Eckhard Schaefer

This article deals with the clergyman Eckhard Schaefer. For the classical philologist, see Eckart Schäfer .

Eckhard Schaefer (born December 12, 1936 in Pillau / East Prussia ) is a German Baptist pastor emeritus . From 1988 to 2000 he held one of the highest leadership positions of the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches (BEFG) as Federal Director and Secretary General .

Life

Eckhard Schaefer comes from a Baptist pastor family. His father, the Zinten Baptist preacher Karl Schaefer, died in World War II . His mother Lydia Schaefer, née Schadwinkel, was the daughter of a Pillauer baker. The younger brother Dietmar Schaefer later also became a Baptist pastor.

Eckhard Schaefer spent his childhood in East Prussia. After fleeing from the approaching troops of the Soviet Army, he and his family came to the Lower Saxony village of Kalbe ( Rotenburg (Wümme) district ) at the age of 9 . Here he first attended the small village school, later the secondary school in Sittensen and from 1950 the newly established Lower Saxony home school Bederkesa (since 1980: Lower Saxony boarding high school ). In the same year he was baptized in the Hamburg-Harburg Baptist congregation to confess his faith in Jesus Christ .

In 1953, Schaefer's mother and brother moved to Herford . Some time later, Eckhard Schaefer moved to his family and switched to the Bad Salzuflen grammar school , which he left with the certificate of secondary school leaving certificate . This was followed by training as an industrial clerk in an engine factory. In the Herford Baptist church dedicated Schaefer in the youth group - and youth work, and already the age of 18, he completed his first sermon services. He came into contact with the so-called Rufer work through Wilhard Becker , who at that time was also responsible for East Westphalia as the youth pastor of the Lower Saxony community youth organization . It was a youth missionary movement co-founded by Becker within the German Baptist congregations. After a shortened apprenticeship due to good performance, he became a member of the Rufer annual team , which lived in community for a year and held so-called evangelistic Rufer weeks at different locations at the same time . Here he received important impulses for his further path.

In 1959, Schaefer enrolled at the Baptist Theological Seminary , which was then based in Hamburg-Horn . After successfully completing his degree in 1963, he was appointed youth pastor of the Evangelical Free Church Community (Baptists) Hanover, Walderseestrasse. In 1964 he moved to the southern part of Hanover as a church planter and stayed there until 1979. During this time, in addition to the establishment of the Evangelical Free Church (Baptist) congregation in Hanover-South (today: Congregation at Döhrener Tower ), the founding of the catacomb , the first Christian tea room work Germany. From this tea room, with the help of Eckhard Schaefer, the Neue Land e. V., a social diaconal work among drug addicts. The New Land now operates a number of recognized institutions, including street work , advice centers and therapy houses.

In 1979, Eckhard Schaefer accepted a call from the Baptist congregation in Bremen , Hohenlohestrasse. During his time in Bremen, extensive renovations and extensions were carried out on the Kreuzkirche, built in 1955, as well as the establishment of the Evangelical Free Church Diakoniewerk Bremen, which among other things operates the St. Catharinenstift senior citizens' residence in Schwachhausen . Schaefer also played a key role in setting up a family holiday home in the East Frisian city ​​of Norden . In addition to his community service in Bremen, Eckhard Schaefer taught from 1985 to 1988 as a lecturer in practical theology at the Theological Seminary in Hamburg.

In 1988 Schaefer succeeded Manfred Otto as director of the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches (BEFG) based in Bad Homburg . He remained in this second highest leadership position in the Free Church until he retired in 2000. Schaefer's term of office as federal director included the reunification of the two German Baptist unions in 1990 and the relocation of the theological seminar and other BEFG institutions to Wustermark- Elstal near Berlin in 1997 . Eckhard Schaefer played a key role in both of the events that were essential to the history of the German Baptists. Even after his retirement, Schaefer is committed within his free church. In addition to special Bible weeks that he conducts in Baptist congregations, he mainly runs retreats and retirement camps for senior citizens. Schaefer is also a member of the board of the Evangelical news agency idea e. V.

Eckhard Schaefer is married to Christa, née Schneider. The couple has three daughters.

Publications (selection)

• But we preach Christ as crucified. The account of faith, preaching commented. Walter Zeschky on memory (co-author), Kassel 2000
• You touched me Encounters with Jesus. Biblical reflections , Witten 2013

literature

• Klaus Rösler: Everything serves the best. Memoirs of Eckhard Schaefer , Witten 2008, ISBN 978-3-417-24954-5 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Eckhard Schaefer in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The information on Eckhard Schaefer's childhood and youth comes from the biography Everything serves for the best. Memoirs of Eckhard Schaefer (Klaus Rösler), Witten 2008, pp. 15–51.
2. ↑ The Rufer work still exists today, albeit in a different form. As a “free ecumenical Christian association”, it operates the Rufer-Haus Stauffenburg near Osterode ; see Ruferhaus Stauffenburg : About us ( Memento from February 2, 2011 in the Internet Archive ); Accessed May 30, 2011
3. ↑ Klaus Rösler: Everything serves the best. Memoirs of EckhardSchaefer. Witten 2008, pp. 58-62.
4. ↑ Klaus Rösler: Everything serves the best. Memoirs of life by Eckhard Schaefer , Witten 2008, ISBN 978-3-417-24954-5 , p. 7: "Schaefer is [...] the inventor of the Christian tearoom work."; see. Homepage Neues Land : Our history - our development ( Memento of the original from May 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; Accessed May 30, 2011. 
5. ^ Homepage Neues Land ( Memento from April 12, 2011 in the Internet Archive ); Accessed May 30, 2011.
6. ↑ Karl Söhlke u. a .: 150 years of Evangelical Free Churches in Bremen and around , Stuhr-Brinkum 1998, p. 139 ff.
7. ↑ Klaus Rösler: Everything serves the best. Memories of life by Eckhard Schaefer , Witten 2008, ISBN 978-3-417-24954-5 , pp. 80f.

predecessor	Office	successor
Manfred Otto	Federal Director / General Secretary of the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches in Germany 1988 - 2000	Lutz Reichardt