about searching for a successor. This led to an
exploratory visit to Vienna in July 1957 by Dr. Otto F.
Meinardus, Pastor of the Maadi Community Church, an English
language congregation in Cairo. The founding meeting took
place on August 19, 1957 at the American International
School; the Constitution was adopted, a Board was elected,
and the Vienna Community Church was born. The first Sunday
worship service of the VCC was held in the Third Methodist
Church, (17, Steinergasse) on September 8. On September 15,
1957, after receiving formal invitation from the Presbytery
of the Evangelische Kirche H. B. (Austrian Evangelical
Reformed Church), the second worship service of the VCC took
place at her current residence, the sanctuary of the
Reformierte Stadtkirche.
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