Conference of the Churches on the Rhine

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The Conference of Churches on the Rhine (KKR) ( French : Conférence des Églises riveraines du Rhin - CERR) was founded in Alsace in 1961 . It emerged from the cross-border reconciliation work of Protestant churches on the Upper Rhine. This resulted in a European conceptual work by now six countries along the Rhine (and the Moselle). It is one of the germ cells of the Community of Evangelical Churches in Europe (CPCE).

Emergence

Already twelve years before the signing of the Leuenberg Agreement, through which what would later become the CPCE in 1973, an association of churches had been formed along the Rhine that aimed for intra-Protestant, cross-border ecumenism. From a border river, the Rhine was to become a symbol of reconciliation in Europe. The 1961 conference in the Château du Liebfrauenberg in Gœrsdorf was not initially intended to be continued, but it had proven to be so productive that there were plans for the future. Three focal points emerged: annual conferences of representatives of the church leadership on current European issues (with their opportunity to meet and exchange), planning joint cross-border projects and (at the end of the 1970s) setting up and running an ecumenical secretariat at the European institutions in Strasbourg .

Members

  • Germany:
  1. Evangelical Church in Baden
  2. Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau
  3. Evangelical Church of the Palatinate
  4. Evangelical Church in the Rhineland
  5. Evangelical Church in Württemberg
  • France:
  1. Protestant Church of the Augsburg Confession of Alsace and Lorraine
  2. Reformed Church of Alsace and Lorraine
  • Austria:
  1. Evangelical Church HB in Austria
  • Liechtenstein:
  1. Evangelical Church in the Principality of Liechtenstein
  • Luxembourg:
  1. Evangelical Church of Luxembourg
  • Switzerland:
  1. Reformed Regional Church Aargau
  2. Evangelical Reformed Church of the Canton of Basel-Country
  3. Evangelical Reformed Church Basel-Stadt
  4. Evangelical Reformed Church in the Canton of Schaffhausen
  5. Evangelical Reformed Church of the Canton of St. Gallen

On May 31, 2008, the KKR, whose members are all also members of the CPCE, was reconstituted in Paris as a regional group of the Community of Evangelical Churches in Europe. She sees as one of her main tasks the discussion and implementation of social, ethical and human rights issues. In 2009, the KKR emphasized religious freedom as a human right and declared - with a view to Muslim and Christian countries: The religious communities must be “allowed to build and use dignified and appropriate places of worship”.

organization

President of the association is Christian Albecker , President of the Union of Protestant Churches of Alsace and Lorraine , General Secretary is Pastor Rudolf Ehrmantraut and Executive Secretary is Pastor Sören Lenz, who also heads the office of the Conference of European Churches in Strasbourg.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Website of the Prot. Conference Center Liebfrauenberg
  2. ^ Joachim Brandt: 50 Years Conference of the Churches on the Rhine ; Article of April 16, 2011; accessed on January 14, 2013.
  3. ↑ Newsletter of the International Association for Christian Education , No. 11, May 2018 , p. 7 (PDF).