Ralf Meister

Ralf Meister in the Marktkirche in Hanover (2018)

Ralf Meister (born January 5, 1962 in Hamburg ) is a Lutheran theologian and since 2011 regional bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover . Since November 9th, 2018 he has been the leading bishop of the VELKD .

Live and act

Ralf Meister studied Protestant theology and Jewish studies at the Universities of Hamburg and Jerusalem . After completing his studies, he worked as a research assistant at the University of Hamburg.

From 1990 to 1992 attended master the Vicariate in Lauenburg / Elbe and 1992 to the service of a pastor in was Lutheran Evangelical Church Northelbian ordained .

After the vicariate, Ralf Meister became managing director of the university work center “Church for the City” in 1992. In 1996 he moved to the Kiel editorial team of the Evangelical Broadcasting Unit of the North German Churches. He became known to the listeners of the North German Broadcasting Corporation (NDR) in the broadcasting area of ​​the federal states of Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein through numerous contributions . Since 1999, Meister was also a member of the editorial team of the international ecumenical magazine Kunst und Kirche .

Ralf Meister demonstrates with Fridays for Future in Hanover (2019).

In 2001 Ralf Meister was called to Lübeck to take over the position of provost of the Lübeck parish of the North Elbe Church as the successor to Niels Hasselmann . Under his leadership, the parish was the first of the regional church to implement the parish reform and introduce large parishes. He also started the “Seven Towers” ​​fundraising campaign for the renovation of Lübeck's old town churches. Another focus of work was missionary offers for the city.

In 2001 Ralf Meister was also appointed one of the speakers for the Sunday Word on the First German Television (ARD), which made him famous throughout Germany.

On November 1, 2007, the Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia elected him general superintendent of the Sprengels Berlin, to which 800,000 parishioners belonged in 14 church districts of Berlin and in the outskirts of Brandenburg. Ralf Meister was introduced to his office as successor to Martin-Michael Passauer in a festive service in Berlin's Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church on Whitsunday, May 11, 2008 . At the same time Passauer was retired.

Ralf Meister (2013)

In autumn 2010, Meister was named as one of two candidates to succeed Margot Käßmann in the office of regional bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover . In the first ballot on November 24, 2010, Master won 39 of 76 votes (51.3%) of the votes; he would have needed a 2/3 majority to vote. The opposing candidate Wolfgang Gern withdrew his candidacy after the ballot, so that Meister remained the only candidate for the second ballot. In the second ballot, Master received 64 out of 76 votes (84.2%) and thus achieved the necessary two-thirds majority. He was introduced to the office of regional bishop on March 26, 2011 in the Marktkirche Hannover by the leading bishop of the VELKD , Johannes Friedrich . His successor in Berlin was the Hessen-Nassau theologian Ulrike Trautwein .

In view of the influx of refugees in 2015/16, Meister campaigned for the integration of immigrants and created living space for refugees in his bishop's office. He is one of the founders of the integration alliance “Lower Saxony tackles”.

He was sent by the Evangelical Church in Germany to the Commission for the Storage of Highly Radioactive Waste , which worked out criteria for the search for a repository until 2016.

Ralf Meister supports the climate protection movement Fridays for Future . At the meeting of the regional synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover on May 16, 2019, he interrupted his bishop's report to let activists of the movement take over the lectern.

As co-chair of the Meissen Commission, Meister is committed to a church fellowship between the Evangelical Church in Germany and the Church of England .

Ralf Meister is married for the second time and has three children.

Other offices / memberships

Through the office of the regional bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran regional church of Hanover

• Chairman of the Hanover Regional Church Office
• Chair of the Church Senate and the Bishops' Council of the Regional Church of Hanover.
• Chairman of the mission committee of the Evangelical Lutheran Missionswerk in Lower Saxony
• Member of the convent of the Loccum monastery
• Member of the supervisory board of the Diakonisches Werk in Lower Saxony
• Member of the board of trustees of the Protestant media work EMA
• Member of the Council of the Confederation of Protestant Churches in Lower Saxony
• Member of the Bishops' Conference of the VELKD
• Member of the EKD church conference

Further

• since 12/2011: Chairman of the Council of the Confederation of Protestant Churches in Lower Saxony .
• since 12/2012: Member of the supervisory board of the Association of Evangelical Journalism (GEP)
• from 2013 to 2017: Deputy chairman of the leadership group Reformation Anniversary 2017 of the EKD and DEKT
• Member of the commission to review the financing of the nuclear phase-out (KFK). Worked from October 2015 to April 2016
• Member of the Chamber for Sustainable Development of the EKD.
• From 2014 to 2016, representing the social groups a member of the Commission storage of highly radioactive waste (repository Commission) pursuant to § 3 site selection law .
• since April 1, 2016: Co-Chairman of the Meissen Commission of the EKD
• Since 2017:
• Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Denominational Institute (ki)
• Director of the Evangelisches Literaturportal eV
• Chairman of the Evangelical Scout Foundation.
• Chairman of the mission committee of the Ev. Lutheran Mission in Lower Saxony (ELM)
• Member of the Board of Trustees of the German Coordination Council of Societies for Christian-Jewish Cooperation (DKR)
• Member of the Board of Trustees for Studies in Israel
• Member of the advisory board for the theological academic year in Jerusalem
• Patron of the Federal Association of Church Education
• In 2018 Meister received the honorary title “Ecumenical Canon” from Ripon Cathedral through the Church of England.
• On November 9, 2018, Meister was elected Leading Bishop of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany ( VELKD ).

Works

• with Wolfgang Grünberg ; Dennis L. Slabaugh: Lexicon of the Hamburg religious communities: Religious diversity in the city from A - Z , Dölling and Galitz, Hamburg 1994, ISBN 3926174552
• with Thies Gundlach : Faith: a lexicon for young people , Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2001, ISBN 978-3-579-00853-0 .
• with Kai Eckstein: Judaism: the 100 most important dates , Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2003, ISBN 978-3-579-01387-9 .
• Accompanying my godchild (ed.) , Lutherisches Verlagshaus , Hannover 2011, ISBN 978-3-7859-1056-6 .
• Five minutes with God: Food for thought for every day (ed.), Neukirchener Verlagsgesellschaft , Neukirchen-Vluyn 2012, ISBN 978-3-7615-5967-3 .

literature

• Thomas Krüger u. a .: Who is where in the Evangelical Church? People and functions . Frankfurt am Main 1999, ISBN 3-932194-29-2

Web links

Commons : Ralf Meister  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Ralf Meister in the catalog of the German National Library
• Works by and about Ralf Meister  in the German Digital Library
• Website of the Hanover regional bishop
• Press office North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran. church
• Ralf Meister on the side of the Evang. Church Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Michael B. Berger: Two men want to inherit Käßmann . In: Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung of September 16, 2010, p. 5
2. ↑ Election of the regional bishop: Wolfgang Gern withdraws his candidacy after the first ballot , press release of the Evangelical Lutheran. Regional Church of Hanover from November 24, 2010
3. ↑ Ralf Meister elected as the new regional bishop , press release of the Evangelical Lutheran. Regional Church of Hanover from November 25, 2010
4. ^ Ralf Meister solemnly introduced as the new Hanoverian bishop , press release of the Evangelical Lutheran. Regional Church of Hanover from March 26, 2011
5. ↑ Simon Benne: Regional Bishop Meister criticizes the asylum debate. In: Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung. July 12, 2018, accessed June 9, 2020 . 
6. ^ Epd Landesdienst Niedersachsen-Bremen: New action alliance wants to work for refugees. Regional Church of Hanover, November 29, 2015, accessed on June 9, 2020 . 
7. ^ Commission for the storage of highly radioactive waste materials: final report. (PDF) German Bundestag, July 19, 2016, accessed on June 9, 2020 . 
8. ^ Regional Church of Hanover: Bishop's Report 6: Climate Protection Concept - Responsibility and Action. May 16, 2019, accessed June 9, 2020 . 
9. ↑ epd: "Churches in Europe should work together against hatred and divisions". Evangelical Church in Germany, June 22, 2019, accessed on June 9, 2020 . 
10. ↑ http://www.velkd.de/240.php
11. ↑ - ( Memento of March 8, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
12. ↑ http://www.landeskirche-hannovers.de/evlka-de/presse-und-medien/pressemitteilungen/konfoederation/2011/11/11-11-29
13. ↑ http://www.landeskirche-hannovers.de/evlka-de/presse-und-medien/nachrichten/2013/05/2013_05_27_2
14. ↑ https://www.bmwi.de/BMWi/Redaktion/PDF/E/ergaenzende-informationen-zur-kommission-zur-ueberpruefung-der-finanzierung-des-kernenergieausstiegs,property=pdf,bereich=bmwi2012,sprache=de , rwb = true.pdf
15. ↑ - ( Memento from January 7, 2017 in the Internet Archive )
16. ↑ https://www.bundestag.de/blob/434430/35fc29d72bc9a98ee71162337b94c909/drs_268-data.pdf , page 550
17. ↑ http://www.landeskirche-hannovers.de/evlka-de/presse-und-medien/nachrichten/2017/11/2017_11_16_3
18. ↑ Ralf Meister is the new leading bishop of the VELKD: Regional bishop of the Hanoverian regional church succeeds Nordkirchen bishop Gerhard Ulrich , VELKD press release of November 9, 2018, accessed on November 9, 2018

predecessor	Office	Successor
Martin-Michael Passauer	General Superintendent for Berlin 2008 - 2011	Ulrike Trautwein