Press Release Archive 2017

The church of the future must go to meet society with curiosity and openness. This is her conclusion from the 2017 Reformation anniversary year, Synod President Irmgard Schwaetzer told the Synod of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) in Bonn today.

Today sees the opening in Bonn of the Synod of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD). 120 members of synod from all over Germany will take stock of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation and examine the priorities of EKD activity for the coming years.

The beginning of the Reformation was an “act of liberation”, said Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, chair of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD). Martin Luther’s posting of his 95 Theses was liberating for Luther personally, for the church and for the world, Bedford-Strohm declared at the festive service in Wittenberg’s Castle Church.

Today, on 31 October 2017, people all over the world are remembering the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. Leading figures from churches, politics and society are meeting in Wittenberg for a service of worship, followed by a state ceremony, to mark the climax and conclusion of the 2017 anniversary of the Reformation.

Statement by Cardinal Reinhard Marx, chair of the German Bishops’ Conference, and Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, chair of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany, in the lead-up to the G20 summit on 7 and 8 July 2017 in Hamburg

Speaking at the traditional St John’s Day reception (22 June) of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) at Gendarmenmarkt, Berlin, EKD Council Chair Heinrich Bedford-Strohm argued strongly for a “rediscovery of Christian hope”.