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EKD Synod to convene in Hanover in November
Main agenda items: Council election and educational justice
October 11, 2010
The 11th Synod of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) is to meet from 7 to 10 November in Hanover. Federal President Christian Wulff and Charlotte Knobloch, chairperson of the Central Council of Jews, are expected to be among those attending the opening ceremony. "I am looking forward to the gathering of this Protestant governing body. Our faith gives us courage, comfort and orientation in a period full of unrest, concern and also annoyance. As Protestants we lead the church together, theologians, staff and also the laity. This interplay works well, offering space for good arguments and genuine community," asserts Synod President Katrin Göring-Eckardt. This session will concentrate on elections for the EKD Council and the election of the new Council chairperson, annual reports, budgetary debates and the main theme "No one must be lost! A Protestant plea for more educational justice".
On 7 November the opening service in Hanover's Market Church will be broadcast live on ZDF (the second German TV program). The preacher will be Hans-Hermann Jantzen, surrogate Bishop of Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover. President Nikolaus Schneider, acting EKD Council Chair, will present his report to plenary during the morning. Early on Sunday afternoon Synod President Katrin Göring-Eckardt will make her report. A discussion of the two reports will follow. The candidates for the Council elections will present themselves in the evening.
On Monday, 8 November, members of Synod will discuss the main theme "No one must be lost! A Protestant plea for more educational justice", which was agreed at the last synod in Ulm. After a Bible study led by Dr. Antje Fetzer, director of the department for Theology and Education of Diakonisches Werk Württemberg, there will be short inputs by Prof. Thomas Rauschenbach, director of the German Youth Institute in Munich, and Prof. Christoph Markschies, chair of the EKD's Advisory Commission on Theology and Professor for Ancient Church History at the Humboldt University, Berlin. The draft declaration on the main theme will be presented by Rolf Bade, a senior official in the Lower Saxon education ministry who chaired the preparatory committee. The 2011 budget will be debated on Monday afternoon.
Tuesday 9 November will see the election of two new members of the EKD Council and the new chair and deputy chair. The EKD Council has 15 members, lay and ordained, elected for a six-year term, 14 of whom are elected by both Synod and the Church Conference; the president of Synod is ex officio the 15th member. Synod and the Church Conference elect a Council chair and substitute from among their elected members. After the last election in Ulm in 2009 one place on the Council remained unfilled and another place is also free owing to the resignation of Dr. Margot Käßmann.
On Wednesday 10 November Synod will conduct the final deliberations on different church laws, adopt the budget for 2011 and the declaration on the main theme, and consider the motions from its standing committees. Synod will conclude at 8 pm with a communion service in St Elisabeth's Church in Langenhagen, at which the newly elected Council chairperson will preach. All newly elected members of synod and officers will be inducted during this service.
The EKD Synod comprises 126 members. 106 members of Synod are elected by the synods of the 22 member churches and the Council appoints another 20 leading figures of significance for the life of the whole church and the work of church institutions. Since the first session of the 11th Synod in spring 2009 there has been a linking of the EKD Synod, the General Synod of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany (VELKD) and the Assembly of the Union of Evangelical Churches in the EKD (UEK). The VELKD General Synod will meet from 4 to 6 and on 9 November and the UEK assembly on 9-10 November.
Hanover, 11 October 2010
EKD Press Office
Reinhard Mawick / Silke Römhild