Evangelical Church in the Rhineland is a liberal/mainline, united protestant church in parts of German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland . The seat of the church is in Düsseldorf. Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ... North Rhine-Westphalia (German: Nordrhein-Westfalen, usually shortened to: NRW) is - in population and economic output - the largest Federal State of Germany. ... The Rhenish Palatinate (Rheinpfalz, sometimes Lower Palatinate or Niederpfalz) occupies rather more than a quarter of the German Bundesland (federal state) of Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz) and contains the towns of Ludwigshafen, Kaiserslautern, Neustadt an der Weinstrasse, Pirmasens, Landau and Speyer. ... Saarland is one of the 16 states of Germany. ... Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and (together with Cologne and the Ruhr Area) the economic center of Western Germany. ...

It is a full member of the Evangelical Church in Germany EKD, and is a united Church. The leader of the church is Nikolaus Schneider (2006). The Evangelical Church in the Rhineland is one of 23 Lutheran, united and reformed churches of the EKD. The church has around 2,936,700 members (January 2006) in 809 parishes. The Evangelical Church in Germany (German Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland, abbreviated as EKD) is a federation of the 23 most important Lutheran, Reformed and United churches in their respective regions. ... The Evangelical Church in Germany (German Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland, abbreviated as EKD) is a federation of 24 Lutheran, Reformed and United churches in their respective regions. ... United can refer to: // United Airlines United Petroleum, an Australian fuel company. ... The Lutheran movement is a group of denominations of Protestant Christianity by the original definition. ... United can refer to: // United Airlines United Petroleum, an Australian fuel company. ... The Reformed churches are a group of Protestant denominations historically related by a similar Zwinglian or Calvinist system of doctrine but organizationally independent. ...

The Evangelical Church in the Rhineland is a member of the UEK. In Bonn the church has its own evangelical academy in Bonn-Bad Godesberg. Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany, located about 20 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia. ... Location of Bad Godesberg in Bonn Bad Godesberg became a municipal district of Bonn in 1969. ...

Some theological statements

The theological teaching goes back on Martin Luther. The Ordination of women is allowed, the blessing of same-sex unions has been allowed by the synod and depends on the local church administration. Martin Luther (November 10, 1483 – February 18, 1546) was a German monk,[1] priest, professor, theologian, and church reformer. ... There are a variety of positions on the ordination of women among different religions, sects and denominations within each religion. ... The blessing of same-sex unions is a practice officially sanctioned in some parishes of the Anglican Church of Canada and the Episcopal Church in the USA. It is also, according to the current Anglican Primate of Canada, widely practised in parishes of other churches of the Anglican Communion, without...

Synod (=Landessynode)

The election of the synod is for four years. The elected leader (=Präses) of the "Landessynode" is also leader of the church.

Leading persons in history

The leading organ of the church is the synod, which meats each year in January since 1975 in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler (before 1975 in Bad Godesberg). Categories: Districts of Rhineland-Palatinate ...

Leading person is the "Präses", which is elected from the synod.

• 1835 - 1846: Franz Friedrich Gräber
• 1847 - 1851: Georg August Ludwig Schmidtborn
• 1853 - 1860: Johann Heinrich Wiesmann
• 1862 - 1864: Johann Karl Friedrich Maaß
• 1865 - 1877: Friedrich Nieden
• 1877 - 1888: Stephan Friedrich Evertsbusch
• 1890 - 1893: Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand Kirschstein
• 1893 - 1898: Valentin Umbeck
• 1899 - 1905: Friedrich Wilhelm Schürmann
• 1908 - 1912: Albert Hackenberg
• 1914 - 1917: Georg Hafner
• 1919 - 1932: Friedrich Walter Paul Wolff
• 1932 - 1934: Friedrich Schäfer
• 1934 - 1935: Paul Humburg
• 1935 - 1948: Friedrich Horn
• 1948 - 1957: Heinrich Karl Ewald Held
• 1958 - 1971: Joachim Wilhelm Beckmann
• 1971 - 1981: Karl Immer
• 1981 - 1989: Gerhard Brandt
• 1989 - 1996: Peter Beier
• 1996 - 1997: Hans Ulrich Stephan, Oberkirchenrat und amtierender Präses
• 1997 - 2003: Manfred Kock
• 2003 - today: Nikolaus Schneider

Books

• Evangelisches Gesang-Buch
• Evangelisches Gesangbuch of Rhineland and Westfalia, Dortmund 1883
• Evangelisches Gesangbuch of Rhineland and Westfalia, Dortmund 1929
• Evangelisches Kirchengesangbuch, Edition of churches in Rhineland, Westfalia and Lippe, Bielefeld, 1969

External links

• http://www.ekir.de/ (Evangelical Church in the Rhineland)
• http://www.ekd.de (Evangelical Church in Germany)