Map of Switzerland showing Lampstands
(click on or hover over the map to view map labels)
Switzerland was an important center of the Reformation in the sixteenth century. It was in Zurich that Ulrich Zwingli, the Swiss reformer, first took a stand against the corruption and hierarchy of the Catholic Church. The Reformation swept through Switzerland, and a number of major cities and towns became Protestant, with their inhabitants destroying images and forsaking Catholic rituals.
John Calvin went to Geneva in 1536 and became the spiritual leader of that city, where he also founded a school of theology (currently the University of Geneva). Most significantly, Calvin recovered the truth of predestination. Regarding this, Brother Lee said, “Calvin saw that our salvation was not initiated by ourselves, but rather that we have been selected and predestinated by God before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4-5). This predestination is eternal and unchangeable; therefore, the saved ones will never perish…Calvin saw the revelation of God’s predestination, and this is right” (The Full Knowledge of the Word of God, pp. 43-44).
French-speaking Switzerland became a refuge for Protestant refugees and was important for the translation and printing of Bibles. The first French Bible translated from Hebrew and Greek texts (and considered the first French Protestant Bible) was published in Neuchâtel in 1535. Some Protestant refugees from England also produced and printed the Geneva Bible (1560), which became the primary Bible of sixteenth century English Protestantism. The Geneva Bible was significant because it was the first mass-produced Bible to come with study aids that included cross-references and maps.
Today the larger cities in Switzerland are predominantly Protestant (Swiss Reformed) and about one third of the population is Catholic. Switzerland has four national languages: German, French, Italian, and Romansh. Switzerland is known for its political neutrality, and it is not part of the European Union.
Brother Nee visited Switzerland on his trip to Europe in 1938, but the church life began in the 1980s, when saints from Stuttgart moved to Zurich. In the 1970s two brothers in the flesh in Neuchâtel were invited by a Russian-American sister to attend a conference in Germany. They touched the Lord and discovered their spirit through calling on the name of the Lord and pray-reading the Word, and when they came back, a few saints were added in Neuchâtel. One of the brothers moved to Lausanne and helped to raise up a testimony there. A few young people were also gained in Geneva in the late 1970s and mid-1980s. The saints in Switzerland regularly went to Stuttgart to participate in conferences, where they enjoyed hospitality with the German saints.
However, the churches in Switzerland were badly affected by the turmoil in the late 1980s, and only a remnant continued to meet and have the Lord’s table in Regensdorf, outside of Zurich. A sister from Neuchâtel went to the summer training in Anaheim in 1987 and from there to the FTTT. After marrying a brother and living in the US for two years, they returned to Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1990. Although the situation was confused and difficult, the saints were helped through fellowshipping with one another and with saints from London. Zurich and Lausanne have continued to go on, being strengthened through the migration of saints there, FTTA gospel trips, and regular fellowship with saints in Switzerland and Europe. Saints in Lausanne took the Lord’s table again in 1999. More recently, some saints have also moved to Geneva, and there is close fellowship between Lausanne and Geneva.
In the 1990s a Swiss student studying at Berkeley walked into the Amana bookshop, spoke to the brothers there, and came into the church life. Through this contact, a number of young people from his denomination also came into the church life. These young people went to the FTTL and FTTA in the late 1990s and early 2000s and returned to Switzerland for the church life. Recently, these saints were burdened to migrate to Switzerland’s capital, Bern, for the church life, and there is now a church in Bern, with about twenty saints. The saints also operate a bookroom with German, French, and English books in front of the meeting hall. There is regular fellowship between Bern and Zurich.
The church life began in St. Gallen, in eastern Switzerland near the border with Germany, Austria, and Lichtenstein in the late 1990s. A sister from Zurich moved to work in St. Gallen, and after marrying a brother, they began to open their home for meetings with saints in their area. Through ministry distribution the Lord added to them, and now there are about twelve meeting there.
There are currently about one hundred saints meeting in Switzerland, including young people. The saints are in fellowship and coordination with Germany, France, and Italy, aided by the shared languages. There is a conference held in the Lausanne-Geneva area each year, during which the saints enjoy the blending with visiting saints.