"We are a free Christian religious community. Free not only because we are not aligned to any of the Christian Churches, but also because our understanding of the essence of Christ’s message departs, in some aspects, from what they teach as being essential.
We teach and believe that the Kingdom of God is at one with the affirmation and practice of the commandment to love God and your fellow man. In working towards this Kingdom, we recognise the task given to humanity and unite in communities in order to contribute to its realisation on Earth according to the directive given by Jesus: »Seek first the Kingdom of God and His Justice!« (Matthew 6:33).
The name »Temple«, based on New Testament texts (Eph. 2:21,22 and 1 Peter 2:5a), expresses itself through the members of the community seeing themselves as living components of God’s temple, which they strive to build in unity and cooperation. Essential for Temple Society membership is not a commitment to doctrine, but the willingness to contribute to the Society’s task of cultivating Christian fellowship.
Because of its Free Christian orientation, the Temple Society is a member of the Bund für Freies Christentum (Association for Free Christianity) and represents their concerns. We share a bond with all those who work for the good of humanity and towards peace."
"Following the call of their faith, they began moving to the Holy Land in 1868. They were the first to successfully drain swamps and make the land habitable for Europeans. To this day, many traces testify to their beneficial activity...
First of all a necessary distinction: they have nothing to do with the Knights Templar of the crusader era. That order was dissolved in 1312 AD.
The Christian community of the Templers evolved out of mid-nineteenth century Protestant Pietism. The Temple Society was brought into being by the theologian Christoph Hoffmann (1815-1885), who was the son of the founder of the Korntal Pietist Community near Stuttgart and a delegate to the 1848 National Assembly in the Frankfurt Paulskirche. Its special concern is to return to the core message of Jesus, to his promise of the kingdom of God and his directive to contribute to the making of a better world through personal action to bring about this kingdom of love and kindness.
In view of the grave social ills of the time and guided by this basic attitude, Hoffmann and his followers saw the renewal of society in line with Jesus’ teachings as the foremost challenge facing a Christian community. They separated from the Church because they believed that, along with all the other Churches, the Protestant Church was neglecting this main task.
They perceived such renewal to be achievable through a more profound Christianity, where individuals strive to align their life and the choices they make with the words of Jesus in the New Testament, and where creeds, dogmas and rituals are of secondary importance in line with the Society’s motto: Set your mind on God’s kingdom and his justice before everything else.
source quotes and illustration: tempelgesellschaft.de
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