Bishop Andreas Stökl of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Georgia Dies
Rev. Dr Andreas Stökl, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Georgia (ELCG), died at the age of 67. The pastor from Hamburg, Germany, suffered sudden heart failure on 2 May during the meeting of the Bishops' Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia and Other States (ELCROS) in Omsk, Siberia.
Stökl was elected bishop by a vast majority, and installed into office at the Sixth ELCG Synod in September 2004. He succeeded Bishop Dr Gert Hummel, a theologian from Württemberg, Germany, who died in March 2004 after assuming office in 1999.
Stökl had already been active in work for ELCROS, even before retirement from service as a pastor of the North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hamburg just under two years ago.
The Lutheran parishes of Georgia, which can be traced back mainly to Swabian immigrants who left Württemberg at the beginning of the 19th century, today make up a growing church, which enjoys a lively congregational life with regular worship services, Bible study, and a youth program. It is an autonomous regional church of ELCROS. (189 words)
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