Evangelical Church in Württemberg

map
Basic data
Area :	approx. 20,935 km²
Leading clergyman:	Regional Bishop Frank Otfried July
President of the regional synod:	Sabine Foth
Director of the Upper Church Council:	Stefan Werner
Membership:	WCC and LWF full membership UEK and VELKD each only guest status
Mission Society:	Evangelical Mission in Solidarity (EMS)
Prelatures :	4th
Church districts or districts :	44
Parishes :	1209 (January 1, 2020)
Parishioners:	1,993,460 (December 31, 2018)
Share of the total population:	31.0% (December 31, 2018)
Official Website:	www.elk-wue.de

The Evangelical Regional Church in Württemberg is one of 20 member churches ( regional churches ) of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) and a member of the Conference of Churches on the Rhine . Like all regional churches, it is a corporation under public law ; it is based in Stuttgart . The Church has 1,993,460 church members (as of December 2018) in 1282 parishes . The Evangelical Church in Württemberg is a Lutheran church and a member of the Community of Evangelical Churches in Europe (CPCE) and the Lutheran World Federation . It belongs neither to the Union of Evangelical Churches nor to the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany , but has guest status in each case.

The main church of the Evangelical Church in Württemberg is the Stiftskirche Stuttgart . One of the first evangelical sermons in Württemberg was given here in 1534 by the Marburg preacher Konrad Oettinger . Other important churches are the Ulm Minster , Kilian's Church in Heilbronn , the Marienkirche in Reutlingen , the city ​​church of St. Dionysius in Esslingen and the church of St. Michael in Schwäbisch Hall . The Tübingen Abbey is a special educational institution of the regional church . In 1945 the regional church founded the Evangelical Academy Bad Boll as the first institution of its kind, which is considered the “motherhouse” of the church academies. In the same year, the foundation for today's Evangelical College for Church Music was laid in Esslingen , which has been in Tübingen since 1998.

Territory of the regional church

The area of ​​the Evangelical Church in Württemberg essentially comprises the former state of Württemberg , which existed until 1945. In 1950, the Hohenzollers church district was incorporated into the Rhenish Regional Church , which until 1945/48 belonged to the Church of the Old Prussian Union . The original order of worship was retained. In the following years there were also minor border changes with the neighboring Evangelical Church in Baden .

history

As early as 1520/24 the smugglers Dietmar Gall and Hanns Schmid succeeded in distributing Lutheran writings.

The Freiburg doctor Johannes Murer preached the priesthood of all believers in Württemberg for the first time in 1523 in peasant clothes as "Karsthans" . When he was arrested in Balingen, he confessed that he would rather die than forego the preaching of God's word. Murer then died as a martyr for the gospel as did those other 45 evangelical peasant war preachers and pastors.

Duke Ulrich von Württemberg pushed through the Reformation in his Duchy of Württemberg in 1534 . This was the founding year of the Evangelical Regional Church. The duke, later the respective king of Württemberg, was thus also head of the regional church as a so-called summus episcopus , d. H. the respective ruler united secular and ecclesiastical power. The previous Catholic bishops lost all rights. Johannes Brenz , who carried out the Reformation in the spirit of Martin Luther , was appointed as the country's reformer . He is buried in the collegiate church in Stuttgart .

The Evangelical Church in Württemberg was thus a Lutheran church from the start , but the form of worship is committed to the Reformed tradition, i. H. the service is simply held ( Upper German form ). The form of the Lutheran mass , which is otherwise common in Lutheran congregations , is rarely practiced. In 1699 400 Huguenots are settled in Württemberg. Until 1806 the Duchy of Württemberg was a purely Protestant area. Only when Württemberg became a kingdom and large Catholic areas ( Upper Swabia ) were added by Napoleon's grace , this uniform religious structure ended. Königsfeld in the Black Forest is a planned settlement of the Herrnhut Brothers Congregation from 1806. Königsfeld was the first settlement founded in the area of ​​today's Baden-Württemberg of the Protestant-Pietist Brethren founded in 1727 in Herrnhut by Nikolaus Ludwig Graf von Zinzendorf . The founding document of King Frederick I of Württemberg is dated August 12, 1806. Faithful refugees from France and Italy were settled in an allocated area in Württemberg while retaining the original community name, language and form of worship. Under the direction of Pastor Henri Arnaud , the displaced people settled in an area in the north-west of the duchy. In 1720 about 40 people had to leave the Hohenzollern Bärenthal because of their conversion to Protestantism and emigrate to Wurmberg in Württemberg. In 1731 the gates were opened in Ulm for almost 3,000 Salzburg exiles of the Counter Reformation. Since the late 19th century, Protestant communities have also emerged in the previously Roman Catholic areas of (southern) Württemberg.

Seal of the Evangelical Consistory in Stuttgart

For the administration of church affairs a department was set up within the Ministry of Culture in Württemberg (today Ministry of Culture ), which was given the name Consistory . At its head stood the Consistorial President.

At the end of the First World War , the King of Württemberg had to abdicate. The church thus formally no longer had a head. Therefore, the leading clergy of the church ( prelates ) and the consistorial president took over the leadership of the church. In 1923/24, the Württemberg regional church adopted a constitution and installed a church president as head of the church, who was given the title of regional bishop from 1933 .

Development of Pietism as a peculiarity of the regional church

A special feature of the Württemberg regional church is the close connection with Pietism . In the early 18th century, Württemberg was the largest Protestant territory in the otherwise Catholic south-west of Germany. That is why the authorities paid particular attention to compliance with the Lutheran creed, which often led to a certain dogmatism in theology. Pietism established itself as a countermovement, the most important characteristic of which is personal piety to this day.

The relationship between the official regional church and Pietists was often difficult, but there were always people on both sides who understood each other, so that most of the pietist groups developed within the regional church. Even today, the Pietists make up a large proportion of the voluntary workforce in the regional church. Many parishes in the old Württemberg region still have a pietistic character.

Church Convention

The church convents, consisting of the bailiff, pastor and two to three judges, developed into a real moral police. In the 18th century, light candles , game evenings , skittles, extramarital pregnancies and carnival customs were punished with fines and imprisonment after criminal interrogations. The widespread over-field run by the villagers formed a permanent complaint. Often whole groups attended the festivals in Catholic villages. In the middle of the 17th century, the carnival dance attracted the residents of the Protestant villages enormously. The admonitions were fruitless.

Head of the regional church

Oberkirchenrat of the Evangelical Regional Church in Gänsheidestrasse in Stuttgart, also the official seat of the regional bishop

At the head of the Evangelical Regional Church in Württemberg is the regional bishop ( church president until 1933 ), who is elected by the regional synod with a two-thirds majority. His term of office was originally for life and ended at the latest when he reached the age of 68. As a rule, however, he retires after he has reached the age of 65, so that a new regional bishop has to be elected. The regional synod in autumn 2006 decided to limit the term of office to ten years.

The regional bishop has the highest leadership of the regional church. He has the right to preach the word of God in all worship services in the regional church. It is through this ministry that the Church is spiritually guided. He is supported by the prelate indoor and prelates , as well as deans and deans . The regional bishop chairs the college of the upper church council and represents the regional church externally. (Definition of terms in the regional church)

Frank Otfried July has held this position since 2005 . The regional bishop has a theological and a legal representative. Theological representative is the longest serving of the four prelates ( regional bishops ). The legal representative is the director of the Oberkirchenrat , formerly called vice-president at times . Presently the theological deputy of the regional bishop is Prelate Gabriele Wulz .

Former head of the regional church

After the Reformation was introduced in Württemberg in 1534, church affairs were carried out jointly by the consistory (spiritual affairs) and the church council (administration) from 1553 onwards. The management committee consisted of the board of directors ( Obersuperattendenz and management) and the full members. In 1698 the consistory and church council were separated. The consistory was then headed by a president who was assisted by a vice-president. Several consistorial councils belonging to the clergy and secular class belonged to the consistory. The church council was headed by a director, assisted by a vice director. The church council had several expedition councils.

In 1803, Württemberg became an electorate and was considerably enlarged. A separate consistory was set up in Heilbronn for the New Württemberg regions, which included the deaneries of Aalen, Esslingen, Schwäbisch Hall, Heilbronn and Reutlingen. The Heilbronn consistory was headed by a president, a spiritual and a secular council, and a secular assessor. As early as 1806, when the Württemberg kingdom was enlarged again, the Heilbronn consistory was abolished.

From 1806, ecclesiastical affairs in Württemberg were subordinated to the Ministry of the Spiritual Department, which was later called the Ministry of Churches and Schools and finally the Ministry of Culture and Culture. Within this ministry, the consistory was a special department headed by a director, later president.

Directors or presidents of the Evangelical Consistory

• 1799–1808: Gottlob Christian von Lang , director
• 1809–1819: Johann Friedrich von Schmidlin , director
• 1819–1829 / 39 Johann Eberhard von Wächter , Director (until 1821 Vice Director)
• 1830–1842: Benjamin Ferdinand von Mohl , director
• 1842–1850: Karl Friedrich Christian von Scheurlen , director
• 1850–1852: Karl Eberhard Freiherr von Wächter-Spittler , director
• 1852–1866: August Friedrich von Köstlin , director
• 1866–1869: Eduard von Schmidlin , director
• 1870–1876: Karl Ludwig von Golther , President of the Consistory
• 1876–1885: Ludwig Friedrich von Bitzer , President of the Consistory
• 1885–1905: Wilhelm Freiherr von Gemmingen , President of the Consistory
• 1905–1910: Viktor von Sandberger , Consistorial President
• 1910–1912: Hermann von Habermaas , Consistorial President
• 1913–1924: Hermann von Zeller , Consistorial President

Church presidents and regional bishops

Frank Otfried July, since 2005 regional bishop of the Evang. Regional Church in Württemberg

• 1924–1929: Johannes von Merz , Church President
• 1929–1948: Theophil Wurm , regional bishop (church president until 1933)
• 1948–1962: Martin Haug , regional bishop
• 1962–1969: Erich Eichele , regional bishop
• 1969–1979: Helmut Claß , regional bishop
• 1979–1988: Hans von Keler , regional bishop
• 1988–1994: Theo Sorg , regional bishop
• 1994–2001: Eberhardt Renz , regional bishop
• 2001–2005: Gerhard Maier , regional bishop
• 2005 – today: Frank Otfried July , regional bishop

Directors of the Upper Church Council

• 1979–1986: Karl Dummler
• 1986–1995: Martin Dietrich
• 1995-2001: Martin Daur
• 2001–2017: Margit Rupp
• since 2017: Stefan Werner

State Synod

Elected and elected members of the Synod
Elected members	90
Elected members	7th
From the examination board of the Evang. Faculty of Tübingen	1
total	98
Synodals in the discussion groups
Lively church	31
Open Church	31
Gospel and Church	16
Church for tomorrow	12

The regional church has a regional synod as parliament . This is elected in Württemberg, as the only member church of the EKD , directly by the parishioners for an electoral period of six years (primary election). Its tasks are similar to those of a political parliament and mainly relate to budget law and church legislation. The members of the Synod are called Synodals , are elected in constituencies and belong to different discussion groups , which differ in terms of objectives and character:

• Lively church : conservative-evangelical or pietistic spectrum.
• Gospel and Church : Middle group thatarose in1933/1934 from the resistance against the German Christians .
• Open Church : social liberal to left spectrum.
• Church for Tomorrow has only been part of the 13th Synod and is an initiative to reform the Württemberg regional church.

Chairman of the Synod is the president of the synod or the President of the Synod . Sabine Foth is currently President of the 16th State Synod (since 2020).

The 15th regional synod was elected on December 1, 2013. It consists of 90 directly elected and seven elected members, as well as a representative of the Evangelical Theological Faculty, initially Hans-Joachim Eckstein from October 2016 Jürgen Kampmann .

The Stuttgart Hospital Church with the associated Hospitalhof in Stuttgart, the most important meeting place for the regional synod

Large conference room in which the regional synod usually meets for its sessions

At the 16th regional synod, which was elected on December 1, 2019, the Living Congregation group , the strongest power in the synod to date , lost 8 seats and is now tied with the Open Church . The Church for Tomorrow group was able to more than double its number of mandates, but continues to be the smallest of the discussion groups represented in the regional synod. The current distribution of seats looks like this:

• Living Church: Dec.
• Gospel and Church: 16
• Open Church: 31
• Church for tomorrow: 12

The synods met on February 15, 2020 in the Hospitalhof in Stuttgart for the constituent meeting.

History of the regional synod

There has only been a regional synod within the Evangelical Church in Württemberg since 1869. The founding of the Synod at that time is also related to the general political development in Germany. At the beginning of the 19th century the church was firmly integrated into the state structure. The Württemberg constitution of 1819 wanted to give the churches more independence for the first time, but this could not be implemented at first, mainly because of the resistance of the king. With the introduction of a new liturgy and a new hymn book in 1841 new attempts were made to give the church its own constitution. In 1845 there was also a draft of a presbyterial and synodal order, but the revolution of 1848/49 destroyed the implementation again.

The first step towards the creation of a synod was reached in 1851, when the king, by decree of January 28, 1851, allowed the formation of parish councils (today parish councils). These bodies consisted of the local clergyman and men over 40 years of age who were elected by independent men, so-called "house fathers" over 30 years. By ordinance of November 18, 1851, diocesan synods (today district synod) were also established in the second step. It included the clergy of the church district and an equal number of church elders (today parish councils). The latter were elected by the parish councils. The synod should meet once a year. The third step, the formation of a regional synod, was initially rejected by the king. Only King Karl was positive about the request. In 1866, August Ludwig Reyscher met for the first time in Stuttgart. The assembly worked out principles for a synodal constitution. In July 1866 a draft was submitted to the Ministry of Cultures and after various consultations, the state synod was introduced by the royal decree of December 20, 1867 . It was essentially the basis for all synods up to 1919. It consisted of 50 members, 25 secular and 25 clergy, and was to be convened every four years. However, the actual convening was delayed in some cases considerably. It usually lasted only a few weeks or even a few days. The synod was presided over by a president and a vice-president. Both were initially appointed by the king according to a proposal, and from 1888 onwards they were elected by the synod. There was also a secretary. A committee took care of the official business between the individual meetings. This consisted of the president as well as two spiritual and two secular members of the synod. The first regional synod was convened in February 1869, a good year after it was formally established in 1867.

After the state church regiment ceased to exist in 1918, church affairs in Germany were reorganized. The basis was the Weimar Constitution of 1919, which provided for a separation of state and church. The constitution for the Württemberg regional church, which was based on it, provided for a directly elected body. The law required for this was passed by the regional synod convened in 1912 on January 20, 1919. This regional synod should actually have been re-elected in 1918, but the election had been postponed due to the war. The under the new law to be elected church board was now a national church assembly called and was worldly of 55 and 26 clerical deputies. In addition to the primary election by the parishioners of the entire regional church, the introduction of women's suffrage was new. The most important task of the regional church assembly was the elaboration of a church constitution for the Evangelical regional church in Württemberg, which could be passed on June 24, 1920, but did not come into force until April 1, 1924. The regional church assembly of 1919 was to be re-elected after three years, but the legislative period was extended twice until 1924.

According to the church constitution of 1919/1924 and the law passed in 1922 on elections to the regional church convention, the body to be elected by the parishioners was now called the regional church convention . This had 60 deputies, 40 secular and 20 spiritual. The term was extended to six years. The right to vote is fixed for 25 years. The meetings of the body should be convened every two years. After Hitler came to power in 1933, the church was to be brought into line throughout the German Reich. Therefore, in July 1933, a new 3rd Landeskirchentag was forcibly convened, although the previous 2nd Landeskirchentag had only been elected in 1931. This committee was not recruited from a primary election, but rather from delegates, for whom it was previously determined from which “camp” they came. The Germans Christians received 34 out of 61 seats. The 3rd State Church Congress formed in this way was intended to incorporate the Württemberg State Church into the German Reich Church. By 1934, however, numerous members of the German Christians either gave up their mandate or switched to the other two groups on the committee. The German Christians thus no longer had a majority and so the incorporation into the imperial church could not be enforced. Independently of this, attempts were made to replace Regional Bishop Theophil Wurm. For this purpose, the German Christians convened their own 18-member parallel regional synod on October 9, 1934, which passed the resolution to dismiss. A few weeks later, however, the 3rd Landeskirchentag declared this resolution null and void. In addition to the Landeskirchentag, another committee was convened several times between 1936 and 1940, the advisory board of the church leadership . This consisted of 40 secular and 20 spiritual members.

The 3rd Landeskirchentag would have had to be re-elected in 1939. At that time it only had 41 members. An election was probably not possible, so the legislative period was extended until further notice. It then met in 1941 and 1943. However, the Landeskirchentag could hardly make any decisions. Rather, it had become an approval body for the church leadership. After the war, the 3rd Landeskirchentag met for the last time in 1946. It passed new election regulations. Thereafter, the right to vote was reduced to 21. In 1964 the Landeskirchentag was renamed the State Synod. The continuous counting was retained.

The presidents of the regional church congresses and regional synods since 1869

designation	Year of the meetings or legislative periods	president
I. Regional Synod	1869	Gustav of Duvernoy
II. Regional Synod	1875/1878	Gustav of Duvernoy
III. State Synod	1886	D. Karl von Riecke
IV. Regional Synod	1888	D. Karl von Riecke
V. Regional Synod	1897	August von Landerer
VI. State Synod	1900/1901	August von Landerer
VII. Regional Synod	1907/1911	Hermann von Zeller
VIII. Regional Synod	1912 1913/1919	Hermann von Zeller Karl von Haffner
Regional Church Assembly	1919-1924	Karl von Haffner
1. Landeskirchentag	1925-1931	Hermann Röcker
2nd State Church Congress	1931/1932	Hermann Röcker
3rd State Church Congress	1933, 1939-1941, 1943, 1946	Karl Steger Edmund Rau
State Synod of the DC	1934	Eberhard Krauss
4th State Church Congress	1948-1953	Paul Lechler jun.
5th State Church Congress	1954-1959	Paul Lechler jun.
6th Regional Church Congress 6th Regional Synod	1960-1964 1964-1965	Heinz Autenrieth
7th regional synod	1966-1971	Oskar Klumpp (resignation October 17, 1968) Hans von Keler (from January 20, 1969)
8th regional synod	1972-1977	Hans Eissler
9th regional synod	1978-1983	Helmuth Flammer († 1980) Martin Holland (from 1981)
10th regional synod	1984-1989	Oswald Seitter
11th regional synod	1990-1995	Oswald Seitter
12th regional synod	1996-2001	Dorothee Jetter
13th regional synod	2002-2007	Horst Neugart
14th regional synod	2008-2013	Christel Hausding
15th regional synod	2014-2019	Inge Schneider
16th regional synod	2020-2025	Sabine Foth

Administration of the regional church

Upper church council and administrative hierarchy

The regional bishop has his official seat in Stuttgart. He is the chairman of the Upper Church Council, a collegial body that, in accordance with the constitution of the regional church, heads the regional church together with the synod. This college, which is, as it were, the government (executive) of the regional church, includes the regional bishop as his legal deputy, the director of the Evangelical Upper Church Council , since 2017 Stefan Werner, the four prelates, and the seven department heads (they have the title " Upper Church Council ") on. The employees of the collegial authority manage the regional church in the upper church council as the highest administrative authority of the regional church. The main personnel decisions are made by the regional church committee , in which the regional bishop, synodal president and synodal members are represented. Objections to decisions by the highest church authority can be lodged with the Württemberg Church Administrative Court, but not with the EKD .

In the administrative hierarchy, the regional church is structured from bottom to top as follows: At the base are the parishes as corporations under public law with elected parish councils. Several parishes together form a church district or parish (in general administration comparable to a district ), at the head of which is a dean ( superintendent in most other regional churches ). The church district of Stuttgart, formed in 2008 by the union of the four church districts of the city of Stuttgart , still has four deans. Furthermore, the church district of Ravensburg had two deans between 1992 and 2003, one of whom acts as co-dean. The church districts or church districts are also corporations under public law and have the district synod or church district synod as a body, the members of which are appointed by the respective parishes. Several church districts or church districts together form a prelature , also called Sprengel (in general administration comparable to an administrative district ), at the head of which is the prelate (formerly general superintendent ). This administrative level has no body. The four prelatures together form the regional church ( comparable to the state in terms of general administration ).

Prelatures

The prelatures (also called Sprengel) are the areas of the four prelates of the regional church. They are named after their place of work (Heilbronn, Reutlingen, Stuttgart and Ulm). The prelates perform the duties of regional bishop, including a. Visiting the deanery offices and church districts, pastoral care among the pastors and helping to fill the parish parish posts again.

Today's prelate office dates back to 1551. At that time general superintendents were installed. These initially had no permanent office. Rather, certain clergymen were entrusted with the special tasks that they had to do in addition. Initially, there are four general superintendents. They were named with the places Adelberg, Bebenhausen, Denkendorf and Maulbronn. In 1806 Heilbronn was established as the fifth generalate. In 1810 the generalates Adelberg, Bebenhausen and Denkendorf were abolished and four new generalates Tübingen, Ulm, Öhringen-Schöntal and Urach were established. In 1823 the generalates Öhringen-Schöntal and Urach were abolished and Schwäbisch Hall, Reutlingen and Ludwigsburg were rebuilt, so that from 1823 there were six generalates. In 1913, the number of prelatures was reduced to four, as the Schwäbisch Hall and Tübingen prelatures were repealed by the royal resolution of March 16, 1913 by April 1, 1913. There were further changes in 1933, 1956, 1992 and 2003, so that there are still four prelatures today.

The following overview shows the change in the number and designation of the generalates and prelatures:

• until 1806: Adelberg, Bebenhausen, Denkendorf, Maulbronn
• 1806: Adelberg, Bebenhausen, Denkendorf, Heilbronn, Maulbronn
• 1810: Heilbronn, Maulbronn, Öhringen-Schöntal, Tübingen, Ulm, Urach
• 1823: Heilbronn, Ludwigsburg (instead of Maulbronn), Reutlingen (instead of Urach), Schwäbisch Hall (instead of Schöntal), Tübingen , Ulm
• 1913: Heilbronn, Ludwigsburg, Reutlingen, Ulm
• 1933: Heilbronn, Ludwigsburg, Stuttgart, Ulm
• 1956: Heilbronn, Reutlingen, Stuttgart, Ulm
• 1992: Heilbronn, Ludwigsburg , Reutlingen, Stuttgart, Ulm
• 2003: Heilbronn , Reutlingen , Stuttgart , Ulm

Church districts or church districts

Boundaries of the prelatures (thick lines) and church districts (narrow lines)

Since January 1, 2020, the four prelatures have been divided into a total of 44 church districts or church districts. Most of them are congruent with the deaneries. Only the church district of Stuttgart still consists of four deanery districts. Furthermore, between 1992 and 2003 there were two deanery districts in the Ravensburg church district, Friedrichshafen and Ravensburg. In the merged districts of Bad Urach-Münsingen 2013, Calw-Nagold 2019, Weinsberg-Neuenstadt 2020 and Vaihingen-Ditzingen 2020, a transitional arrangement was made with initially two deans.

The church districts or church districts are corporations under public law and as such can be responsible for institutions and employ employees themselves.

At the beginning of the 19th century there were 49 church districts in the Württemberg regional church. On April 1, 1951, the Schwäbisch Gmünd parish was established from parishes in the Aalen, Gaildorf and Welzheim parishes and on January 1, 1965, the Zuffenhausen parish was established from parishes in the Bad Cannstatt parish. On January 1, 1976, the Langenburg parish was merged with the Blaufelden parish. As a result of the increase in population in the Stuttgart area, as well as due to the community reform in the 1970s, two new church districts, Ditzingen and Bernhausen, were established there and the Welzheim church district dissolved. With effect from January 1, 1978, the parishes of the Welzheim parish were divided into the neighboring parishes of Schorndorf, Schwäbisch Gmünd and Backnang, and the Ditzingen parish was newly formed from parishes of the Leonberg and Ludwigsburg parishes. On January 1, 1981, the parish of Bernhausen was finally established from parishes of the parishes of Degerloch, Esslingen and Nürtingen. So there were a total of 51 church districts by 2007. With effect from January 1, 2008, the four church districts of the city of Stuttgart (Stuttgart, Bad Cannstatt, Degerloch and Zuffenhausen) were combined to form the church district of Stuttgart. This reduced the number of church districts or districts to 48. Due to the merger of the districts of Bad Urach and Münsingen in 2013 and the districts of Calw and Nagold on January 1, 2019, the number decreased to 46. Due to the merger of the districts of Vaihingen and Ditzingen as well as the districts of Weinsberg and Neuenstadt as of January 1, 2020, the number decreased to 44.

The four prelatures and 44 church districts or church districts:

Heilbronn Prelature (14) Backnang Blue heroes Brackenheim Crailsheim Gaildorf Heilbronn Künzelsau Mühlacker Öhringen Schorndorf Schwäbisch Hall Waiblingen Weikersheim Weinsberg-Neuenstadt church district Weinsberg-Neuenstadt, part of Weinsberg Weinsberg-Neuenstadt, part of Neuenstadt am Kocher

Reutlingen Prelature (12) Bad Urach-Münsingen Balingen Boeblingen Calw-Nagold church district Church district Calw-Nagold, part of Calw Calw-Nagold church district, part of Nagold Freudenstadt Herrenberg Leonberg Neuenbürg Reutlingen Sulz am Neckar Tübingen Tuttlingen

Prelature Stuttgart (9) Bernhausen Besigheim Esslingen Kirchheim unter Teck Ludwigsburg Marbach Nürtingen Church district Stuttgart consisting of the former church districts: Stuttgart center Bad Cannstatt Degerloch Zuffenhausen Church district Vaihingen-Ditzingen Vaihingen-Ditzingen, part of Vaihingen / Enz Vaihingen-Ditzingen, part of Ditzingen

Prelature Ulm (9) Bask Biberach an der Riss Blaubeuren Geislingen Goeppingen Heidenheim Ravensburg Schwäbisch Gmünd Ulm

Parishes

The 44 Church districts or church circles are approximately 1,250 churches divided. After the Second World War , new parishes emerged in predominantly Catholic areas due to the influx of Protestants, the area of ​​which can extend to several political parishes .

In individual cases - especially in cities - smaller parishes have meanwhile been merged into larger parishes. Now that the demographic change has led to a decline in church membership, parishes are likely to continue to merge, so that their number is likely to decrease further.

Hymn books

In the parishes of the Evangelical Church in Württemberg, the following hymn books were or are in use in the last few centuries :

• Württembergisches Gesang-Buch, containing a collection of Reiner and Krfftiger songs , Stuttgart 1741
• Wirtemberg hymnbook, for use in churches and schools , set up by the Royal Synod according to the needs of the present time, Stuttgart, introduced on June 14, 1791 or with the title "Hymnal for the Protestant churches and schools of the Kingdom of Württemberg"
• Hymnal for the Protestant Church in Württemberg , Stuttgart 1842
• Hymnal for the Protestant Church in Württemberg , Stuttgart, introduced in 1912, from 1936 with an “Appendix to the hymn book for the Protestant Church in Württemberg, ed. by regional church music director Wilhelm Gohl with the approval of the Protestant upper church council "
• Evangelical church hymn book (EKG), edition for the Evang. Regional church in Württemberg; introduced by resolution of Württemberg. Evang. Landeskirchentag of November 13, 1952 for Advent 1953
• Evangelical hymn book (EG), edition for the Evangelical Church in Württemberg, Stuttgart; Introduced on 1st Advent 1996, 2nd improved edition 2007

Youth work

The Evangelical Youth Office in Württemberg (EJW) is an umbrella organization for Protestant youth work in the area of ​​the Evangelical Church in Württemberg with its headquarters in Stuttgart. It works independently as a regional office on behalf of the Evangelical Church. Eichenkreuz is the proper name of the sports work in the Evangelical Youth Organization. Sports clubs in Württemberg also bear the name Eichenkreuz in their name.

Church closings

The churches that have been closed or rededicated in recent history include the following places of worship:

• Reutlingen , Leonhardskirche: consecrated in 1895, divorced in 2010
• Ulm , Paul-Gerhardt-Kirche: consecrated in 1957, dedicated in 2007, demolished in 2008
• Waiblingen , Nikolauskirche : sold to a Greek Orthodox parish in 2001
• The Martin Luther Church in Göppingen was sold to the Syrian Orthodox community Mor Jakob von Sarug eV in 2014 .
• The old village church of Göppingen-Bartenbach has been used as the Holy Cross Church by the Armenian Community of Baden-Württemberg since 1983 and became their property with a contract dated December 18, 2018.

further reading

• The Evangelical Württemberg - Its church offices and clergy from the Reformation to the present, collected and edited by Christian Sigel, pastor in Gebersheim, 1910
• Handbook for parish councilors , ed. on behalf of the Upper Church Council of the Evangelical Church in Württemberg, Stuttgart 2001
• Reformation history of Württemberg in portraits , ed. by Siegfried Hermle, Holzgerlingen 1999
• Southwest German Reformation History , ed. by Martin Brecht and Hermann Ehmer, Stuttgart 1984
• To build up and maintain the right salvation of the church. A history of the Evangelical Church in Württemberg , ed. by Gerhard Schäfer, Steinkopf, Stuttgart 1984, ISBN 3-7984-0590-5 .
• The Protestant Württemberg. Shape and history of the regional church , ed. by Ulrich Fick , Steinkopf, Stuttgart 1983, 2nd edition 1984 ISBN 978-3-7984-0578-3 .
• Baden-Württemberg Pastors' Book / ed. on behalf of the Association for Church History in the Evangelical Church in Baden and the Association for Württemberg Church History. Vol. 1-3. Karlsruhe: Publ. Evangel. Press association for Baden, 1979-1994.
• Hermann Ehmer: Small history of the Evangelical Church in Württemberg . DRW-Verlag, Leinfelden-Echterdingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-87181-708-3 .

Web links

Commons : Evangelical Church in Württemberg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website
• Association for Württemberg Church History
• Evangelical Community Gazette for Württemberg

swell

1. ^ Sabine Foth new Synod President. Evangelical Church in Württemberg, February 15, 2020, accessed on February 16, 2020 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b} Evangelical Church in Germany - Church membership numbers as of December 31, 2018 , ekd.de, accessed on February 29, 2020.
3. ^ Volker Trugenberger: Hohenzollern. In: Württemberg Church History online.
4. ↑ Antonia Lezerkoss: Church: Liturgy of the old Prussian way . Südwest Presse Online , February 3, 2017, accessed on February 18, 2018.
5. ↑ Peter Schwarz and Nils Graefe: 500 years of Reformation: Notes: ... Das Schmugglerwesen In: Zeitungsverlag Waiblingen , September 28, 2016
6. ↑ Karsthans Täbingen , tabingen.de, accessed on March 4, 2018.
7. ↑ Werner-Ulrich Deetjen: 700 years of the city of Ebingen - history in pictures Lectures on history . The kingdom of God at Ebingen - thoughts on its history and character. Printing and publishing house Daniel Balingen, Albstadt 1985.
8. ↑ Die Waldenser , waldenser.de, accessed on February 27, 2018.
9. ^ The Beck reform movement from 1712 to 1719 , baerenthal.de, accessed on February 27, 2018.
10. ↑ Austria
11. ↑ Sigrid Hirbodian , Andreas Schmauder and Manfred Waßner (ed.): Community in transition . Volume 19 A city in transition The history of Meßstetten. No. 19 . Tübingen 2019, p. 172 .
12. ^ History of Mägerkingen
13. ↑ See http://www.elk-wue.de/fileadmin/mediapool/elkwue/dokumente/beraten_und_beschlossen_3_2006.pdf
14. ↑ See archived copy ( memento of the original from March 6, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
15. ↑ ^{a b} Evangelical Church in Württemberg: Synod: New majorities make it exciting: "Living community" is losing - all other discussion groups are increasing , December 2, 2019, accessed on December 3, 2019.
16. ↑ Eichenkreuz Sports Club
17. ↑ Eichenkreuz Jugendwerk
18. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated May 7, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
19. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from October 5, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.