Evangelical Reformed Church (regional church)

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Basic data
Surface: Churches are
scattered across almost all of Germany
Management: Church President Martin Heimbucher ,
Vice President Helge Johr
Membership: Evangelical Church in Germany
Union of Evangelical Churches
Confederation of Evangelical Churches in Nds.
World Fellowship of Reformed Churches
World Council of Churches
Synodal associations: 9
Parishes : 146
Parishioners: 170,987 (December 31, 2018)
Website: www.reformiert.de
The great church in Leer

The Evangelical Reformed Church 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 . It is based in Leer (East Frisia) .

The church has 170,987 church members in 146 parishes (31 December 2018) and is one of the Reformed Churches in the EKD. It also belongs to the Confederation of Evangelical Churches in Lower Saxony and joined the Union of Evangelical Churches in 2003 . In addition, she is a member of the Reformed Federation , the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe and the World Community of Reformed Churches .

Territory of the regional church

The Evangelical Reformed Church is the only regional church of the EKD that does not have a closed area. This is due to the history of the Reformed congregations in Germany, which make up a minority among the Protestant congregations in Germany. Reformed congregations mostly emerged from the base or were only introduced in smaller rulers. The individual communities were often almost completely autonomous over a longer period of time. They joined together - if at all - very late to form higher-level associations or churches. An exception are the parishes of the Reformed Lippe regional church , which have formed a common regional church since the introduction of the Reformed Confession in Lippe.

The Reformed communities in the Grafschaft Bentheim and Ostfriesland had close ties to the Netherlands for a long time, which functioned as a kind of protective power for the Reformed, for example, against the Duchy of Münster.

The Reformed congregations, which belonged to Prussia in 1817, joined the Union of Lutheran and Reformed congregations ( Prussian Church Union ) by order of the King . For example B. many Reformed congregations in today's North Rhine-Westphalia due to the union at the time with the respective regional churches and not with the Evangelical Reformed Church. Uniert are the Evangelical Church of Anhalt , Evangelical Church in Baden , the Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia , the Evangelical Church of Bremen , the Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau , the Evangelical Church of Kurhessen-Waldeck , the Evangelical Church in Central Germany , the Evangelical Church of the Palatinate (Protestant State Church) , the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland and the Evangelical Church of Westphalia . Almost all traditionally Reformed parts of Germany are in the territory of a United regional church. The only exceptions are the former state of Lippe with its (predominantly) Reformed regional church and the north-western part of Germany. In Bavaria there are only two traditionally reformed parishes; most of today's communities were created by immigration since the 17th century (mainly Huguenot immigrants).

From 1834, under the influence of the Dutch preacher Hendrik de Cock, the Evangelical Old Reformed Church in Lower Saxony separated in the county of Bentheim and in East Friesland . Especially in Bentheimer Land, followers of the theology of the Elberfeld theologian Hermann Friedrich Kohlbrügge gained dominant influence from the middle of the 19th to the middle of the 20th century.

Most of the Reformed congregations that belong to the Evangelical Reformed Church today are located in western Lower Saxony (counties Grafschaft Bentheim , Leer and in the western part of the Aurich district ); others are spread across the rest of Lower Saxony and Bavaria . Furthermore, individual parishes in the states of Baden-Württemberg ( Stuttgart ), Bremen ( Rekum , Bremerhaven ), Hamburg , Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania ( Bützow ), Saxony ( Chemnitz - Zwickau , Leipzig ) and Schleswig-Holstein ( Lübeck ) belong to the reformed regional church. As a rule, there are also parishes in the same place that belong to the regional Lutheran or uniate church. In addition, there are Reformed individual communities in Germany that do not belong to the Evangelical Reformed Church. As a rule, however, like the Evangelical Reformed Church itself, they are members of the Reformed Federation , the umbrella organization of almost all Reformed congregations in Germany.

history

The Reformed congregations of today's Evangelical Reformed Church have very different histories and traditions. Describing all of them would go beyond the scope of this article, as each of the approximately 140 parishes would have to be discussed in more detail.

Most of the communities belonged to the Kingdom of Hanover in the 19th century , which became a Prussian province in 1866 . Specifically, the Reformed communities in the province of Hanover belonged to the following former rule areas:

Consistorium Aurich - seal mark

A common synodal ordinance was issued for all these communities in the province of Hanover in 1882 and a church authority with a collegial constitution, the consistory, was established by order of the King of Prussia in Aurich . Thus the Evangelical Reformed Church of the Province of Hanover was created. However, the consistory in Aurich was also the provincial consistory for the parishes of the Lutheran regional church in the north-west of the province of Hanover. In the old Prussian provinces, a union between Lutheran and Reformed congregations was carried out in 1817. However, this could not be achieved within the province of Hanover.

In the "Evangelical Reformed Church of the Province of Hanover", the Reformed congregations in Hanover, Altona, Hann. Münden , Göttingen, Celle, Bückeburg-Stadthagen and Braunschweig not included. Since the 18th century, these have formed the Lower Saxony Confederation , a special association of Reformed congregations that stem primarily from the Huguenot tradition. Most of these congregations later joined the Evangelical Reformed Church. Others, on the other hand, formed the Federation of Evangelical Reformed Churches in Germany from 1928 together with the Evangelical Reformed Church in Göttingen and the Reformed Church of Bavaria . However, the Reformed Church of Bavaria left the Federation in 1989 and joined the Evangelical Reformed Church (see below).

As early as 1866 there was a (Lutheran) state consistory in Hanover within the province of Hanover. The five previously existing provincial consistory (including Aurich) were initially continued. By 1904 all except the one in Aurich were abolished. This was due to the peculiarity of the parity (reformed and Lutheran) gradually developed since 1766 of this administrative authority in Aurich.

Head of the Hanoverian provincial churches, i.e. both the Lutheran and the Reformed Church, was the King of Prussia as summus episcopus . The superintendent in Aurich was responsible for the spiritual direction of the Reformed Church.

After the Evangelical Reformed Church of the Province of Hanover was founded in 1882, further congregations were accepted, namely in 1886 the United Church Community of Freren / Emsland and in 1901 the Evangelical Reformed Church of Hanover. In addition, new Reformed congregations arose in those years. a. in Hameln and Hildesheim.

After the First World War (elimination of the sovereign church regiment / Summepiskopats), both regional churches of the province of Hanover became independent by receiving their own constitutions in 1922. The consistory in Aurich, with equal representation, was converted into a reformed consistory and the state consistory in Hanover was now responsible for all Lutheran congregations within the province of Hanover. The church administered from Aurich was now called the Evangelical Reformed Church of the Province of Hanover . The consistory in Aurich became the "regional church council". However, the constitution of the church did not finally come into force until 1925.

In the period that followed, other congregations were admitted to the church: the Reformed congregations of Altona, Celle and Hannoversch-Münden joined the church as early as 1923, followed by the Reformed congregation in Lübeck in 1927 and the Reformed congregations in Rinteln and Möllenbeck, which had previously been part of the Evangelical Church of Had heard of Kurhessen-Waldeck. For the first time, the territory of the regional church extended beyond the borders of the province of Hanover.

Although Hanover was one of the so-called “intact regional churches” during the Nazi era, there was a fierce struggle within the church about the right course towards the Nazi state, which was welcomed by the mass of church members in 1933. Many Reformed pastors also joined the National Socialist German Christians (DC) in 1933. Most of them left after the DC's Sportpalast rally in Berlin in November 1933, when the Old Testament was rejected as a Jewish script. In the period that followed, there were violent disputes within the church between supporters of the DC, the state-oriented and soothing course of the Aurich church leadership and the confessional pastors, among whom Friedrich Middendorff from Schüttorf, Reinhard Smidt from Hameln and Hermann Steen from Holthusen should be emphasized. Only in the last few years has research on the attitude of the Reformed Church towards National Socialism been intensified, with some remarkable new results (e.g. Weßels 2002; Herrenbrück 2006; Lekebusch 2006; Lensing 2008/2009).

From 1949, as a result of the merger of the province of Hanover in Lower Saxony and the expansion of the member congregations at that time, the regional church called itself the Evangelical Reformed Church in Northwest Germany, according to the new circumstances . She became a founding member of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD).

In 1951 the Stuttgart Reformed Congregation joined, which had previously belonged temporarily to the Evangelical Church in Württemberg . In the 1950s, the church administration moved from Aurich to Leer (East Frisia) because of the better transport connections (rail connection). In 1959, the Evangelical Reformed Church in north-west Germany adopted a new constitution, the content of which, however, essentially confirmed the old constitution of 1922.

In 1971 the Evangelical Reformed Church joined the newly founded Confederation of Evangelical Churches in Lower Saxony .

Finally, in 1989, the largest external change in the regional church took place. It was joined by the Evangelical Reformed Church in Bavaria and the enlarged church was called the Evangelical Reformed Church from February 1, 1989 - Synod of Evangelical Reformed Churches in Bavaria and Northwest Germany . At the same time, the constitution of the Church was also renewed. The “Landeskirchentag” became the “General Synod” with the “President of the General Synod” at its head (previously “Church President”). The “Regional Church Council” became the “ Moderamen of the General Synod”, and the “Regional Church Committee” became the “Synodal Council”.

In the course of the reunification of the two German states in 1990, the Reformed congregations in Bützow (Mecklenburg) and Leipzig also joined the Evangelical Reformed Church in 1993 with the subsidiary congregation in Chemnitz, which had now been established. A year later, in 1994, Chemnitz-Zwickau became an independent municipality. In 1996 the Walloon-Dutch community Hanau joined the Evangelical Reformed Church. Like the congregations of Leipzig, Chemnitz-Zwickau and Stuttgart, along with all Bavarian congregations, it belonged to Synodal Association XI, but left the regional church again in 2008.

In December 2006, after 170 years of church division, the Reformed regional church signed a historically significant cooperation agreement with the Evangelical Old Reformed Church in Frenswegen Monastery near Nordhorn . Since the end of 2009 the regional church has officially designated itself as the “Evangelical Reformed Church”. The addition of the Synod of Evangelical Reformed Churches in Bavaria and Northwest Germany has been dropped. An association of the regional churches in Lower Saxony has repeatedly been discussed.

In 2012, the Evangelical Reformed Church in Hamburg and the Evangelical Reformed Congregation Braunschweig joined the regional church. The community in Göttingen followed a year later.

The ordination of women to the Rectory is possible, as in all EKD member churches. The marriage of same-sex couples is possible with the consent of the respective municipality. In 2017, the general synod approved a liturgical marriage order that is valid for all marriages.

Establishment of the regional church

At the base are the parishes as corporations under public law with elected parish councils, the church council or presbytery, who together with the pastors manage the parish. The members of the church council or presbytery are called church elders or presbyters. They are elected by the church members.

Several parishes together form a synodal association , which is comparable to a parish in other regional churches. This has an elected synodal synod and a moderamen as a governing body, which is presided over by a praeses. The synodal associations are also corporations under public law.

The nine synodal associations form the regional church.

Synodal associations with their parishes

Unless otherwise specified, the parishes are always called "Evangelical Reformed Congregation ..."

Synodal Association of Northern East Frisia
Aurich , Bedekaspel, Borkum , Borssum , Camping , Canhusen, Canum, Emden , Cirkwehrum, Eilsum , Freepsum, Gandersum, Greetsiel , Grimersum , Groothusen, Groß Midlum , Hamswehrum, Hinte , Jarßum , Jennelt, Larrelt , Leybucht, Logumer Vorwerk , Loppersum , Lütetsburg - Norden , Manslagt , Oldersum , Pilsum , Rorichum, Rysum , Simonswolde, Suurhusen-Marienwehr, Tergast , Uphusen, Upleward, Uttum, Visquard, Twixlum , Westerhusen , Werdenum , Wolthusen, Woltzeten, Wybelsum (emerged from the former synodal associations in spring 2007) I, II and III)
Synodal Association of Southern East Frisia
Driever, Dykhausen- Neustadtgödens , Esklum, Großwolde, Grotegaste, Ihrerfeld, Ihrhove , Leer , Loga , Mitling-Mark, Neermoor , Neermoorpolder, Nüttermoor , Papenburg , Veenhusen
Synodal Association Rheiderland
Böhmerwold, Bunde , Critzum , Ditzum , Ditzumerverlaat , Hatzum, Holthusen, Jemgum , Kirchborgum, Landschaftspolder , Marienchor, Midlum , Möhlenwarf , Oldendorp- Nendorp , St. Georgiwold , Stapelmoor , Vellage, Weener , Weenermoor , Wymeer
Synodal Association Grafschaft Bentheim
Bad Bentheim , Brandlecht , Emlichheim , Georgsdorf , Gildehaus , Hoogstede , Laar , Lage , Neuenhaus , Nordhorn , Ohne , Schüttorf , Uelsen , Veldhausen , Wilsum
Synodal Association Emsland / Osnabrück
Baccum , Freren-Thuine , Lengerich , Lingen , Lünne , Meppen- Schöninghsdorf, Osnabrück , Salzbergen , Schapen
Synodal Association VIII
Bremerhaven , Evangelical Reformed Church in Hamburg , Holßel , Lübeck , Lüneburg-Uelzen, Evangelical Reformed Church in Mecklenburg , Neuenkirchen, Rekum ( Evangelical Reformed Church in Bremen - Rekum ), Ringstedt
Synodal Association Plesse
Angerstein (Protestant parish), Bovenden , Eddigehausen , Etzenborn , Göttingen (associated), Hann. Münden , Holzerode , Mackenrode , Northeim , Oberbillingshausen, Reyershausen (Evangelical parish), Sattenhausen , Spanbeck
Synodal Association X
Braunschweig , Celle , Hameln -Bad Pyrmont, Hanover , Hildesheim , Möllenbeck , Rinteln , Wolfsburg - Gifhorn - Peine and the scattered Reformed, the Reformed diaspora community in the districts of Verden, Diepholz and Nienburg
Synodal Association XI
Bayreuth , Chemnitz - Zwickau , Erlangen , Bad Grönenbach , Herbishofen, Leipzig , Marienheim , Munich  I, Munich II, Munich III, Nuremberg , Schwabach , Stuttgart

Leadership of the church

The “Evangelical Reformed Church” has no hierarchy in the true sense; Rather, it is managed from the base and only transfers those tasks to the next higher level that it cannot do locally. This structure is called “presbyterial-synodal”. There are more lay people than pastors in all the bodies of the Church.

In the synods of the synodal associations, the pastors of all associated parishes and other representatives of the parishes meet. Among other things, they elect the delegates (synodals) to the overall synod .

The general synod (Landeskirchentag until 1989) is responsible for leading the general church. The general synod is convened and chaired by its chairman, president (church president until 1989). It usually meets in the Great Church in Emden or in other places with Protestant-Reformed congregations.

Every six years the general synod elects from among its members the moderator of the general synod ( regional church council until 1989), the permanent representative of the general synod. The general synod elects the church president (state superintendent until 2004) as spiritual director of the regional church for a term of office of up to twelve years . A lawyer is also elected Vice-President (President until 2004) for twelve years. In addition to the Church President, the President of the General Synod and the Vice President, the Moderamen includes seven other Synodals (mostly lay people).

Today's leadership positions

President of the general synod

Until 1989 the title was "Church President".

Church presidents

The office was only created on May 1, 2004 and replaces the office of state superintendent.

Vice President

The office was only created on May 1, 2004 and replaces the office of President.

Former management positions

General superintendent or state superintendent

On May 1, 2004 this office was revoked and replaced by the office of Church President.

President of the regional church council or synodal council

On May 1, 2004, this office was revoked and replaced by the office of Vice President.

  • 1904–1925: Linnko Oderhoff , President of the Consistory in Aurich
  • 1925–1937: Otto Koopmann , President of the Consistory in Aurich
  • 1937–1946:?
  • 1946–1958: Berthold Fokken , President of the Regional Church Council
  • 1958–1959: provisional management by state superintendent Herrenbrück
  • 1959–1969: Hans Gernot Dan , President of the Regional Council of Churches
  • 1969–1994: Winfried Stolz , President of the Regional Church Council, from 1989 President of the Synodal Council
  • 1994–2004: Ernst-Joachim Pagenstecher , President of the Synodal Council

Hymn books

The parishes of the Evangelical Reformed Church have been singing or singing from a large number of hymn books in recent decades. Each area, e.g. Some parishes also had their own hymn book. The following hymn books were particularly popular:

  • One hundred evangelical songs initially for the Reformed communities in East Frisia ; Emden; 1852
  • Hymnbook for church, school and house in the Reformed parishes of East Frisia , edited by the cetus of the Reformed preachers with the permission of the church authorities; Emden; around 1870
  • Evangelical Reformed Hymnal ; published in 1929 by the Evangelical Reformed Church of the Province of Hanover; later with the title "Published by the Evangelical Reformed Church in Northwest Germany"
  • Evangelical Church Hymns - Edition for the Evangelical Reformed Church in Northwest Germany; Gütersloh u. a .; introduced in 1969

A uniform hymn book for all parishes of today's regional church was only introduced with the current Evangelical hymn book:

  • Evangelical hymn book - edition for the Evangelical Reformed Church (Synod of Evangelical Reformed Churches in Bavaria and Northwest Germany), the Evangelical Old Reformed Church in Lower Saxony, in community with the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland, the Evangelical Church of Westphalia, the Lippe Regional Church, in Also used in parishes of the Federation of Evangelical Reformed Churches in the Federal Republic of Germany; Gütersloh / Bielefeld / Neukirchen-Vluyn; introduced on the 1st of Advent 1996

Press

The Evangelical Reformed Church publishes the quarterly magazine reformiert , which is sent to all households in which at least one church member lives.

See also

literature

  • Elke Herrenbrück: Pastor Reinhard Smidt (1905–1950) . In: Evangelisch-Reformierte Gemeinde Hameln-Bad Pyrmont (Ed.), 100 Years Evangelical-Reformed Church Hameln in Hugenottenstrasse, Festschrift, Hameln 2006, pp. 41–51.
  • Karl Immer : The letters of the Coetus reformed preacher 1933–1937, ed. by Joachim Beckmann . Neukirchener Verlag, Neukirchen-Vluyn 1976.
  • Karl Koch: Kohlbrüggian in the county of Bentheim. A study on the reformed church history of the Grafschaft Bentheim between 1880 and 1950. At the same time a contribution to the history of the church struggle . In: Emsland / Bentheim. Contributions to History, 12, ed. from the Emsland landscape for the districts of Emsland and Grafschaft Bentheim. Sögel 1996.
  • Ernst Kochs, Diddo Wiarda: Legacy and Mission. 450 years coetus of the evangelical reformed preachers in East Frisia . Leer 1994.
  • Sigrid Lekebusch: The Evangelical Reformed Church of the Province of Hanover in the time of National Socialism . In: Manfred Gailus , Wolfgang Krogel (ed.): From the Babylonian captivity of the church in the national. Regional studies on Protestantism, National Socialism and post-war history 1930 to 2000, Berlin 2006, pp. 137–159.
  • Sigrid Lekebusch: The Reformed in the church struggle. The struggle of the Reformed Confederation, the Coetus Reformed Preacher and the Reformed Regional Church of Hanover for the right path in the Reich Church . Series of publications by the Association for Rhenish Church History, 113, Habelt, Cologne 1994.
  • Helmut Lensing: Reformed Protestantism in the Grafschaft Bentheim during the Weimar Republic and the rise of National Socialism up to its establishment at the end of 1933 . In: Yearbook of the Society for Lower Saxony Church History 105 (2007), Hanover 2008, pp. 95–166.
  • Helmut Lensing: The Reformed and the Old Reformed Church of the Grafschaft Bentheim and the year 1933 . In: Study Society for Emsland Regional History, Vol. 16, Haselünne 2009, pp. 402–485.
  • Helmut Lensing: The reformed confessional pastor Friedrich Middendorff and the “church struggle” in Schüttorf . In: Osnabrücker Mitteilungen, Vol. 114, Osnabrück 2009, ISSN  0474-8158 , pp. 147-192.
  • Elwin Lomberg, Gerhard Nordholt, Alfred Rauhaus (editor): The Evangelical Reformed Church in Northwest Germany. Contributions to their past and present . Weener 1982.
  • Hans-Jürgen Schmidt: The reformed church in the county of Bentheim and the city of Gronau between the duchy of Munster and the Netherlands in the 16th and 17th centuries . In: Study Society for Emsland Regional History, Vol. 16, Haselünne 2009, pp. 133–165.
  • Paul Weßels : The German Christians in East Frisia and their struggle for influence in the Evangelical Reformed Church . In: Emder Yearbook for Historical Regional Studies Ostfriesland 81 (2001), Aurich 2002, pp. 167–204.
  • Heinrich Voort (editor): Reformed Confession in the County of Bentheim 1588–1988 ; The Bentheimer Land, 114.Bad Bentheim 1988.
  • Helma Wever: "Otherwise we would have been mute dogs ..." On the situation within the Evangelical Reformed Church of the Province of Hanover in the time of National Socialism with special consideration of the years 1933–1937. Wuppertal 2009, ISBN 3-938180-15-3 .

Web links

Commons : Church building of the Evangelical Reformed Church (Bavaria and Northwest Germany)  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Evangelical Church in Germany - Church membership figures as of December 31, 2018 , ekd.de, accessed on February 28, 2020.
  2. ^ List of municipalities
  3. ↑ Law and Ordinance Gazette of the Evangelical Reformed Church , Volume 19, No. 6, July 15, 2008, p. 58.
  4. ^ Reformed churches conclude cooperation agreements. Evangelical Press Service , Lower Saxony-Bremen State Service , December 13, 2006, archived from the original on September 27, 2007 ; accessed on November 28, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Ulf Preuß: marriage order also for homosexual couples . Reformiert.de, November 24, 2017, accessed November 28, 2017.
  6. ^ Synodalverband X. In: reformiert.de. Retrieved June 10, 2018 .