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Since biblical times, social welfare work has been a fundamental aspect of the church. In Germany, more than 1.4 million people are currently employed in diaconal institutions of the two major churches, which reflects the special significance of Christian charity in German social culture. Traugott Jähnichen and Wolfgang Maaser provide an overview of the nearly 2,000-year history of church-based charity in the West under changing historical constellations: the minority situation of the church in the first centuries, the recognition of Christianity as the state religion, the tension between sacerdotium and imperium, the emergence of Protestantism, the pietistic movements of modern times, the reestablishment of diaconal activities in response to the challenges of the "social question" of the 19th century, the church's social welfare work and Caritas as essential pillars of the developing welfare state in the German Empire, and their organizational anchoring in the social system of the Weimar Republic and the Federal Republic, interrupted by the murderous disruptions of the Nazi era. Particular attention is paid to systematic principles and continuities as well as transformations, ruptures, and creative recontextualizations of diaconal work. The authors classify central concepts, discourses, and forms of practice and show diaconal work as a permanent component of the church's self-image.