Lecturer (Protestant)
Lektoren (from the Latin lector , in German: "Readers", derived) describes on the one hand the office of delivering the readings for worship services. On the other hand, the term refers to lay people with basic theological qualifications who are involved in the public preaching of the word in Protestant churches .
Germany
The understanding of the office and thus also the rights and duties of the lecturer depend on the regional church regulations. In all regional churches, the reciting of the Gospel , Epistle and Old Testament readings is part of the task of the lecturers. Furthermore, in some regional churches, praying in divine services and reading pre- prepared reading sermons as commissioned by the church leadership are also part of it. However, this usually requires prior training. In many parishes , lecturers are also involved in the distribution of Holy Communion with the pastor . The administration of the sacraments (including the speaking of the words of institution at the Lord's Supper) is, however, the sole responsibility of the authorized persons.
Lecturers (and predicants ) are different offices with different areas of responsibility within the area of honorary preaching. What both have in common is the independent preparation and implementation of community (public) word services and devotions. The distinction between lecturers and predicants is not (yet) handled uniformly within the Evangelical Church in Germany . In general, editors are not authorized to freely proclaim the word (sermon) and not to administer the sacraments (to conduct the Lord's Supper) or to perform casual services (baptism, marriage, funeral). Exceptions to this rule are handled differently in the regional churches.
In the Evangelical Church in Württemberg , non-ordained parishioners are involved in the public proclamation of God's word. Appropriately trained and commissioned women and men can independently lead church services and preach in them. The lecturers are commissioned by the dean of the home church district and introduced to their service in a service. You're not wearing a gown . They are free to wear a coat album (without a stole ) specially designed for this service . Since November 1st, 2008 the lecturers (as in other regional churches) are called predicants.
Austria
The two Protestant churches in Austria ( AB and HB ) designate a person as a lecturer if, after completing a "lecturer's course", at the request of the presbytery of a parish, the responsible superintendent (HB: Landessuperintendent ) entrusts the proclamation in the service.
A distinction is made between three levels:
- Lecturer without sermon and sacrament administration : authorized to hold a “ reading sermon ” in the service, the liturgy must come from the agenda . In practice, this editor is not authorized to use his own formulations.
- Lecturer with permission to preach without administering the sacraments: may give a self-formulated sermon , which de jure has to be submitted to the pastor for review beforehand (but this rarely happens), but may not hold baptism or the Lord's Supper .
- Lecturer with permission to preach and administer the sacraments: This lecturer is allowed to give his own sermon as well as to use liturgical prayers he has made himself and to keep the Lord's Supper. Lecturers who have completed casuality courses are also allowed to baptize, marry and bury.
Differences to the pastor:
- The term of office of a lecturer is always limited to one electoral period, his authorization (s) expire with a new election of the community council (i.e. after six years at the latest), whereby a reappointment is possible at the request of the presbytery. The pastor's permission to preach freely and administer the sacraments expire only with resignation, death, resignation from the church or the valid recognition of the disciplinary senate's loss of office.
- Freedom of preaching: A lecturer is always restricted in his preaching freedom by the control function of the pastor, who is also entitled to change a sermon (or prayers) prepared by the lecturer; In this respect, the editor is bound by instructions (which, however, will rarely happen due to the honorary nature of the lecturer). A pastor is always free of instructions in his preaching activity.
- To make it easier for the congregation to distinguish between pastor and lecturer, pastors wear a high-necked gown with a small cap, lecturers wear a gown with a V-neck or a round neck without a small cap.
Individual evidence
- ^ Predicant order of the Evang. Regional Church in Württemberg
- ↑ For the entire “Section Austria”, “Regulations of the clergy” and “Lektorenordnung”, both can be found in the legal database: http://www.evang.at/ → “Texts” → “Legal database”, as of April 26, 2008.
literature
- Ernst Scheibe: Celebrate church service . Evangelische Verlagsanstalt 2001, ISBN 3-374-01893-9 .
- Evangelical service book . Pocket edition, Evangelische Haupt-Bibelgesellschaft 2005, ISBN 3-7461-0141-7 .
- Mathias Christiansen (ed.): Almanac of the good news - A companion through the church year . Publishing house Monsenstein and Vannerdat , Münster 2006, ISBN 3-86582-219-3 .
- Reiner Marquard : Living faith, shaping the church, celebrating worship . Calwer 2004, ISBN 3-7668-3867-9 .
- Marcel Schütz: Perspectives on parish, lecturer and predicant service in community service relationship determination . In: Deutsches Pfarrerblatt, 9/2006, pp. 471–474.
- Marcel Schütz: Annunciation and the reform process - ordination, calling and commissioning to speak and sacrament in honorary office . In: Deutsches Pfarrerblatt, 6/2007, pp. 308-312.
- Gunther Schendel: Volunteers in the preaching service - systemically relevant and open to new roles . SI-Compact 2-2020 [1]
