Today, the church has nearly 30 congregations across Southern Schleswig and approximately 6,000 registered members who are serviced at 62 individual places of warship.[3][4] The central church is the Church of the Holy Spirit (Danish: Helligåndskirken) in Flensburg.[5]
History
Following the reformation, many pastors in Southern Schleswig performed services in Danish, though certain parts of the ceremony had to be performed in German by mandate of the German Church. In 1905, the "Church Society of Flensburg and the Surrounding Area" (Danish: Kirkeligt Samfund for Flensborg og Omegn) was established with the purpose of reaching congregations within the German Church whose primary language was Danish. The society was rejected by officials who felt the Danish minority should conform to German society and its language.[6]
In 1921, following the 1920 Schleswig plebiscites, the Danish Church in Flensburg (Danish: Den Danske Menighed i Flensborg) was established as a free church. In the following years the church expanded to include the whole of Southern Schleswig, and in 1959 it was given its current name.[7][8][9]
^Weitling, Günter (2005). Fra Ansgar til Kaftan. Sydslesvig i Dansk Kirkehistorie 800–1920 (in Danish). Flensburg. ISBN8789178521.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Henningsen, Lars N.; Runge, Johann (2006). Sprog og kirke. Dansk gudstjeneste i Flensborg 1588–1921 (in Danish). Flensburg. ISBN8789178629.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Henningsen, Lars N. (1996). Kirke og Folk i Grænselandet. Dansk Kirke i Sydslesvig 1921–1996 (in Danish). Flensborg: Studieafdelingen ved Dansk centralbibliotek for Sydslesvig. ISBN9788789178240.
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