“Freikirchen,” which translates to “Free Churches,” is the official name of the largest ecumenical organization in Switzerland. Freikirchen is an umbrella association comprised of various Protestant churches that are not official state churches or funded by tax money, like the Roman Catholic Church. Baptists, Mennonites, Pentecostals, Methodists, the Salvation Army, and other free Evangelical churches are members of this organization. [1] Seventh-day Adventists, on the other hand, maintain an “observer status” within the same organization. [2]
In Switzerland, working on Sunday is generally forbidden. This has been a long-standing policy that has benefited Rome and the Sunday-keeping Protestant churches. Unless you have a special permit granted by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, you cannot do business on Sunday. However, a new law is currently being debated that seeks to allow those who do “teleworking,” or remote work from home, to work on Sundays in the comfort and privacy of their own homes.
The National Council, which represents the people, is now, in 2025, debating a proposed bill called “More Creative Freedom when Working from Home,” which was filed in the Swiss Legislature back in 2016. The language of the bill would allow people who work remotely from home to work on Sunday, if they so choose.
Parliamentary Initiative 16.484 says:
• “No authorization is required for Sunday work carried out in the home of employees who can largely determine their own working hours.” [3]
• “Public Sunday rest period would not be disturbed in any way if the employee carried out Sunday work at home. For Sunday work carried out in the home by employees who can set their own working hours to a large extent, a Sunday work permit should therefore not be required.” [3]
This proposal has upset the Sunday-keeping churches, and they are working to overturn this measure—which means that the churches want the state to dictate what a person can or cannot do in the privacy of their own home on Sunday.
On December 11, 2024, Freikirchen published an official protest on behalf of their member churches and “observers,” against the new law in Switzerland that is seeking to relax Sunday restrictions for employees who work remotely from home.
Freikirchen stated the following in their press release:
• “The umbrella organization Freikirchen speaks out against the parliamentary initiative ‘More Creative Freedom when Working from Home’ in its consultation response. Freikirchen firmly rejects the proposed exemptions to the Sunday work ban because they run counter to the principle of the general Sunday work ban.” [4]
• “Sunday is protected as a day off work in the Labor Code. Sunday is associated with central values that are of particular social and religious importance,’ explains Peter Schneeberger, president of the umbrella organization Freikirchen.” [4]
• “Sunday offers society a common day to breathe and relax, thus structuring the week between working days and days when leisure, sport, community and social life, family life and, last but not least, for many people in Switzerland, attending a church service together are possible.” [4]
• “In recent years, exemptions to the Sunday work ban have increasingly been permitted. Already, more than 15 percent of employed people regularly work on Sundays and the numbers will continue to rise according to BFS data from 2023.” [4]
• “This change sends the wrong signal and ignores the need for protection of employees. Teleworking (working remotely from home) on Sundays does not meet any compelling social need.” [4]
The notion of the churches petitioning the state to prohibit individuals from working inside of their own homes on Sundays is a profound overreach that undermines personal freedom and privacy. Such a suggestion completely disregards the basic human right of people to manage their own lives. Is it now up to these misguided churches to dictate what we can or cannot do in the sanctity of our own homes?
It is one thing to force businesses to close their doors on Sunday, but it is entirely different—and absurd—to impose Sunday observance inside the personal homes of people, and especially those who do not share the same beliefs. This intrusion into the privacy of citizens reflects the danger of uniting church and state.
Our homes must remain sacred sanctuaries of privacy, where individuals are free from external pressures telling us how to live, think, and act. A man’s home is his castle, meaning that a person’s home is their private domain, where they have the right to feel safe, secure, and free to follow their own conscience on faith and worship without interference or intrusion from a corrupt church-state tyranny.
Today we see ecumenical alliances fighting to keep Sunday work-free in Switzerland. Once again, this highlights the problem with the ecumenical movement. Ecumenism will pave the way for the Mark of the Beast crisis.
“The Word of God teaches that these scenes are to be repeated as papists and Protestants shall unite for the exaltation of the Sunday” (Great Controversy, p. 578).
“When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near” (Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 451).
The ecumenical movement is laying down the foundation and preparing the world for the final crisis. Seventh-day Adventists have no business joining forces with those advocating for the legalization of Sunday rest in order to restrict our freedoms. God never called us to be “observers,” but rather to be watchmen. Today, we are to lift up our voices declaring the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus (Revelation 14:12) at a time when the churches are exalting Sunday.
If we fail to do the work God has entrusted to us, we risk not only losing the opportunity to see people saved, but we also risk losing our own souls. God’s purposes will always prevail, and if we refuse to obey His calling, He will raise up someone else to accomplish His will.
“The Lord gives a special truth for the people in an emergency. Who dare refuse to publish it? He commands his servants to present the last invitation of mercy to the world. They cannot remain silent, except at the peril of their souls. Christ’s ambassadors have nothing to do with consequences. They must perform their duty, and leave results with God” (Great Controversy, p. 609).
Sources
[1] https://freikirchen.ch/organisation/mitglieder/
[2] https://freikirchen.ch/organisation/beobachter/
[3] https://www.parlament.ch/de/ratsbetrieb/suche-curia-vista/geschaeft?AffairId=20160484
[4] https://freikirchen.ch/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/2024-12_Tele-Arbeit.pdf
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