Evangelical Reformed Church Switzerland

The reformed national churches of Switzerland

The Evangelical Reformed Church Switzerland (short EKS ; by the end of 2019 Swiss Protestant Churches SEK ), headquartered in Bern , the merger is reformed cantonal churches (mostly - except for the cantons of Neuchâtel and Geneva - regional churches ) and the United Methodist Church in Switzerland . The EKS is committed to a uniform creed.

history

The SEK was founded in 1920; Predecessor organizations were the Protestant Diet and the “Swiss Reformed Church Conference” that was created in 1858. In 1946 he founded the aid organization of the Evangelical Churches in Switzerland (HEKS) and in 1963 the collective organization Bread for Brothers, which has been called Bread for All since 1990 . 1970 was created Social Ethics Institute, which in 2004 the Institute of Theology and Ethics has been renamed.

In 2018 the “ Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches” decided to reorganize itself as the Evangelical Reformed Church Switzerland (EKS) at the beginning of 2020 and to issue a corresponding constitution.

In August 2019, the Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches endorsed the marriage of same-sex couples and recommended that their member churches implement this.

organs

advice

The council is the executive body of the EKS and is led by the president. As a rule, the seven members (up to 2010 nine members) of the Council meet once a month for a two-day session in Bern.

Pastor Gottfried Locher headed the council in his third term as council president until his resignation on May 27, 2020. Since then, he has been led on an interim basis by the two vice-presidents.

On June 18, 2018, the Assembly of Representatives in Schaffhausen also elected for the 2019-2022 legislature:

Pierre-Philippe Blaser (FR)

Sabine Brändlin (BL), resigned in 2020

Esther Gaillard (VD), Vice President

Ulrich Knoepfel ( CEO )

Ruth Pfister-Murbach (TG)

Daniel Reuter (ZH), Vice President

Previous presidents of the Council

• 1920–1921: Wilhelm Hadorn
• 1921–1930: Otto Herold
• 1930-1941: Eugène Choisy
• 1941–1954: Alphons Koechlin
• 1954–1962: Henri D'Espine
• 1962–1965: Alphonse Küenzi
• 1966-1970: Alexandre Lavanchy
• 1970–1978: Walter Sigrist
• 1978–1986: Jean-Pierre Jornod
• 1986–1998: Heinrich Rusterholz
• 1999–2010: Thomas Wipf
• 2011–2020: Gottfried W. Locher

Synod

The Synod (until 2019 Assembly of Deputies) is the parliament (legislature) of the EKS. It meets twice a year, in June as a guest of a member church and in November in Bern. The member churches are represented by around 80 synodals, the diaconal and women's conference each have two delegates with the right to speak and propose.

The synod elects the presidium and the members of the council, receives the annual report and decides on the budget and annual accounts. It can give the council orders by way of motions and postulates , request information via interpellations and express its position on current issues in resolutions .

Office

The office at Sulgenauweg 26 in Bern employs around 35 people in the following departments:

• Church relations
• Institute for Theology and Ethics
• Central Services
• communication

It has been led by Hella Hoppe since February 2016.

Ecumenical Relations

The EKS is a member of numerous ecumenical organizations, for example the World Council of Churches , the World Fellowship of Reformed Churches and the Fellowship of Evangelical Churches in Europe .

Member churches

Member churches	Bureau	Area (km²)	Members	Administrative headquarters
Reformed Regional Church Aargau	President of the Church Council: Christoph Weber-Berg	1,404	180,349	Aarau
Evangelical Reformed regional church in both Appenzell	Church council president: Kurt Kägi-Huber	416	25,093	Trogen
Evangelical Reformed Church of the Canton of Basel-Country	Church Council President: Martin Stingelin	518	96'220	Liestal
Evangelical Reformed Church Basel-Stadt	President of the Church Council: Lukas Kundert	37	30,764	Basel
Reformed churches in Bern-Jura-Solothurn	Synodal Council President: Andreas Zeller	7,060	613,686	Bern
Evangelical Reformed Church of the Canton of Friborg	President of the Synod Council: Pierre-Philippe Blaser	1,671	41'235	Murten
Église Protestante de Genève	President of the Consistorial Council: Charlotte Kuffer	282	74,456	Geneva
Église Évangélique Libre de Genève	Synodal Council President: Raymond Bourquin		521	Geneva
Evangelical Reformed Church of the Canton of Glarus	President of the cantonal church council: Ulrich Knoepfel	685	14,991	Glarus
Evangelical Reformed Church of the Grisons	President of the Church Council: Andreas Thöny	7'105	71,700	Chur
Evangelical Reformed Church of the Canton of Lucerne	Synodal Council Presidency: Ursula Stämmer-Horst	1,493	42,746	Lucerne
Église réformée évangélique du canton de Neuchâtel	Synodal Council President: Christian Miaz-Frutiger	802	59,972	Neuchâtel
Evangelical Reformed Church Nidwalden	President of the Church Council: Wolfgang Gaede	276	4,483	Stans
Association of the Evangelical Reformed Parishes of the Canton of Obwalden	President of the Association Council: Theres Meierhofer-Lauffer	491	2,827	Sarnen
Evangelical Reformed Church of the Canton of St. Gallen	Church council president: Martin Schmidt	2,026	112,738	St. Gallen
Evangelical Reformed Church in the Canton of Schaffhausen	President of the Church Council: Frieder Tramer	298	31,566	Schaffhausen
Evangelical Reformed Cantonal Church of Schwyz	President of the Church Council: Heinz Fischer	908	18,602	Küssnacht
Evangelical Reformed Church in the Canton of Solothurn	Synodal Council President: Verena Enzler	528	28,959	Olten
Chiesa evangelica riformata nel Ticino	Church council president: Tobias Ulbrich	2,812	6,856	Lugano
Evangelical Church of the Canton of Thurgau	Church Council President: Wilfried Bührer	991	98,310	Frauenfeld
Evangelical Reformed Regional Church of Uri	President of the Church Council: Dieter Kolthoff	1,077	1,830	Altdorf
Église Évangélique Réformée du canton de Vaud	Synodal Council President: Xavier Paillard	3,212	247,696	Lausanne
Evangelical Reformed Church of the Valais	Synodal Council President: Beat Abegglen	5'224	19,505	Manners
Evangelical Reformed parish of the canton of Zug	President of the Church Council: Rolf Berweger	239	17,923	train
Evangelical Reformed Church of the Canton of Zurich	Church Council President Michel Müller	1,729	461,602	Zurich
Methodist Church in Switzerland	Bishop Patrick Streiff		5,878	Zurich

literature

• Emil Marion: Protestant Switzerland. Swiss Evangelical Church Federation. Origin and history . Evangelischer Verlag, Zollikon 1958.
• Heinz Rüegger: Reformed Methodist Church Fellowship . In: Theologische Zeitschrift (Basel), vol. 53 (1997), pp. 240-254.

Web links

• Homepage of the SEK
• Rudolf Dellsperger : Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches (SEK). In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Evangelical Reformed Church Switzerland in the archive database of the Swiss Federal Archives

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Imprint. In: Evangelical Reformed Church Switzerland. Retrieved January 6, 2020 . 
2. ↑ RB 20: Declaration de Foi . He is currently working on a new version; the last interim report is from 2012, see the consultation process .
3. ↑ The Federation of Churches will become a church in 2020. ref.ch, December 18, 2018.
4. ↑ The Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches will become a church in 2020. In: www.kath.ch. December 18, 2018, accessed January 6, 2020 . 
5. ↑ Kirchenbund.de: Council of the Federation of Churches advocates opening up marriage to same-sex couples , August 2019
6. ^ Communiqué of the SEK: Pastor Gottfried Locher confirmed in his office as Council President. 17th June 2018.
7. ↑ Vanessa Buff: Gottfried Locher resigns. ref.ch, accessed on May 27, 2020.
8. ^ Communiqué of the SEK: Pastor Pierre-Philippe Blaser elected to the council. 17th June 2018.
9. ↑ «Unbridgeable differences»: Sabine Brändlin is leaving the EKS Council with immediate effect. on ref.ch
10. ↑ Hella Hoppe on the SEK homepage.