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, with which it co-operates closely. In 2018 it has been reduced from an independent legal entity to an administrative unit within the larger
Protestant Church in Germany.
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
* 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
* 1999–2005:
Hans Christian Knuth
* 2005–2011:
Johannes Friedrich
* 2011-2018:
Gerhard Ulrich
* since 2018:
Ralf Meister
President of the Church Office of the VELKD
* 1949-1963:
Heinz Brunotte
* 1963-1967:
Max Keller-Hüschemenger
* 1968-1976:
Hugo Schnell
* 1976–1982:
Günther Gaßmann
* 1983-2000:
Friedrich-Otto Scharbau
* 2000-2015:
Friedrich Hauschildt ( also Vice-President of the Office of the
Protestant Church in Germany (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 (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
*
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover
*
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Northern Germany
*
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saxony
*
Evangelical Lutheran State Church of Schaumburg-Lippe
*
Evangelical Church in Central Germany (since 2009)
Sources
External links
Official Website(in German; English informatio
here
Lutheran World Federation members
Lutheranism in Germany
{{Lutheran-denomination-stub