Church district Berlin city center
The parish of Berlin city center belongs to the Sprengel Berlin Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Oberlausitz . The church district comprises around 90,000 parishioners in 27 parishes or parish districts and corresponds in area to the Berlin district of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg , the districts of Mitte , Prenzlauer Berg , Moabit and Hansaviertel as well as parts of the districts of Tiergarten and Charlottenburg .
The church district was formed in 1998 from five formerly independent church districts. Three of them were in the former eastern part (Friedrichshain, Stadt I and Stadt III), two - namely Kreuzberg and Tiergarten-Friedrichswerder - were in the former western part of the city. The Tiergarten-Friedrichswerder parish was created by resolution of the regional synod as part of the reorganization of church districts on January 14, 1975 from the old Friedrichswerder parish. The aim of the merger in 1998 was to bring together different influences from East and West and to bundle human and financial resources. In the church district there are 47 Protestant church buildings, including the medieval St. Mary's Church in the former Marienviertel, the Berlin Cathedral on Museum Island and the French Cathedral on the Gendarmenmarkt .
organization
The organization of the church district is based on Articles 39–65, which the regional church has laid down in its constitution.
Superintendent
The church district is headed by a superintendent . He exercises direct supervision over the ordained employees of the church district. A sermon assignment is tied to the superintendent's office. Bertold Höcker has held the position since November 1, 2009 .
District Synod
As provided by the constitution, the highest organ of the church district is the district synod, which is elected every six years. It includes the members of the parishes of the church district elected by the parishes and appointed by the synod, as well as the superintendent . The number of honorary members of the district synod must be higher than that of full-time members. The district synod of the Berlin Stadtmitte church district meets twice a year, always shortly before the respective state synod , decides on the budget and staffing plan and elects the district church council. The district synod is chaired by a praeses elected from among its members and two vice-presidents who together form the presidium. The current president is Fabian Eidtner.
District Church Council
The district church council leads the church district and represents it in legal matters. He performs the tasks of the district synod between its meetings. In its monthly meetings it advises on all important events and developments in the church district. He participates in the filling of positions in the church district, regulates the supervision of the employees of the church district, manages the assets of the church district, manages its budget and supervises the asset and financial management of the parishes. In all questions he works closely with the church administration office responsible for the church district . He regularly reports on his work to the district synod. The superintendent is the chairman of the district church council.
administration
In order to relieve the church district and the parishes, the administration was organized centrally. Since January 1, 2012, all administrative tasks have been taken over by the Church Administration Office Berlin Mitte-Nord. It is responsible for the church districts Berlin Nord-Ost, Reinickendorf , Berlin Stadtmitte and for the Reformed parishes in Berlin-Brandenburg. The chairman of the office is Thomas Franken.
Fields of work
Worship and spirituality
The parishes in the church district of Berlin Stadtmitte take advantage of various occasions and forms of celebrating church services . In addition to the Sunday services, this includes services in the rhythm of life - for baptisms , confirmations , weddings and funerals . Many congregations have also created target group-oriented services.
The field of spirituality includes initiatives, joint actions and offers with regard to Christian belief , lived spirituality, Christian community and the question of God . The parishes of the church district set different priorities here. The critical examination of the content of Christian teaching , the dialogue with other forms of faith, the interreligious dialogue as well as the dialogue with doubters, seekers and non-believers are important topics in some communities. Forms of work are faith courses, discussion groups, dialogue forums and groups on spiritual topics.
The church district therefore also has its own officer for Christian spirituality and an educational officer. Together they have developed a wide range of educational opportunities that introduce the expressions of Christian spirituality and support existing spirituality. The church district is a sponsor of the Christian Spirituality Network.
The city monastery Segen in the middle of the trendy district of Prenzlauer Berg has developed into a prominent place with regard to offers on Christian spirituality . Hourly prayers and meditative exercises are part of the regular offer. So-called “oasis days” and meditative evening celebrations take place under the roof of the Kaiser-Friedrich-Gedächtniskirche in the Hansaviertel .
Help for the next
The Diakonisches Werk Stadtmitte is the sponsor of numerous social projects, for example the project district mothers or a sponsorship program for children of parents with addictions. The Diakonie welfare stations take care of home nursing, care and help in everyday life, conduct pastoral care and offer advice. The stations have received several awards for the quality of their services.
Emergency overnight stays, clothing stores, soup kitchens, the Berlin project Laib und Seele and other offers of help for people in need are run by full-time and voluntary employees of the communities. Homeless people and people who have to get by on little money will find 15 cultural and artistic offers in the Gitschiner Center that they can use free of charge. The Center Gitschiner 15 is a project of the Kreuzberg parish Heilig-Kreuz-Passion and is financed exclusively through donations.
Volunteer work
Church lives in a special way by people who volunteered their time and labor volunteer to provide. A separate project center in the Stadtmitte church district develops an extensive, free advanced training program for volunteers every year.
Music in churches
There is a permanent church musician working in almost every congregation . Accordingly, there are one or more church choirs or cantories in many communities . In total, more than 1,300 adults and children sing in community choirs in the Stadtmitte church district. There is a singing school for children in the Berlin Cathedral and in the Gethsemane Church. The ten trumpet choirs of the church district have more than 150 members.
Many churches have large and well-functioning organs, often from the years of reconstruction, but also some romantic instruments, such as the Sauer organ in the Berlin Cathedral and the American Hook organ in the Holy Cross Church . One of the restored instruments is the Kern organ in St. Mary's Church.
Offers for children
A total of 29 day-care centers run by Protestants are located in the area of the church district. Most of them have come together to form a central daycare association with its own management. In addition, the day-care center association is committed to promoting the employment of men in day-care centers.
Culture and education
The cultural foundation in the St. Matthäuskirche at the Berlin Kulturforum promotes the constant dialogue between church, theology and the arts. The three Protestant schools work closely with church parishes. Wille gGmbH is a diaconal education and employment agency. The focus of the work lies in the area of further education and training, the education and promotion of young people in cooperation with schools, the implementation of vocational training and employment measures. In addition, Wille offers qualification programs at Berlin schools and prisons. With the working group Cross Roads - Berlin with different eyes , the church district offers city walks and church tours.
graveyards
The municipalities of the Stadtmitte church district include 44 cemeteries, which are spread across the entire city. This means that the city center parish has the greatest density of cemeteries in the entire area of the regional church. For this reason the parish has decided to form the Evangelical Cemetery Association Berlin Stadtmitte (evfbs) - the first cemetery association in the area of the regional church. Pastor Jürgen Quandt was the managing director until 2019. Since February 2009, the association has been managing, developing and advising around 40 of these cemeteries independently. The cemeteries include the most historically significant and oldest still preserved in the city, including the cemeteries in front of the Hallescher Tor in Kreuzberg and the Dorotheenstädtische Friedhof in Chausseestrasse in Mitte . In the area of the church district Berlin Stadtmitte there is also the office of the Foundation for Historical Cemeteries and Cemeteries. The foundation is also the sponsor of the new nationwide network project www.wo-sie-ruhen.de , an audio-virtual guidance system for historical cemeteries as an app.
Innovative usage concepts
Some congregations have developed innovative concepts and events for new, additional uses for their churches. After extensive construction and renovation work, the Church of the Holy Cross is also used as a cultural and social center. Church services and concerts take place in the Passion Church , as well as the distribution of lens funds to those in need in the Loib and Soul project, the Church of the Resurrection also serves as an ecological advisory and educational center, the St. Elisabeth Church is temporarily used as an event location, the Reformation Church is used by the convent at the Reformation Church as a neighborhood-related culture and event center and the Blessed Church houses a city monastery of the Don Camillo community .
Parishes in the parish of Berlin Stadtmitte
The following parishes belong to the parish of Berlin Stadtmitte:
_Seiteneingang.JPG)
_-_AMA_fec.jpg)
.jpg)
_Altarraum.jpg)
1.JPG)
.JPG)
See also
Web links
- Church district Berlin city center
- Protestant day-care centers in Berlin Stadtmitte
- Diakonisches Werk Berlin Stadtmitte
Individual evidence
- ↑ Official Journal of the EKiBBB 3/1975, pp 34-35
- ^ Church constitution : Basic order of the Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia
- ↑ District Synod of the Berlin City Center Church District
- ^ Church administration office Berlin-Mitte-Nord
- ↑ Christian Spirituality Network
- ^ Project Loaf and Soul
- ^ Center Gitschiner 15
- ^ Website of the parish Heilig-Kreuz-Passion
- ↑ Hook organ
- ↑ Kulturstiftung St. Matthäus
- ↑ The will
- ↑ Berlin with different eyes - Cross Roads
- ↑ Evangelical Cemetery Association Berlin Stadtmitte
- ^ Farewell to Jürgen Quandt
- ↑ Foundation for historic churchyards and cemeteries in Berlin-Brandenburg ( Memento of the original from January 21, 2012 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.
- ↑ Nationwide audio-virtual guidance system for historical cemeteries
- ↑ Loaf and Soul Project
- ^ Convent at the Reformation Church: Refo Moabit - Church in the Kiez e. V.
- ^ Stadtkloster Segen - a project of the Don Camillo Community and the Prenzlauer Berg Nord parish
- ↑ The internet representations of the individual municipalities are stored in the interactive graphic above. The graphic created as a PDF version can be opened by double-clicking and then enlarged to an easily readable format.
