The Evangelical Church in Germany, EKD for short, with 20.2 million believers in 20 regional churches, now also has elections – the council and then the council presidency will be redefined at the synod that has just begun. Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, bishop in Munich, who has been in office for seven years, will not run again. Age reasons, he is 61 years old, and others. Which will of course be talked about in one way or another, albeit with an evangelical voice. Out there in the country, not everyone understands that: r straight away. Following Luther’s motto is not something everyone should expect and not all 128 members of the Synod: Stand firm, shut up, stop soon.
However, it may be an advantage not to meet in person, in Bremen as planned, but to meet digitally. That forces it to be short and to the point. A corona case led to the move to the network; which is known to have long been a space for missions. And what a thing: It’s time for something substantial. So to speak clearly to the point and get to the core.
It’s hard, very hard. Society is turning away from the churches, Catholic as well as Protestant, secularization is advancing, as is the age development – and so over time there are fewer and fewer believers. The numbers will drop rapidly in the years to come – unless the church can think of something that will keep people going beyond their Christmas visit.
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This is made more difficult by the fact that parish offices are increasingly difficult to fill. Who is still studying theology? Who gets involved with the institution, the church system? Especially when the system reacts sluggishly. An example: Someone, called late, wants to become a pastor after studying theology, which is not exactly easy, is happy to offer himself – and does not hear anything for months. Result: he leaves it. Remains what it is. No church can be built on it.
Research into the causes of sexual violence is still in its infancy
But more than that, on the agenda is the still pressing and pressing issue of dealing with and combating sexualised violence against children. That sounds almost scandalous. Because it is by no means only affected by the Catholic Church. There was also sexual abuse among Protestants, for example in children’s homes in the post-war period. And a large study says that Protestants have almost as many cases as Catholics.
But no priests who live celibacy and have to follow a sexual morality that is as dubious as it is outmoded. But that alone does not protect against harm. The root cause research is still at the beginning. Those affected are invited to the Synod, thank God. After all, this is absolutely necessary against the gloomy background. To confess to mistakes and to learn from them is an evangelical Christian duty here too.
The farewell of the outgoing EKD council chairman, Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, falls out accordingly. Voran he is self-critical and at the same time dissatisfied with the slow processing. And indeed: the fact that the important “Advisory Board for Affected Persons” was suspended in the spring of this year, unilaterally by the EKD after only a few months, not only shocked the Federal Government’s Abuse Commissioner, Johannes Rörig, recently. His criticism resonates widely.
Whoever loses trust loses even more members than already
After all, the evangelical church has lost trust in society as a whole. And whoever loses trust loses even more members than already. The day comes when Protestants and Catholics together do not even represent half of the country’s population. What this can mean for social influence, for political and thus also for good works such as Diakonie and Caritas, is obvious: not every party will leave the church tax untouched forever. Fortunately for the churches, the traffic light negotiators have other things to do.
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The new management of the EKD is therefore called upon for several reasons to open up to a breath of fresh air of change. Fighting and dealing with abuse, for example, must expressly become a matter for the boss. Traditionally, the leading clergyman with the best election result is elected to the Council Presidency the next day. Kirsten Fehrs has long been considered a possible successor to Bedford-Strohm. The 60-year-old was recently confirmed in her office as Hamburg bishop and has been on the council since 2015. So far, the bishops Christian Stäblein from the regional church Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia and Tobias Bilz from Saxony have not been represented there. Whether Fehrs – from whom the Advisory Council concerned would have expected more in the past – or at least a man, such as Stäblein, who is surprisingly given opportunities internally: According to the Bible, Hebrews 10, they should encourage one another to do good works and ” do not leave our congregation, as some do, ”but admonish one another. The synodals in front of their computers understand the tone – the new Council Presidency must send a signal of departure.
