North Elbian Synod Decides for New Bishop’s Office
Common Responsibility for the Future
RENDSBURG, Germany/GENEVA, 22 December 2006 (LWI) – A bishop will soon preside over the North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church (NELC). The NELC synod took this decision at their meeting in Rendsburg, Germany on 23 September. Bishops will, however, also preside over the churches’ Northern and Southern Dioceses, which are also to be established, following restructuring, in the near future. The three bishops will share their responsibilities.
The present church chairperson and bishop of the Diocese of Schleswig, Dr Hans Christian Knuth, described this decision as a well-balanced compromise. He said that this expressed an awareness of the fact that all those involved carry a common responsibility for the future viability of the church structures. Knuth added that adopting a model that is carried by a majority would be of benefit to all.
The NELC bishop will be elected for a period of ten years, and will be responsible for the spiritual leadership and supervision at the NELC. He or she will represent North Elbia in church matters, and before the state governments of Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg. The other bishops will provide spiritual leadership within their dioceses and will represent the NELC in church matters and public life within their regions, in coordination with the church bishop. They will continue to hold rights and responsibilities such as ordination and visitation. The current bishops’ collegium will give way to a bishops’ council to be led by the NELC bishop. The council will be active in deciding on and coordinating the tasks of the church.
The NELC bishop’s office will be located in Kiel, as it is attached to the seat of the North Elbian church office and the church leadership. The NELC bishop will, however, hold his or her sermons in Lübeck, thus increasing the importance of that city within the church.
The NELC is currently divided into three dioceses, Hamburg, Holstein-Lübeck, and Schleswig, each led by a bishop. Currently, Maria Jepsen is bishop of Hamburg, Bärbel Wartenberg-Potter bishop of Holstein-Lübeck, and Bishop Knuth bishop of Schleswig. They make up the NELC bishops’ collegium.
The members of the synod also decided to commence upon a process of spiritual renewal. The church leadership was assigned the task of presenting a plan for the process at the upcoming synod in February 2007. (390 words)
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