Bishop of the Evangelical Church in Germany
The foreign bishop is bishop for all parishes of the Evangelical Church in Germany that are not located in Germany . He heads Department IV Ecumenism and Foreign Work at the EKD Church Office . The foreign bishop is one of the vice-presidents of the church office and head of the office of the UEK of the Union of Evangelical Churches in the church office. Petra Bosse-Huber has been Bishop Abroad since 2014 .
The international bishop looks after the approximately 140 EKD-affiliated congregations on all continents worldwide. He maintains contact with the partner churches of the EKD worldwide.
Theodor Heckel , the head of the Foreign Office of the German Evangelical Church during the Nazi era, already held the title of bishop from 1934. Martin Niemöller, on the other hand, refused the title and only acted as President of the Church External Office (which at the time was still separate from the EKD Church Office). His successor Adolf Wischmann felt like a bishop, but also renounced the title out of respect for Niemöller. Only Heinz Joachim Held, the third President of the Church Foreign Office, was officially awarded the title of Foreign Bishop.
Official
- Martin Niemöller (1945–1955)
- Adolf Wischmann (1956–1974)
- Heinz Joachim Held (1975–1993)
- Rolf Koppe (1993-2006)
- Martin Schindehütte (2006-2013)
- Petra Bosse-Huber (since 2014)
literature
- Britta Wellnitz: German Protestant Congregations Abroad - Their History and Development of Their Legal Relationships with the Evangelical Church in Germany . Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2003, ISBN 978-3-16-147976-2
Web links
- Presentation of Department IV on the EKD website.
Individual evidence
- ^ Adolf Wischmann: Leadership and providence. Memories from my life . Lutherisches Verlagshaus, Hanover 1987, ISBN 3-7859-0515-7 , pp. 140 f.