Kurt Heimbucher

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Kurt Heimbucher (born November 3, 1928 in Nuremberg , † July 24, 1988 in Nuremberg) was a German Protestant theologian (pastor) and President of the Gnadauer Verband .

Life

Kurt Heimbucher was born in Nuremberg as the son of Gottlieb Heimbucher (1904–1952) and Anna Heimbucher, née Stark (1904–1981), and grew up there. He had a brother. His confirmation in Nuremberg in 1943 had to be celebrated in the Christ Church, as the church of his home parish St. Leonhard was destroyed by bombs. In 1944 he became an anti-aircraft helper , and in 1945 he had to do his labor service for a short time in Carinthia before he was drafted into the armed forces and served in the war. He came into English and then American captivity, from which he was released to Nuremberg after a short time.

At the age of 17 years converted Kurt Heimbucher to faith in Jesus Christ . This resulted in the responsible collaboration in the YMCA in Nuremberg. In 1945 Heimbucher did an internship in a construction business, but in 1946 he went back to the secondary school in Nuremberg, which he graduated from high school in 1948. In 1947 he was briefly but intensely politically active and was chairman of the social and political working group of young Christians in Nuremberg.

From 1948 to 1952 Heimbucher studied theology in Erlangen , a. a. with Paul Althaus , Werner Elert , Walter Künneth and Eduard Steinwald . During this time he was shaped by Pietism , so that he called himself a "Lutheran Pietist". In 1952 Heimbucher took his first and in 1954 his second theological exam in Ansbach.

From 1952 to 1968 Heimbucher was first vicar, then an independent pastor in Nuremberg at the Luther Church . For a while he was called the club pastor because of his relationship with 1. FC Nürnberg . For many years he was on the board of the Bavarian YMCA and chairman of the district trumpet association (30 trombone choirs). He worked in the Evangelical Alliance in Nuremberg. In 1966 he was one of the founders of the “First Franconian Faith Conference” in Nuremberg.

From 1967 Heimbucher was a member of the main board of the German Evangelical Alliance , from 1968 chairman of the Evangelical Alliance in Nuremberg. From 1968 to 1974 he was parish priest at the St. Johannis Church in Nuremberg.

From 1971 to 1974 he was part-time president of the "Gnadauer Association for Community Care and Evangelism" (umbrella organization), then from 1974 until his death in 1988 he was the first full-time president of this association. At his instigation, in 1977 the “Gnadauer Whitsun Conference” was relocated from Frankfurt am Main to Siegen (Hammerhütte) and the “Gnadauer Zentrale” was founded in Dillenburg, as well as the appointment of the first general secretary, Theo Schneider.

From 1971 to 1988 Heimbucher was a member of the regional synod in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria, from 1979 to 1981 he was a member of the synod of the EKD.

He was the author of various theological statements on church, state and society and co-organizer of conferences, large-scale evangelizations and events. Heimbucher was a vehement opponent of the abortion practice in Germany and therefore refused to accept the Federal Cross of Merit in January 1988 .

In 1986 Heimbucher took early retirement due to his many serious illnesses. But he continued to be President of the "Gnadauer Verband" and was on the road as an evangelist and preacher. On July 24, 1988, he died of heart failure in his hometown of Nuremberg. His grave is in the cemetery of "St. Leonhard" in Nuremberg.

Works

  • Luther and Pietism . To all who seriously want to be Christians. Giessen 1983.
  • Signed - Kurt Heimbucher - Notes from my life. Wuppertal 1985.
  • Committed to the mission. The Gnadau community movement - characteristics, positions, perspectives. Giessen 1988.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kurt Heimbucher: He converted me . The Praeses of the Pietists: How I became a Christian. In: Evangelical news agency idea (ed.): IdeaSpektrum . No. 30 . Wetzlar 1988: “I was 17 years old when he named me as his successor. It was 1945. If you ask me: 'When were you converted?' I like to answer: 'He converted me - he gave me life'. "
  2. ^ Gerhard Ruhbach: Heimbucher, Kurt (1928–1988) . In: Helmut Burkhardt and Uwe Swarat (ed.): Evangelical Lexicon for Theology and Congregation . tape 2 . R. Brockhaus Verlag, Wuppertal 1993, ISBN 3-417-24642-3 , p. 889 .
  3. ↑ Fritz Laubach: Christian faith must prove itself in suffering . Diaconal leader Fritz Laubach, chairman of the German Evangelical Alliance. In: Evangelical news agency idea (ed.): IdeaSpektrum . No. 30 . Wetzlar 1988, p. 12 .
  4. ↑ Werner Paschko: Committed to the order . The Gnadauer community movement. Ed .: Kurt Heimbucher. Brunnen Verlag, Giessen 1988, ISBN 3-7655-5743-9 , p. 66 .
  5. ↑ Martin Kruse: Great consternation . EKD council chairman telegraphs to the brother of the Gnadauer praeses. In: Evangelical news agency idea (ed.): IdeaSpektrum . No. 30 . Wetzlar 1988, p. 12 .
  6. ↑ 10th anniversary of Heimbucher's death: A gifted pastor . In: Evangelical news agency idea (ed.): IdeaSpektrum . No. 30/31 . Wetzlar 1998.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Home booker, Kurt
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Protestant theologian and President of the Gnadauer Verband
DATE OF BIRTH November 3, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH Nuremberg
DATE OF DEATH July 24, 1988
Place of death Nuremberg