Renate Augustin

Renate Augustin , b. Steffen (born January 18, 1940 in Hamburg ) is a German Evangelical Lutheran church helper who had to give up her learned profession as a pastor's wife and instead volunteered and received several awards for it.

Live and act

parents house

Renate grew up as the daughter of the Eilbeck pastor Dr. Gregor Steffen (1909–1999), who had to leave Hamburg as a member of the Confessing Church after studying and serving as an assistant preacher in Hamburg . In Otterndorf in Hanover , he found a job as a pastor and met his future wife there. At the intervention of Pastor Julius Hahn, Gregor Steffen came to the Reconciliation Church in Hamburg-Eilbek in 1938 as the successor to Pastor Paul Jürß .

In 1943 the family in Hamburg was bombed out, while the father was a soldier in Norway and Denmark. There he had the opportunity to write his doctoral thesis on Nikolai Grundtvig , the Danish theologian. The mother moved with three small children to live with grandmother in Otterndorf. It was not until 1949 that the family was able to move into a small apartment again in Hamburg-Barmbek . There Renate took part in active community life: in the children's choir, the young crowd , in confirmation classes and then in the youth group with a popular mission in the district of the rebuilt houses.

The pastorate in the Eilbektal was rebuilt in 1955; so the family had their real home again. Influenced by the family and the parish, Renate wanted to become a parish assistant (parish teacher).

education

Inspired by the connections between the Eilbeck congregation and the Leipzig mission and later with the Breklum missionary work, Renate Steffen went to the catechetical seminary in Breklum in 1959 and lived in the Martineum. The leader of the seminar was Pastor Karla Mack, and the lecturers were pastors from the area. Renate acquired fundamental biblical knowledge. The subjects included z. B. Biblical studies, exegesis, church history, choir direction, etc. a. in order to later lead confirmation classes, youth groups and women's groups in the communities.

After a year in Breklum, a six-month internship in a parish was part of her training, in her case in Rendsburg at the Christkirche. There Renate met her future husband in the choir, who was studying as a vicar at the Mission Academy in Hamburg. The seminar was reluctant to see the engagement. A church worker shouldn't be married.

The training ended after another year with the exam and subsequent year of recognition in Hamburg-Barmbek. At the end of this year Renate received a certificate with the comment: “We are sorry that Miss Steffen is getting married. It is a shame that her catechetical talent is not being used in this way. ”As a pastor's wife, she was not allowed to work.

After the year of recognition, the mission service for Renate's class took place in Breklum in 1962, and Ms. Mack said: “I will not send you out into marriage.” The mission service was also accompanied by the handover of the diploma. Renate did not get a certificate, although she had successfully passed the entire training. At that time it hardly bothered Renate, because she wanted to be a pastor's wife. Her father married Renate with Hermann Augustin in 1962 in their home church, the Eilbeck Reconciliation Church.

Pastor's wife in North Schleswig (1963–1973)

The community work in Feldstedt with the German minority in North Schleswig meant development work with great distances, summer camps with children and confirmands and bus trips abroad with confirmed people. A group of mothers met regularly in the pastorate under Renate's leadership. Three children were born in the house.

Pastor's wife in Blankenese (1973–1981)

In Blankenese Renate took over the youth group work with free time on the North Sea island of Röm . Under her leadership, young women met weekly in the mornings and older women in the afternoons to work for the big bazaar during Advent. Ms. Mack had meanwhile become the director of the women's work. After a serious traffic accident, Renate asked Ms. Mack for her reference in order to be able to apply as a community helper if necessary. Mrs. Mack was sorry for how it had gone back then and made sure that Renate got her certificate after all.

The fourth child was born in Blankenese.

Provost's wife in Ratzeburg (since 1981)

From 1981, when her husband became provost in the parish of the Duchy of Lauenburg and the family moved to Ratzeburg , new voluntary tasks were added. As a provost's wife, Renate Augustin invited the pastors' wives from the church district twice a year to discuss a topic and visited the pastorates where a child was born.

Through the connection to the Breklum Mission, Renate traveled twice with her husband to Papua New Guinea and once to Tanzania . There the missionary families in the different parts of the country were visited. She had conversations with the missionaries' wives.

As early as 1981, at the request of the youngest daughter, Renate started with two youth groups a week. This resulted in the first children's Bible week after six months of weekly preparation with a few mothers and confirmed young people. The daily program was worked out together, especially the telling of the biblical story. All children between eight and twelve years of age from the St. Petri Congregation were written to personally. Renate led the Children's Bible Week for three years.

When the pastor's position in the pastor's building yard was vacant, Renate took on confirmation classes for a few months.

The vacant position in the women's work was filled by Renate on a voluntary basis for two years, taking care of the world prayer day in the church district. To prepare, she went to Hamburg and to the maternal convalescent home in Büsum . For a few months she was also available in the women's office.

In 1985 Renate took over the “Ev. Frauenhilfe der Stadt Ratzeburg ”from the pastor's wife Anna-Gunda Otte, who she had to give up due to illness. There were monthly meetings with speakers and topics that Renate had developed himself. All areas of work were discussed in regular meetings: the distribution of letters from parents to firstborns throughout the city by fourteen volunteer helpers, the old people's club (later a meeting place) with two weekly meetings, four times a year smaller excursions into the area and once a year a full-day excursion for everyone Relief Society members.

From 1988 a visiting service in the hospital was added as a new branch of work . With great support from the nursing management, fourteen women began to go through the wards once a week. There was further training with external speakers and doctors from the company. The visiting service has now celebrated its 30th anniversary.

It soon became apparent that the hospital was missing a library. There were also volunteer women for this. In the beginning there were donated books. Later, new books could be purchased through donations and the women's aid funded a book trolley. Since then, two women have been walking through the wards twice a week and asking about reading requests.

Renate took care of the many employees of the association, e. B. with birthday visits. That was about 80 people. On her 75th birthday, Renate said goodbye to the work of the “Ev. Help for women in Ratzeburg ”.

Since her 80th birthday, her voluntary activities have been church tours in the St. Petri Church , visiting the hospital and birthday visits to older members of the St. Petri parish.

family

Renate Augustin is with Provost i. R. Hermann Augustin married. The couple have four grown daughters, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Awards

• Ansgar Cross of the North Elbian Church (January 23, 2000)
• Diakonie Crown Cross (January 18, 2015)

Publications

• Memories ... from the war and post-war period , in: Karl Ludwig Kohlwage, Manfred Kamper, Jens-Hinrich Pörksen (eds.): “What is right before God”. Church struggle and theological foundation for the new beginning of the church in Schleswig-Holstein after 1945. Documentation of a conference in Breklum 2015 . Compiled and edited by Rudolf Hinz and Simeon Schildt in collaboration with Peter Godzik, Johannes Jürgensen and Kurt Triebel, Husum: Matthiesen Verlag 2015, p. 105 f.
• Votes , in: Karl Ludwig Kohlwage, Manfred Kamper, Jens-Hinrich Pörksen (eds.): “What he tells you, do it!” The reconstruction of the Schleswig-Holstein regional church after the Second World War. Documentation of a conference in Breklum 2017 . Compiled and edited by Peter Godzik, Rudolf Hinz and Simeon Schildt, Husum: Matthiesen Verlag 2018, pp. 100 f., 105 f.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ https://www.kirche-hamburg.de/gemeinden/ev-luth-kirchengemeinde-eilbek-versoehnungskirche/ueber-uns/unsere-kirche/pastorinnen.html#c13982
2. ↑ https://www.ln-online.de/Lokales/Lauenburg/Unterhaltungen-am-Krankenbett-Ratzeburger-Besuchsdienst-hilft-seit-30-Jahren
3. ↑ https://www.kirche-ll.de/aktuelles/schaufenster/details/nachricht/ratzeburg-renate-augustin-erhaelt-das-kronenkreuz-18012015.html