There's not a great deal that I can add to this; but, perhaps, as an American member of the Johanniter-orden with some German cousins and ancestors, my thoughts may have some value.
The German order no longer restricts its membership to the nobility; perhaps half the men now are from the middle classes, though all must be deemed to have a nobility of character. As already noted in this thread, the Johanniter diverged from the Roman Catholic main stem (now generally known as the "Sovereign Military Order of Malta") in the 1530s, as nearly all the knights in the Bailiwick of Brandenburg of the Order of Saint John, covering most of the northeastern parts of the Holy Roman Empire, embraced the Reformers' return to the Biblical roots of Christianity; thus, even today, applicants must be adherents of an evangelical ("Protestant") Christian confession. The Johanniter long continued to send funds to the SMOM and occasionally sent delegates to convocations of the SMOM; projects for re-incorporation of the evangelical Johanniter into the SMOM failed, however, as the not-so-sovereign SMOM was forbidden by popes to allow non-Roman Catholics into the still-Roman Catholic order; the two orders, together with the British "Venerable Order" (a nineteenth-century recreation of the English langue of the mediaeval Order of Saint John), nevertheless co-operate in some service projects and in exposing organisations which inaccurately claim an origin in the crusading Knights Hospitaller, the Order of Saint John.
Each member of the Johanniter today should (and generally does) perform some Christian service, helping the poor, the sick, and the elderly or disabled. Such service may be individual, or through the man's church or another organization. Additionally, passage fees are imposed and oblations are paid annually; funded partly by these, numerous hospitals, schools of nursing, retirement homes, ambulance services, and other institutions are operated by the order, mostly in Germany but also in other countries, both in Europe and elsewhere. The order is active and varied at the level of commanderies.
Though the formal red, white, gold, and black uniform has not been abolished, I've never seen it worn. On rare occasion, I have seen a German member of the order wear the greenish-brown service uniform of Johanniter volunteers (there are hundreds of thousands of volunteers, both male and female; the four thousand or so knights all are men). The cross of the order is worn rarely; with one or two exceptions, I've seen it worn only at ceremonies of admission or promotion (a man is admitted as an Ehrenritter, "knight of honor", later invested with the cross, and later still promoted to Rechtsritter, "knight of justice"). There are lapel pins of the unadorned cross, and these are often worn with suits or odd jackets. Only once or twice have I seen a knight of the order wear the Brustkreuz (the simple linen or metal "star" of the order).
I am glad to be part of the order. I value the history of the Johanniter, with a long history of helping the least fortunate and actively defending the Christian faith and putting its precepts into practice. And, yes, I do think that the insigne is handsome!
