Evangelical Church in Central Germany

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Signet of the Evangelical Church in Central Germany
map
Map of the Evangelical Church in Central Germany
Basic data
Area : 37,000 km²
Leading clergy: Regional Bishop
Friedrich Kramer
Preses regional synod: Dieter Lomberg
President of the Regional Church Office: Brigitte Andrae
Memberships: VELKD , UEK , LWB , EKD
Provost parish: 5
Church districts : 37
Parishes : 3139
Parishioners: 691,669 (December 31, 2018)
Share of the total population: 16.3% (December 31, 2018)
Official Website: ekmd.de

The Evangelical Church in Central Germany (EKM) is one of 20 member churches ( regional churches ) of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD). Like all regional churches, it is a corporation under public law . The regional church office is in Erfurt , the seat of the regional bishop is Magdeburg . The EKM was formed on January 1st, 2009 by the union of the Evangelical Church of the Church Province of Saxony and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Thuringia . Both regional churches formed the Federation of Evangelical Churches in Central Germany on July 1, 2004.

The new regional church is a member of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany (VELKD) and the Union of Evangelical Churches (UEK). The EKM has about 712,000 church members in 3,139 congregations and has 3,971 churches and chapels. This means that the EKM has the largest number of churches of all regional churches in Germany. About every fifth Protestant church is in the field of the EKM. At the same time, the parishioners only make up around 3.3 percent of German Protestants.

Territory of the regional church

The EKM area is mainly located in the states of Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia . In addition, smaller parts of the states of Brandenburg and Saxony belong to the area of ​​the regional church. Some areas in Saxony-Anhalt belong to the Evangelical Church of Anhalt or to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Braunschweig ( Calvörde , Blankenburg ). Parts of Thuringia belong to the Evangelical Church of Kurhessen-Waldeck . The area of ​​the EKM essentially corresponds to the state of Thuringia, founded in 1920, and the former Prussian province of Saxony .

history

The Evangelical Church in Central Germany was founded on January 1st, 2009, after the Synods of the Evangelical Church of the Church Province of Saxony and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Thuringia decided to unite their two regional churches in 2007 and signed a joint constitution on July 5th, 2008 gifts.

On the story before the unification of the two churches:

The blessing of same-sex couples was allowed in 2012 by the national synod of the EKM, provided that there are no reasons of conscience with the pastor or parish council.

Spiritual leadership of the regional church

The regional bishop is at the head of the Evangelical Church in Central Germany. The elected regional bishop is introduced to his office in Magdeburg Cathedral . As the first joint regional bishop, Ilse Junkermann was elected by the regional synod in the third ballot on March 21, 2009 and introduced on August 29, 2009. Her successor in office was elected on May 10, 2019 and introduced on September 7, 2019.

Regional bishops

State Synod

As a "parliament", the regional church has a regional synod. Its members, the 84 synodals, are elected or appointed for six years or belong to it ex officio. The regional synod usually meets twice a year for several days. The conference is chaired by the Presidium, which includes the President , two deputies and a secretary. The tasks of the regional synod include, in addition to legislation, u. a. the election of the bishop, the regional bishops, the heads of the church office and the regional church council.

President of the regional synod

  • January 1 to 23, 2009: Petra Gunst
  • January 23, 2009 to February 20, 2013: Wolf von Marschall
  • from April 11, 2013 to November 2014: Steffen Herbst
  • since April 16, 2015: Dieter Lomberg

Structure of the regional church

The regional church is structured as follows:

Parishes

At the base are the 3,139 parishes (as of 2017) as corporations under public law with elected parish councils. The members of these bodies are called church elders.

Church districts

Several parishes together form a church district . The 37 church districts have the district synod with a presidium of the district synod. The members of the district synod are elected by the respective parish councils. The leading clergyman in a church district bears the title of superintendent , in the Erfurt church district he traditionally bears the title of senior.

Several church districts together form a provost parish, which is headed by a regional bishop.

The Reformed Church District based in Halle has a special status . It does not consist of a contiguous territory, but of the five reformed individual communities in Aschersleben , Burg , Halberstadt , Halle and Magdeburg . The senior clergyman of the Reformed Church District bears the title of senior.

Provostspengel

The individual provosts consist of the following church districts:

Regional Church Office

The regional church office, which has been based in the Collegium Maius in Erfurt since May 2011, is the highest administrative authority of the regional church . However, the bishopric of the regional church is Magdeburg. At the head of the regional church office is the president, since January 1st 2009 Brigitte Andrae. At her side is a Vice President, currently Head of the Department of Finance, Oberkirchenrat Stefan Große. The regional church office is divided into 5 departments , 19 units as well as further offices and assigned offices .

Hymn books

The parishes of the Evangelical Church in Central Germany sing from the Evangelical Hymnbook - edition for the Evangelical Lutheran Churches in Bavaria and Thuringia, or edition for the Evangelical Church in Anhalt, the Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg, the Evangelical Church of Silesian Upper Lusatia, the Pomeranian Evangelical Church, the Evangelical Church of the Church Province of Saxony.

Church newspaper

The weekly newspaper first appeared in 1924. It bears the title Faith and Home and is also distributed in the area of ​​the Evangelical Church of Anhalt .

Werner Sylten Prize

The Evangelical Church in Central Germany has been awarding the Werner Sylten Prize annually since 2018 to people and groups who have made a name for themselves in the Christian-Jewish dialogue. It is named after the Protestant theologian Werner Sylten , who died in the Holocaust .

Archives

See also

Web links

Commons : Evangelical Church in Central Germany  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Evangelical Church in Germany - Church membership numbers as of December 31, 2018 , ekd.de, accessed on February 27, 2020.
  2. ↑ a b Church life in figures 2017
  3. ↑ The wording of the EKM constitution (PDF; 328 kB)
  4. ↑ Ekmd.de: 10th meeting of the 1st regional synod of the Evangelical Church in Central Germany, from November 21 to 24, 2012 in Erfurt
  5. ↑ Friedrich Kramer is the new regional bishop. In: Volksstimme . September 7, 2019, accessed September 7, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Friedrich Kramer becomes the new Central German bishop. Retrieved September 7, 2019 .
  7. ↑ 8. Reformed Church District
  8. ↑ Printed matter no. 10/1 B (PDF) 5th meeting of the 1st regional synod of the Evangelical Church in Central Germany from November 17th to 20th, 2010 in Drübeck Monastery
  9. ↑ Guide for the Regional Church Office of the Evangelical Church in Central Germany (EKM) ( Memento from November 7, 2017 in the Internet Archive )
  10. ↑ EKM awards Werner Sylten Prize for Christian-Jewish dialogue for the first time In: ekmd.de , January 8, 2018, accessed on February 18, 2020.