The beginnings of Chrischona 1840

In 1840, Christian Friedrich Spittler laid the foundation stone for the St. Chrischona pilgrimage mission by building the small church at the top of the hill St. Chrischona near Bettingen, near Basel, was newly consecrated for the service of the Lord.

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The beginnings of Chrischona Meilen 1893

The origins of today's Chrischona community of Meilen can be found a few years before the turn of the last century. In September 1893, 17 men came together to found a "Christian Youth and Men's Association". However, the association did not use any church rooms for its meetings. People gathered in private houses, mostly farmhouses.

The activities of the youth and men's association were of course initially purely a men's affair. However, mixed gatherings were occasionally organized at special events to which members' wives and daughters were invited. Since 30 to 40 people could be present at such meetings, the space in a farmhouse room proved to be too limited. This is how the idea of ​​building our own clubhouse arose.

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Construction of the church in 1900

When the club was gifted "the nice sum of 100 francs" by an unknown donor on New Year's Day 1897, the plan took more concrete shape. After a short construction period of just six months, the inauguration ceremony took place on October 14, 1900 in the presence of Director Rappard of St. Chrischona. Shortly afterwards, the clubhouse was notarized and transferred to the pilgrim mission, which also assumed further responsibility for the construction.

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Renovation and extension in 1976

In 1976, a total renovation and an extension took place, making the building

got its current appearance.

For the 100th anniversary, the basement and in 2002 the worship hall and other rooms were extensively renovated.

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New building from 2014

Since 2014 we have been planning a new building with the aim of creating a multi-generational House for different people and diverse encounters.

The winning project from a project competition, which includes a multifunctional hall, retirement apartments and spacious children's rooms, was further developed in 2018-2019 and submitted for construction submission. At the beginning of 2020 we received the building permit and, following the ruling in the second instance, this has been legally binding since May 2023.

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New name

As of July 2023, after a process in the local church, we decided that we would align our name with the association name and will now be called Viva Church Meilen.