German Evangelical Church Congress 2009

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The poster for the 32nd Evangelical Church Congress 2009 in Bremen
"Evening of Encounters" on the Bremen market square
Evening blessing in front of the overseas museum
Folded paper ship, symbol of the opening service and the evening of the meeting
Stylized paper ship on the Bremen market
Flower decorations with the symbol of the Church Congress in front of the mill in the ramparts

The 32nd German Evangelical Church Congress (DEKT) took place from May 20 to 24, 2009 in Bremen . The slogan for the Kirchentag was “Man, where are you?” ( 1 Mos 3,9  EU ).

The host was the Bremen Evangelical Church (BEK) in cooperation with the Evangelical Reformed Church (Leer), the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Oldenburg and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hanover .

The motto song of DEKT 2009 was written by the Wise Guys and is entitled "Man, where are you?". In 2007 the a cappella group was responsible for the song for the 31st DEKT , Lively and Strong and Sharp .

The impetus to organize the 32nd Kirchentag in Bremen came from the former Bremen Mayor Henning Scherf . At its meeting in May 2006, the parliament of the Bremen Evangelical Church, which is also called the Kirchentag , decided to follow this suggestion and become the organizing regional church.

The 32nd German Evangelical Church Congress is also the name of the registered association that is expected to exist until June 2015 and was founded specifically for the preparation and implementation of the Church Congress in Bremen.

The Church Congress 2009

opening

The Kirchentag was on 20 May 2009 at 18 o'clock with three parallel acclaimed opening worship on the Bürgerweide , the marketplace and the Weser ( Osterdeich opened). The church service broadcast live by Phoenix on the Bürgerweide did not relate the church slogan to the fall of man ( 1 Mos 3  EU ) but to Jonah . His voyage was represented by an oversized paper ship that moved through the participants. The folding of paper ships was picked up even more frequently on the evening of the meeting and up to the closing service.

Afterwards, the top politicians present on the Bürgerweiden stage during the service - Federal President Horst Köhler , Mayor Jens Böhrnsen and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier - and Franz-Josef Bode , the Catholic Bishop of Osnabrück , welcomed the visitors with speeches for around 40 minutes .

Evening of encounter

In parallel, which began at 19 o'clock street party night of the encounter . Around 300,000 people came to this free public event with a genre program on eleven stages in downtown Bremen, in the ramparts as well as on the Schlachte and Weser . To provide the guests with non-alcoholic beverages and a wide variety of mostly "eco-fair" dishes, around 280 food stands were set up, which were offered by parishes and organizations from the region. On the evening of the encounter , around 100 participatory activities took place.

The top act in the stage program was the Echo Prize winner Stefanie Heinzmann with a soul-pop concert on the stage on the banks of the Weser. Other attractions in the program were stages for African traditionals and gospel , classical music, world music, big bands, sea songs, a stage for children and a cultural mile with bands from northwest Germany.

The evening closed with a stop in a sea ​​of ​​lights made up of 150,000 candles and with an evening blessing from all stages. This was spoken in parallel u. a. by leading clergy of the EKD , including Margot Käßmann ( Regional Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover ), Jan Janssen ( Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Oldenburg ), Renke Brahms (Secretary of the Evangelical Church in Bremen ) and Jann Schmidt ( Church President of the Evangelical Reformed Church Church ). The blessing culminated in the choir project Von Booten und Bäumen, composed by Rochus Aust . About 1500 choirs sang on 40 ships on the Weser, in 30 canoes and on 77 swings in trees in the ramparts. The stages were included with soloists so that the composition could be experienced in the entire event area.

  • Gospel and spiritual concert on the Bremen market square

  • Inland barge Flussschifferkirche from Hamburg at the Schlachte jetty

  • Music group on the Schlachte promenade on the Weser

  • Bremen City Immigrants Orchestra (in small cast)

Events and contributors

The Kirchentag program, comprising around 3,000 events, had been available since mid-March 2009. For the area north of Bremen and Bremerhaven there ever own program notes.

Large parts of the thematic offers were assigned to the three subject areas “Horizons of Faith”, “Perspectives for Society” and “Opportunities for the World”. There were also numerous open-air events, such as the “Church Day of Ships”, as well as other podiums and centers, such as the “Center for Homosexuals and Church”, the “Low German Center” or the “Center for Students for One World”.

In addition to the Protestant and Catholic churches in Bremen, the Mevlana Mosque in Bremen and the synagogue in Bremen-Schwachhausen also invited to events in the spirit of interreligious dialogue . The “Creation Celebration of Religions” in the program of the Evangelical Student Congregation in Bremen, whose liturgy included representatives of Hinduism , Islam , Christianity and the Adivasi , was also interreligious . Up to 8,000 Kirchentag participants should belong to the Catholic denomination. The center of the events, which according to an assessment by Thomas Schiller , the editor-in-chief of the Evangelical Press Service (epd), covered the whole city, was the Bremen exhibition center around the Bürgerweide, right next to the main train station.

Closing service

The closing service on May 24th, 2009 had the motto “Hope that lives in you” ( 1 Petr 3.15  EU ) with the Bible text from 1. Peter, 1 Petr 3.9–17  EU . This text was initially presented by the deaf sign artist Jürgen Endress in an artistic modification of the sign language . Hundreds of helpers, again identified by paper boats, distributed bread and juice to the participants for the Lord's Supper .

The musical direction of the final worship had Ralf Grössler, Kreiskantor at the Alexander Church (Wildeshausen) , of a large choir with the 65-member gospel choir "Joyful Voices" and "The Symphonic Gospel Orchestra" first symphonic orchestra brought to the stage of a final worship.

Around 100,000 visitors to the Kirchentag gathered for this service on the Bürgerweide . It was broadcast live on ARD .

Organization and implementation

history

The office of the 32nd German Evangelical Church Congress in the former main post office 5

In January 2005, the Presidium of the German Evangelical Church Congress in Hanover decided that the 32nd German Evangelical Church Congress should take place in Bremen. The invitation to Bremen took place at the end of the last church convention, the 31st Evangelical Church Convention in Cologne. In September 2006 a project office was opened in Bremen, which coordinated the initial preparations for the host regional churches and served as a contact for the communities and institutions in the Bremen area. This office was integrated into the office of the 32nd German Evangelical Church Congress in December 2007. She organized and coordinated the Kirchentag.

responsible person

The president of the 32nd Kirchentag was the ethnologist and incumbent (non-party) Hamburg Senator for Culture, Karin von Welck , who together formed the executive committee of DEKT 2009 Eckhard Nagel , Protestant President of the Ecumenical Kirchentag 2010 , Katrin Göring-Eckardt , president of the 33rd DEKT 2011 , as well as Gerhard Robbers , President of the 34th DEKT 2013 . The general secretary of the DEKT is the Protestant theologian Ellen Ueberschär , Church Congress Pastor - and as such responsible for the liturgy of the opening service - Joachim Lenz.

The Bremen guests of the DEKT Presidium with permanent seat in Fulda were Brigitte Boehme , President of the Church Committee of the BEK , Renke Brahms, Secretary of the BEK, as well as Henner Flügger, the representative of the BEK for the Kirchentag 2009. The managing directors were Bernd Baucks, Hartwig Bodmann and deputy Volker Knöll.

Helper services

Thanks to the helpers (May 24th at the Forum Church, Hollerallee )

A total of 4,678 volunteers were deployed to support the Kirchentag, most of them from various Christian scout leagues and associations. The “hard core” of the helpers, who call themselves “HaKas”, included 407 volunteers who had often taken extra vacation and had already participated in several church days. 16 helpers were on the road as bicycle couriers . 120 vehicles in standby with 100 drivers were in use around the clock. They transported all objects and people that were needed for the program and its course.

Among other things, the helpers organized the waste separation , regulated the admission and the course of events, flagged many event spaces and folded around 40,000 cardboard stools. They provided the Kirchentag with all the materials and things that were needed for the process, such as candles, writing paper, pens, radios, fire extinguishers, beverage crates and tools. In addition, the helpers were active in setting up and dismantling the grandstands as well as with steward services, road closures and looking after guests.

All helpers were fully fed. For this purpose, the first floor of the former mail distribution center next to the main train station was converted into a large canteen. Brewery sets (wooden folding tables with matching benches) were set up on an area larger than a football field and meals were served at four double counters. Other helper canteens were located in the overseas port, Shed 1.

Environmental concept

“The Kirchentag has been certified according to the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) since 2007 . It is the first major event that takes place on a regular basis that has its environmental management system checked in this way. ”The Kirchentag intends to reduce the amount of residual waste to 30 percent and, among other things, relies on waste separation, reusable deposit systems and crockery brought along in the quarters. In addition, one strives for food that is produced and traded as fair and ecologically as possible, especially from the region.

Sponsorship

The most important donors of DEKT 2009 were the BEK (1 million euros), the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (7.5 million euros), the surrounding regional churches and the Federal Ministry of the Interior . 25 larger support companies and organizations were presented with logos in the Kirchentag program, including local companies such as the Bremer Tageszeitungen AG or the Sparkasse Bremen , but also religiously or non-religiously oriented German associations and companies such as the Bank for Church and Diakonie , the Bruderhilfe Pax Familienfürsorge , Volkswagen AG or the first German television , which accompanied the Kirchentag on its news channel Phoenix with extensive special programs every day. Another 30 companies, foundations and associations were also named as supporters.

Orders of magnitude

According to the Kirchentag managing director Hartwig Bodmann, 99,500 permanent participants attended DEKT 2009. The 103,000 season tickets sold for the Cologne Kirchentag 2007 were not reached. Overnight accommodation was available for 40,000 expected permanent guests from outside, including individual visitors from New Zealand, Chile, the United States, Réunion and Lake Baikal . At 37.7 years of age, the audience at the Kirchentag was on average around four months younger than in Cologne in 2007. With 7.5 million euros, Bremen financed slightly more than half of the total costs of DEKT 2009; this was criticized by the Bremen atheists and freethinkers union.

Around 65,000 people heard the Wise Guys a cappella concert for everyone on May 21 on the Bürgerweide . With 8,500 participants, the conversation between Chancellor Angela Merkel and the British historian Timothy Garton Ash on the same day on the subject of human dignity and democracy was one of the best-attended indoor events in the packed Bremen City Hall , surpassed by the Bible study with Margot held there the following day Käßmann with almost 9,000 visitors.

Sky bridge

Sky bridge

A spectacular attraction was the so-called sky bridge between the two towers of Bremen Cathedral . The 13 meter long suspension bridge, which connected the south and north towers at a height of 65 meters, could be used by 200 visitors to the church convention. This action was followed by numerous spectators in front of the cathedral and the town hall.

The bridge was built by professional climbers from the high ropes course in the Bremen district of Lesum .

Resolutions

The 32nd German Evangelical Church Congress passed three resolutions :

  • Initiated by the World Trade Center in subject area 3 ("Opportunities for the World"), the Kirchentag passed two resolutions:
    • In a resolution addressed to local councils and city councils, the Kirchentag demanded that tenders for building measures be subject to conditions that only stones not produced by child labor should be used. The wording reads: Municipal councils and city councils are to provide tenders for construction measures with the condition that only independently certified stones are used for the construction measures, which are manufactured without child labor.
    • In a resolution addressed to parishes, the Kirchentag called for the cemetery statutes to be changed so that only certified gravestones that were not produced by child labor may be used. The EKD, the regional synods , the Catholic Bishops' Conference and the ZdK are requested to deal intensively with this topic. The wording reads: Parishes are requested to change their cemetery statutes so that only certified gravestones are used. The EKD, the regional synods, the Catholic Bishops' Conference and the ZdK are called upon to deal intensively with this.
  • Initiated by the group " Mehr Demokratie eV " in Market Area 2 ("Perspectives for Society") of the Market of Opportunities, the Kirchentag demands in a resolution that a referendum at federal level is made possible by the Bundestag . The text reads: The Basic Law is Article 20 that all state power in "elections and voting" is exercised. I call on the members of the German Bundestag to supplement the Basic Law to ensure that binding referendums are also possible at federal level in the future .

Processing in the 2011 report of the State Audit Office

In June 2011, in its current annual report , the Bremen Court of Auditors raised the question of the standards of church assembly funding by the State of Bremen and criticized the lack of verification of the actual funding requirements in the awarding practice by the responsible economic department in the Senate . As early as 2002, the Senate had promised to support the Kirchentag in Bremen with public funds, despite the relatively low solvency of the BEK as a regional church. As a result, Bremen had to raise around 2.8 million euros more than the joint financing of the previous Kirchentag 2007 by Cologne and North Rhine-Westphalia . The examination of the Kirchentag led the Court of Auditors to the conclusion that in view of the budgetary emergency and the state of Bremen's obligation to save, there would no longer be any room for the financing of comparable events in the foreseeable future.

literature

  • Ellen Ueberschär; Silke Lechner: Man, where are you? Horizons of faith, perspectives for society, opportunities for the world. 32nd German Evangelical Church Congress, Bremen 20. – 24. May 2009. Gütersloher Verlagshaus 2009, ISBN 978-3-579-08201-1
  • Silke Lechner (Ed.): Documents. German Evangelical Church Congress Bremen 2009. Gütersloher Verlagshaus 2010, ISBN 978-3-579-08200-4
  • Arne Hilke (Ed.), Ulrich Klein (Ed.): Man, where do you sleep? Anthology on the keyword: Church sleep. On the occasion of the 32nd German Evangelical Church Congress from May 20 to 24, 2009 in Bremen. Norderstedt 2009, ISBN 978-3-83709221-9

See also

Web links

Commons : Deutscher Evangelischer Kirchentag 2009  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Robert von Lucius: Der Vater In: FAZ online from May 22, 2009
  2. ^ Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover
  3. ↑ Audit Office of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen: Report 2011 - Land - , pp. 129, 134. Retrieved on June 18, 2011.
  4. ↑ Evening of Encounter ( PDF , 935 kB).
  5. ↑ DEKT 2009 program , as of March 1, 2009 ( PDF , 2.8 MB).
  6. ↑ DEKT Flyer Bremen North on kirchentag.de ( PDF ; 1.2 MB).
  7. ↑ DEKT program Bremerhaven on kirchentag.de ( PDF ; 906 kB).
  8. ↑ Paragraph according to 2009 program , pp. 3–5.
  9. ↑ a b c d e Weser-Kurier , special edition, May 23, 2009, p. 6f.
  10. ↑ Program 2009 , p. 257.
  11. ↑ Entire section after the 2009 program , p. 534.
  12. ↑ a b Elke Gundel: Totti - when it has to be quick . In: Weser-Kurier , May 22, 2009, p. 7.
  13. ↑ Environmental management at the Kirchentag ( memento from March 25, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) on kirchentag.de.
  14. ↑ a b The environmental strategy of the Kirchentag ( memento of April 9, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) on kirchentag.de.
  15. ↑ Entire section according to the 2009 program , pp. 535–537.
  16. ↑ a b c d Weser Kurier, special edition, May 23, 2009, p. 12.
  17. ↑ See archive link ( Memento from May 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  18. ↑ Resolution: People act people (1) (PDF; 54 kB)
  19. ↑ Resolution: People act people (2) (PDF; 54 kB)
  20. ↑ Resolution: Referendum in the Basic Law (PDF; 56 kB)
  21. ^ Court of Auditors of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen: Report 2011 - Land - , pp. 129-134. Retrieved June 18, 2011.