German Protestant Church Congress 2019

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Dortmunder U with Kirchentag slogan: What a trust (evening of encounter)

The 37th German Evangelical Church Congress took place from June 19 to 23, 2019 in Dortmund .

After 1963, Dortmund was the sole venue for a church convention for the second time . The 1991 Kirchentag took place in Dortmund and other cities in the Ruhr area. The motto of the Kirchentag 2019 was What a trust, a biblical turn ( 2 Kings 18,19  LUT ).

The host was the Evangelical Church of Westphalia .

Frank-Walter Steinmeier was initially planned to be the President of the Kirchentag, but since his election as Federal President he was no longer available for the honorary office. The journalist Hans Leyendecker took his place .

organization

The Reinoldikirche formed a center of the Kirchentag

history

After 1963 with a general meeting of over 350,000 participants and in 1991 in the Ruhr area, this German Evangelical Church Congress was the third church convention in the Westphalian metropolis.

Involved persons and institutions

The event was hosted by the Evangelical Church of Westphalia and the Evangelical Church District in Dortmund and Lünen. Other members of the Presidium are Andreas Barner , Christina Aus der Au and Bettina Limperg . The Presidium has overall responsibility for the respective Evangelical Church Congress. It determines the time, place and program of the respective church days and appoints the preparatory groups for the individual program parts, the so-called project leaders. The “37. German Evangelical Kirchentag Dortmund 2019 e. V. ”based in Dortmund.

Procedure and content

Market of possibilities in the Dortmund Westfalenhallen; here hall 4

The organizational concept of the 37th German Evangelical Kirchentag provided for a concept of short distances for the Kirchentag in Dortmund. The central locations were the city center, the northern part of the city , the exhibition grounds of the Westfalenhallen and the DASA . The more than 2000 events were grouped within a short distance around the historic Wallring in the city center and could be reached in a few minutes by public transport. The main stages were on Friedensplatz , Hansaplatz , Ostentor , Alter Markt and Westentor.

Other main venues were:

Other venues in churches were:

Opening service and evening of meeting

The 37th Kirchentag began on Wednesday, June 19, 2019, at 6 p.m. with three large opening services on Friedensplatz , Hansaplatz and on Dortmund's Ostwall in Dortmund city center. Then there was a colorful street festival, the "Evening of Encounters". Congregations from the different regions of the host regional church (Evangelical Church of Westphalia) welcomed the guests in Dortmund and presented themselves with culinary offers and a diverse stage program. There was also a collection campaign under the motto “that pearls”: pearls made from materials typical of the region.

Events

Bible study at the Dortmund Kirchentag

The program of the 37th Kirchentag focused on migration, integration, recognition and solidarity in Germany and Europe with around 2,400 events in which around 121,000 people (80,000 permanent participants and 41,000 day visitors) took part. This meant that the number of participants fell short of expectations, as 100,000 permanent participants were expected.

For this purpose, podium series were designed on the subject of peace policy and international order and on sustainable development goals of the United Nations .

During the three liturgical days, the program was planned on the subjects of “Big City”, “Prayer”, “Escape and Home”. Celebrities from politics, film, radio and television came to the various panel discussions, forums, concerts and campaigns. Kirchentag visitors around 10,000 discussed Chancellor Angela Merkel with Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf , the former President of Liberia on "? Trust as the basis of international politics" The Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann and Markus Söder were participants in a panel discussion on the topic: "What is even more conservative? What is right-wing populist? "Federal President a. D. Christian Wulff took part in a podium entitled: “Not only Islam belongs to Germany”. “How does Germany take on responsibility in the world?” Was the title of a panel discussion in which Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Denis Mukwege took part.

The Fridays for Future movement was represented at the Kirchentag with Luisa Neubauer and Merle Bösing on podiums on the subject of the environment. Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze and NRW Environment Minister Ursula Heinen-Esser were self-critical of the activists' criticism.

Other prominent guests were Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and the Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia Armin Laschet , as well as the politicians Claudia Roth , Katrin Göring-Eckardt , Horst Köhler and Joachim Gauck , as well as Dunja Hayali , Eckart von Hirschhausen , Ranga Yogeshwar , Mouhanad Khorchide , Annette Kurschus and Verena Bentele .

The topic of “Sexual Abuse in the Evangelical Church in Germany” was initially only intended as part of the main panel “Trust and Abuse of Trust”; victims were not invited. After criticism, the church assembly decided to change. In the overcrowded opera house, two victims of church abuse sat on the podium on Saturday morning and confronted the representatives of the church leadership with the inadequate processing. Nikolaus Schneider , the former EKD council chairman, admitted: "We have made an effort, but in some respects it was also poor."

In addition to the centers "Bible and Worship", "Children", "Young People" and "Elderly People", which were already known from earlier church conventions, the centers "Sport", "Migration & Integration", "Jews and Christians", "Muslims and Christians" , "University", "Barrier-free", "Change" and "Gender Worlds" prepared. In addition, there was an international center in the Westfalenhallen - IZ, this center offered services for participants from abroad: a café, whispered interpreters, multilingual contact persons as well as information and discussions about the Kirchentag.

Several concerts were held as part of the Kirchentag; among the contributors were Adel Tawil , Anna Loos , Bodo Wartke and Yvonne Catterfeld .

On Saturday, political signals were sent on the fringes of the Kirchentag:

  • The Action Group Service for Peace and the German Peace Society had called for a 3-kilometer human chain between the Stadtgarten and Westfalenhalle to set an example for peace, disarmament and non-violent conflict resolution. Around 2,500 people took part.
  • In the evening the death bells of the Reinoldikirche rang for the refugees who had died in the Mediterranean. Around 200 people took part in a silent march initiated by Aktion Seebrücke , carrying banners with the names of drowned people. Specifically, it was about 42 people who had rescued the ship Sea-Watch 3 from distress, with the Italian government refusing to call at a port. The banners with the names of the dead were hung on the tower of the Reinoldikirche.

Event centers

The Westfalenstadion , the Westfalenpark and the Westfalenhalle as event centers in one picture

There were three parallel opening services on Wallring near the Ostentor, on Hansa - and Friedensplatz . For church services with up to 50,000 visitors, part of the historic wall ring on Brüderweg / Ostwall / Schwanenwall was temporarily closed between June 16 and 20.

Following the opening services, the "Evening of Encounters" was held in the city center between Kampstrasse, Friedensplatz and Hansastrasse and Ostwall as a welcome party for the city of Dortmund and the Evangelical Church of Westphalia . Traditionally, the evening of encounters with an average of 200,000 visitors is one of the highlights of the Kirchentag.

The closing service was celebrated in two places. For the approximately 100,000 expected church service visitors, in addition to the Signal Iduna Park, the floating stage in the Westfalenpark became the place for the end of the Kirchentage. In fact, only about 32,000 visitors to the Kirchentag came to the stadium, and around 5,000 to the Waldbühne.

criticism

Criticism of the Kirchentag funding in public space

Occasionally there was criticism that the Kirchentag, as a religious event, was largely financed with public funds. Of 95 council members Dortmund 13 representatives of the parties agreed the Left , pirates , NPD , AFD and the rights to the template that requested by the organizer in the amount of 2.7 million euros and benefits in kind to grant amounting to 720,000 euros. Reference was made to the city's debts in the amount of 3.5 billion euros and that a subsidy would violate the constitutional requirement of the state's ideological neutrality, which is considered relevant here . In addition, 5.2 million euros came from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and 700,000 euros from the federal government.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Evangelical Church: State supports Kirchentag 2019. The state government has decided to financially support the German Evangelical Kirchentag planned for 2019 in Dortmund. The decision was made by querying the cabinet members. (No longer available online.) In: dortmund.de. March 29, 2015, archived from the original on July 1, 2015 ; accessed on May 13, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Kirchentag 2019 in Dortmund ( Memento from March 6, 2016 in the Internet Archive ). Presidium accepts invitation - Steinmeier designated President. In: kirchentag.de. October 10, 2015, accessed May 13, 2018.
  3. ↑ Kirchentag 2019 in Dortmund: "What a trust". Kirchentag 2019 in Dortmund. In: welt.de. Die Welt , October 16, 2017, accessed on May 13, 2018.
  4. ↑ One president and two presidents for the Kirchentag 2015, 2017 and 2019. (No longer available online.) In: kirchentag.de. Archived from the original on June 30, 2015 ; accessed on May 13, 2018 .
  5. ^ Journalist Hans Leyendecker becomes President of the Kirchentag 2019. In: evangelisch.de. May 26, 2017. Retrieved May 13, 2018.
  6. ↑ That pearls. In: German Evangelical Church Congress Dortmund. Retrieved June 10, 2019 .
  7. ↑ More visitors than expected at the Kirchentag in Dortmund. In: WDR. June 22, 2019, accessed June 23, 2019 .
  8. ↑ a b Evangelical Church Congress ends with a service in the BVB stadium. In: WDR. June 23, 2019, accessed June 23, 2019 .
  9. ↑ a b Oliver Volmerich: In action for a "more humane world" . In: Ruhr Nachrichten , June 24, 2019.
  10. ↑ Oliver Volmerich: Home game for "Fridays for Future". In: Ruhr Nachrichten , June 22, 2019.
  11. ↑ Ulrich Breulmann: Ex-Council President of the EKD: "I wasn't a hero" . In: Ruhr Nachrichten , June 24, 2019.
  12. ↑ Marie Ahlers, Said Rezek, Uwe von Schirp: A bridge and a chain . In: Ruhr Nachrichten , June 24, 2019.
  13. ↑ Over 7 million euros from taxpayers: Evangelischer Kirchentag 2019 will take place in Dortmund. In: dortmundecho.org. October 11, 2015, accessed June 24, 2018 .
  14. ↑ a b The way for the Protestant Kirchentag 2019 in Dortmund is free. In: evangelisch.de. Retrieved June 24, 2018 .
  15. ↑ Maximilian Steinhaus / Red .: The same applies in Dortmund: You should pay for your Kirchentag yourself! In: hpd.de. Humanistic Press Service , June 22, 2015, accessed June 24, 2018 .