The United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany (German: Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands, VELKD) was founded on July 8, 1948, in

Eisenach Eisenach () is a Town#Germany, town in Thuringia, Germany with 42,000 inhabitants, west of Erfurt, southeast of Kassel and northeast of Frankfurt. It is the main urban centre of western Thuringia, and bordering northeastern Hesse, Hessian re ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Its total membership is 7.5 million people. All its member churches belong to the

Protestant Church in Germany The Evangelical Church in Germany (, EKD), also known as the Protestant Church in Germany, is a federation of twenty Lutheran, Reformed, and United Protestant regional Churches in Germany, collectively encompassing the vast majority of the count ...

, with which it co-operates closely. In 2018 it has been reduced from an independent legal entity to an administrative unit within the larger

. The seat of the VELKD is in

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

. The leading bishop (German: ''Leitender Bischof'') is Ralf Meister.

Leading Bishops of the VELKD

* 1948–1949: Wilhelm Henke * 1949–1955: Hans Meiser * 1955–1969:

Johannes Lilje Johannes (Hanns) Ernst Richard Lilje (20 August 1899, in Hannover – 6 January 1977, in Hannover) was a German Lutheran bishop and one of the pioneers of the ecumenical movement. Lilje was general secretary of the German Student Christian Moveme ...

* 1969–1975: Hans-Otto Wölber, Land Bishop of Hamburg * 1975–1978: Eduard Lohse * 1978–1981: Gerhard Heintze * 1981–1990: Karlheinz Stoll * 1990–1993: Gerhard Müller * 1993–1999:

Horst Hirschler Horst may refer to: Science * Horst (geology), a raised fault block bounded by normal faults or graben People * Horst (given name) * Horst (surname) * ter Horst, Dutch surname * van der Horst, Dutch surname Places Settlements Germany * Ho ...

* 1999–2005: Hans Christian Knuth * 2005–2011: Johannes Friedrich * 2011-2018:

Gerhard Ulrich Gerhard is Gerard, a name of Germanic origin and may refer to: Given name * Gerhard (bishop of Passau) (fl. 932–946), German prelate * Gerhard III, Count of Holstein-Rendsburg (1292–1340), German prince, regent of Denmark * Gerhard Barkhorn (19 ...

* since 2018: Ralf Meister

President of the Church Office of the VELKD

* 1949-1963:

Heinz Brunotte Arnold August Heinz Brunotte (11 June 1896, Hanover – 2 February 1984, Hanover) was a German Lutheran theologian. From 1949 to 1965 Brunotte was President of the Church Chancellery of the Evangelical Church in Germany (today: ''Deutscher Evangelis ...

* 1963-1967: Max Keller-Hüschemenger * 1968-1976: Hugo Schnell * 1976–1982:

Günther Gaßmann Günther, Guenther, Ginther, Gunther, and the variants Günter, Guenter, Guenther, Ginter, and Gunter, are Germanic names derived from ''Gunthere, Gunthari'', composed of '' *gunþiz'' "battle" (Old Norse ''gunnr'') and ''heri, hari'' "army". Gun ...

* 1983-2000: Friedrich-Otto Scharbau * 2000-2015:

Friedrich Hauschildt Friedrich may refer to: Names *Friedrich (given name), people with the given name ''Friedrich'' *Friedrich (surname), people with the surname ''Friedrich'' Other *Friedrich (board game), a board game about Frederick the Great and the Seven Years' ...

( also Vice-President of the Office of the

(EKD), between 2007 and 2015) * 2015-2023:

Horst Gorski Horst may refer to: Science * Horst (geology) In physical geography and geology, a horst is a raised fault block bounded by Fault (geology), normal faults. Horsts are typically found together with grabens. While a horst is lifted or remains s ...

(also Vice-President of EKD between 2015 and 2023) * since 2023:

Stephan Schaede Stephan may refer to: * Stephan, South Dakota, United States * Stephan (given name), a masculine given name * Stephan (surname), a Breton-language surname See also * Sankt-Stephan * Stefan (disambiguation) * Stephan-Oterma * Stephani * Stephe ...

(also Vice-President of EKD since 2023)

Members

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria () is a Lutheran member church of the Protestant Church in Germany in the German state of Bavaria. The seat of the church is in Munich. The '' Landesbischof'' (bishop) of the church is Heinrich Bedford ...

Evangelical Lutheran State Church of Brunswick The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Brunswick () is a Lutheran church in the German states of Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. The seat of the Landesbischof (bishop) is Wolfenbüttel. Its district as a ''Landeskirche'' covers the former Free State ...

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover The Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Hanover () is a Lutheran church body ''(Landeskirche)'' in the northern German state of Lower Saxony and the city of Bremerhaven covering the territory of the former Kingdom of Hanover. The seat of the Landesb ...

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Northern Germany The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Northern Germany (Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Norddeutschland) is a Lutheran member church of the Protestant Church in Germany (Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland, EKD). The denomination was establish ...

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saxony The Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Saxony () is one of 20 member Churches of the Protestant Church in Germany (EKD), covering most of the state of Saxony. Its headquarters are in Dresden, and the seat of the bishop (styled Bishop of Saxony) is a ...

Evangelical Lutheran State Church of Schaumburg-Lippe The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Schaumburg-Lippe () is a Lutheran member church (Landeskirche) of the Protestant Church in Germany. It covers the former principality of Schaumburg-Lippe and seated in Bückeburg. The church has 48,171 members ...

Evangelical Church in Central Germany The Evangelical Church in Central Germany (German: ''Evangelische Kirche in Mitteldeutschland''; ''EKM'') is a United church body covering most of the German states of Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia and some adjacent areas in Brandenburg and Saxony. ...

(since 2009)

Sources

External links

Official Website
(in German; English informatio
here
Lutheran World Federation members Lutheranism in Germany {{Lutheran-denomination-stub