The Protestant Church in the Rhineland (; EKiR) is a United Protestant church body in parts of the German states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland and Hesse (Wetzlar). This is actually the area covered by the former Prussian Rhine Province until 1920.
The seat of the church is in Düsseldorf. The church leader is not called a "bishop", but a praeses (), and there is no cathedral. The Protestant Church in the Rhineland is a full member of the Protestant Church in Germany (EKD), and is a Prussian Union Church. The current praeses is Thorsten Latzel. The Evangelical Church in the Rhineland is one of 20 Lutheran, united, and Reformed churches of the EKD. As of December 2024, the church has 2,122,717 membersEvangelische Kirche in Deutschland – Kirchemitgliederzahlen Stand 31. Dezember 2024 EKD in 605 parishes. The Protestant Church in the Rhineland is a member of the UEK and the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe and also the Reformed Alliance.Reformiert-info.de The church runs a conference venue called Evangelische Akademie. It is a member of the Conference of Churches on the Rhine.
Some theological statements The theological teaching goes back on Martin Luther. The ordination of women is allowed. The blessing of same-sex marriages has been allowed by the synod and depends on the local church administration (, ).Landessynode 2016 – Trauung auch für Eingetragene Lebenspartnerschaften . Evangelical Church in the Rhineland, 15 January 2016.
History
The Protestant Church in the Rhineland emerged on 12 November 1948, when the Ecclesiastical Province of the Rhineland within the Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union gained independence as its own church body. The Protestants in Hohenzollern merged in 1950 with the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Württemberg, whilst retaining the previous old-Prussian order of service.Antonia Lezerkoss: Kirche: Liturgie nach alter Preußenweise. Südwest Presse Online, 3 February 2017, retrieved 18 February 2018.Dagmar Stuhrmann: Kirche: Ausstellung "Evanglisch in Hohenzollern" macht Halt in Ebingen. Südwest Presse Online, 26 January 2017, retrieved 18 February 2018.Hechingen: Ein Abschied voller Wehmut. Schwarzwälder Bote, 13 February 2013, retrieved 18 February 2018.
Legislative assembly and leaders The legislative assembly of the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland is the regional synod (Landessynode). The election of the synod is for four years. Since 1975 the synod meets annually in January in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler (before 1975 in Bad Godesberg). Its elected leader (praeses) is also leader of the church.
Praesides The legislative body, then called the provincial synod (Provinzialsynode), was already established when the Rhenish church still formed an ecclesiastical province of the Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union. The then praesides were only speakers of the synod but not the leaders of the ecclesiastical province. Instead this function was with the general superintendents. Since the ecclesiastical province assumed its independence each praeses is speaker of the synod and leader of the church. 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, praeses of the provincial synod 1948–1957: Heinrich Karl Ewald Held, praeses of the regional synod and leader of the church 1958–1971: Joachim Wilhelm Beckmann 1971–1981: Karl Immer 1981–1989: Gerhard Brandt 1989–1996: Peter Beier 1996–1997: vacancy Hans Ulrich Stephan, superior church counsellor and praeses per pro 1997–2003: Manfred Kock 2003–2013: Nikolaus Schneider 2013–2021: Manfred Rekowski 2013–present: Thorsten Latzel
Books Evangelisches Gesang-Buch Evangelisches Gesangbuch für Rheinland und Westfalen, Dortmund, 1883 Evangelisches Gesangbuch für Rheinland und Westfalen, Dortmund, 1929 Evangelisches Kirchengesangbuch, Edition for Churches in Rhineland, Westphalia and Lippe, Bielefeld, 1969
References
External links Evangelical Church in the Rhineland Protestant Church in Germany