Editorials

German worship in Florida

February 12, 2009

How many Germans are living in the state of Florida is unknown. The German consulate general in Miami estimates that around 100,000 Germans reside between Jacksonville and Key West on a permanent or semi-permanent basis. Great numbers of elderly Germans spend the winter months in places such as Naples, Orlando and West Palm Beach. There, these new "migrant" senior citizens encounter compatriots who had moved to America in the post-war period. However, the south Florida metropolitan area, Miami und Fort Lauderdale in particular, is increasingly becoming the destination of young families, who take up temporary or permanent residence there. Protestants in several localities have formed congregations that celebrate worship in German regularly.  Pastoral services are provided by retired German pastors as well as American clergy proficient in German.  Some of them drive several hundred kilometers on Sundays in order to preach in German in different locations.  One of them is 79-year-old Günter Apsel who for many years was involved in Men's Ministryat the Evangelical Church of Westphalia. In the Lutheran congregation of Coral Gables, a suburb of Miami, a German-speaking branch congregation has been formed. With support from the EKD and the Evangelical Church of Hessen and Nassau (EKHN), it has been possible to provide the congregation with a pastor from Germany. Frank Kopania, who has emigrated with his wife and two children for a five-year stay, was installed in his new ministry as the German pastor for south Florida on February 1.