Synod of the Evangelical Church in Germany
The Synod of the Evangelical Church in Germany is an organ of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD). The tasks of the Synod are described in Article 23 of the EKD's constitution . It passes church laws and, together with the church conference, elects the EKD council.
According to Article 24 of the constitution, the synod has a total of 126 members. Of these, 106 synodals are elected by the synods of the 20 member churches, and the EKD council appoints a further 20 synodals with special consideration of personalities who are important for the life of the Church as a whole and the work of the church's works. Two deputies are elected or appointed for each synod. The synod's term of office is six years.
It meets once a year for almost a week, at the invitation of one of its member churches in a different German city. An extraordinary synod can be called upon request by 30 members. This was the case, for example, in 1971, 1973, 1974, 1980, 1985, 1997 and 2003. In 1991 there were even three meetings.
In addition, a total of eight youth delegates under 30 years of age take part in the synod each year, four of whom are sent by the Working Group of Evangelical Youth and two each by the Evangelical Student Congregation and the Student Mission in Germany .
The EKD Synod is chaired by the Presidium , headed by the Preses . Irmgard Schwaetzer has been president since 2013 , while Elke König and the Lutheran superintendent Andreas Lange are vice-presidents . The Presidium also has four assessors. The seat of the joint office of the Synod of the EKD, the full conference of the Union of Evangelical Churches and the General Synod of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany is located in the Church Office of the EKD . The head of the joint office has been Heidi Heine since 2010, who was in charge of the EKD synod office from 1989 to 2001.
Terms of office of the President
- 1949–1955: Gustav Heinemann
- 1955–1961: Constantin von Dietze
- 1961–1970: Hans Puttfarcken
- 1970–1973: Ludwig Raiser
- 1973–1985: Cornelius von Heyl
- 1985–2003: Jürgen Schmude
- 2003–2009: Barbara Rinke
- 2009–2013: Katrin Göring-Eckardt
- 2013– : Irmgard Schwaetzer
Important synods
The relationship to the Catholic Church in Germany was the subject of the 1985 synod in Berlin-Spandau . This was also a constituent meeting at the beginning of the new term of office.
The first all-German EKD Synod after the reunification of Germany began its term of office in 1991. Until 1997, this synod consisted of 134 elected and 26 appointed members - in contrast to the specified number - in order to take account of the special situation after the merging of the member churches of the FRG and GDR wear.
By resolution of the 10th Synod of the Evangelical Church in Germany on November 6, 2003 in Trier , the arbitration bodies for employee representation disputes were converted into church courts, whose tasks and responsibilities are described in Articles 32 and 32 c of the EKD's constitution.
In 2013 the Synod dealt with questions of world food and agriculture at its meeting in Düsseldorf under the title “There is enough for everyone”.