Siegfried Kerstan

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Siegfried Kerstan (born August 14, 1928 in Schwentainen , Ortelsburg district , East Prussia ; † June 6, 2017 in Oldenburg ) was a German Baptist clergyman . From 1976 to 1985 he was general secretary on the governing body of his free church , the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches in Germany ( Baptist and Brethren congregations ).

Life

Siegfried Kerstan grew up in a pastor's family. He was the older of two brothers. His father, the East Prussian Baptist preacher Wilhelm Kerstan, started his first job in Schwentainen in 1927. In 1937 Wilhelm Kerstan and with him the family moved to Berlin-Neukölln . Siegfried's father was drafted into the Wehrmacht at the beginning of the Second World War . The brother Reinhold had been sent to Czechoslovakia from 1943 with teachers and classmates of the destroyed Lettow-Vorbeck-Gymnasium in Neukölln . Shortly before the end of the Second World War , Siegfried Kerstan received his draft at the age of seventeen. However, he saw the end of the war unscathed.

In 1949 Siegfried Kerstan was sent by the Baptist community in Berlin-Neukölln to study at the Baptist seminary . At that time, the training facility was based in Hamburg-Horn. A guest study at the international Baptist seminar in Rüschlikon ( Switzerland ) was integrated into his Hamburg studies . His thesis, with which he completed his training in 1953, he wrote with the church historian Herbert Stahl . It is entitled: Luther's view of the Holy Spirit . Further studies followed in Hamburg

After graduation, the Baptist congregation of the Bethel Church in Stuttgart called Siegfried Kerstan to her second pastor's position. Here he completed a three-year vicariate and after his official recognition as a clergyman of the Evangelical Free Churches Association in 1956, he stayed in the Stuttgart mother parish for two more years. In 1958, Kerstan moved to the now independent Martin Luther King Church in the Zuffenhausen district of Stuttgart , which had been a branch of the Bethel Church until November of the same year.

In 1960 Siegfried Kerstan entered a supra-church service for the first time. As a federal Sunday school caretaker , he took over the management of the Evangelical Free Church Sunday School Work , which he held until 1965. This was followed by a twelve-year pastor's service in the Oldenburg Baptist church . During this time the municipality of Oldenburg was able to build a new church. Instead of the building in Steinstrasse, the Kreuzkirche was built in Oldenburg-Eversten . Its inauguration took place on February 11, 1973.

After his community service in Oldenburg, he was Federal Director and General Secretary of the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches from 1976 until his early retirement in 1985.

Siegfried Kerstan was married to his wife Edith, née Müller, for 60 years.

Publications (selection)

  • Family devotions (together with Harald Becker). Oncken-Verlag : Kassel 1965
  • World baptism . In: A gentleman. A belief. A baptism. - 150 years of Baptist congregations in Germany (Ed. Günter Balders on behalf of the BEFG). Oncken Verlag: Wuppertal and Kassel 1985. pp. 277-284
  • The Lord's Supper . In: Eckhard Schaefer (ed.): But we preach Christ as crucified. The account of faith, preaching commented. Walter Zeschky in memory . Oncken-Verlag: Wuppertal and Kassel 2000. pp. 45-48

literature

Obituary. On the passing of Siegfried Kerstan . In: DIE GEMEINDE magazine (June 25, 2017 edition). Kassel 2017. p. 30

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Reinhold Kerstan: A German boy doesn't cry. Memories of that time . Oncken-Verlag: Wuppertal and Kassel 1982 (2nd edition). P. 15ff
  2. ↑ On the homepage of the historic Ortelsburg district you can find pictures of the preacher Wilhelm Kerstan, his family and the Baptist Church: Kreis-ortelsburg.info: Photos from the [Ortelsburg district image archive ]
  3. ↑ Bundeshaus (Ed.): List of preachers of the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches in Germany KdöR . Bad Homburg 1976. p. 42
  4. ↑ Reinhold Kerstan processed the experiences of this evacuation in his book A German Boy Doesn't Cry. Memories of that time . Oncken-Verlag: Wuppertal and Kassel 1982 (2nd edition). ISBN 3-7893-2243-1
  5. ↑ Reinhold Kerstan: A German boy doesn't cry. Memories of that time . Oncken-Verlag: Wuppertal and Kassel 1982 (2nd edition). P. 109
  6. ↑ Predigerseminar (Ed.): Festschrift for the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Preachers' Seminar of the Evangelical Free Churches (Baptists) in Germany . Hamburg-Horn 1955. p. 62
  7. ↑ It has been in Wustermark-Elstal near Berlin since 1997 .
  8. ↑ Michael Noss, Christoph Stiba: Obituary for Siegfried Kerstan's homecoming ( PDF online ). The international seminar was founded in Rüschlikon in 1948; from 195 it had its seat in Prague , since 2014 it has been in Amsterdam.
  9. ↑ Predigerseminar (Ed.): Festschrift for the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Preachers' Seminar of the Evangelical Free Churches (Baptists) in Germany . Hamburg-Horn 1955. p. 100
  10. ↑ Martin-Luther-King-Kirche.de: About us ; accessed on July 24, 2017
  11. ↑ Horst Wenzel and a. (Ed.): Mission and way. 1837 - 1987. 150 years of Ev.-Freikl. Oldenburg municipality . Oldenburg 1987. pp. 184ff
  12. ↑ Baptisten.de: Siegfried Kerstan died (June 9, 2017) ; accessed on July 24, 2017
  13. ↑ death notices NWZonline: Siegfried Kerstan ; accessed on August 5, 2017
personal data
SURNAME Kerstan, Siegfried
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Baptist clergyman
DATE OF BIRTH August 14, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH Schwentainen , Ortelsburg district , East Prussia
DATE OF DEATH June 6, 2017
Place of death Oldenburg