Martin Schindehütte Is New EKD Bishop for Foreign Affairs
Martin Schindehütte is the new bishop for foreign affairs of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD). A former vice president of the church office of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover, he was officially installed as bishop and head of the EKD Department for Ecumenical Relations and Ministries Abroad by EKD Council Chairperson, Bishop Wolfgang Huber.
The installation took place during a eucharistic service at the Herrenhausen Church in Hanover, Germany, on 7 September. Schindehütte, 56, succeeds Bishop Rolf Koppe, 65, who retired at the end of August.
Schindehütte was born in 1949 in Kassel, Germany. He studied theology and social education in Wuppertal and Göttingen, Germany, and after ordination served as a parish pastor in the Evangelical Church of Kurhessen-Waldeck. In 1987, he began his tenure as dean of studies at the Protestant Academy in Hofgeismar, Germany. From 1992 to 1994, he was based in Hanover in charge of the EKD church office desk for foreigners and ethnic minorities, following which he led a diaconal ministry as head pastor. Since November 2002, he has been vice president of the Hanover church office. He and his wife have three children.
The EKD includes 23 Lutheran, Reformed, and United regional churches in Germany with a membership of some 25.6 million. (218 words)
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