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Partnership with Evangelical Church of Westphalia, Germany

Full Communion Relationship   •   Kirchengemeinschaft

The Evangelical Church of Germany
and the United Church of Christ

The Evangelical Church of Westphalia 
and the Ohio Conference

Conference Minister Bob Molsberry and wife Ann with representatives of the Evangelical Church of Westphalia on a trip in November 2007.  The Molsberrys attended the Evangelical Church Synod during their visit.

Representatives of the Evangelical Church of Westphalia, Dr. Ulrich Moeller and Ms. Christa Kronshage, participated in the service commissioning Bob Molsberry as Ohio Conference Minister in March 2008.

What is the Evangelical Church of Germany?

The Evangelical Church of Germany originated in Germany in 1951.  The  Evangelical Church contains congregations with Lutheran or Reformed roots.  Individual congregations retain their own polity and style, while recognizing their unity in the Sacrament of Communion.  

The church provinces are autonomous regional churches which are members of the Evangelical Church of Germany.  

One of these is the Evangelical Church of Westphalia, to which the Ohio Conference UCC is especially related.

Kirchengemeinschaft - Silver Jubilee, November 2005
UCC delegation travels to Berlin to celebrate a 25-year relationship

UCC Relationship

Full-communion relationship — Kirchengemeinschaft — was voted in 1980 by the Synod of the Evangelical Church of the Union (EKU), since 2006 known as the Evangelical Church of Germany, (EKD) and by the General Synod of the United Church of Christ in 1981.

This formalizing of Kirchengemeinschaft resulted after decades of visits and contacts between members of the UCC and the EKD, both in the east and west of Germany.

In 1990 the Indiana-Kentucky Conference and the Ohio Conference joined in a partnership with the Evangelical Church of Westphalia.

Mission and Goals of Kirchengemeinschaft -  covenant between Ohio Conference, Indiana- Kentucky Conference and the Evangelical Church of Westphalia, September 2000

Opportunities

Sister Churches
A congregation in the Ohio Conference UCC, may seek out a relationship with a congregation in the EKD.  Such a relationship may reflect the origins of a congregation in a certain parish or region in Germany, or the relationship may connect parishes with a common mission interest or a common life setting.

Read a story about such a relationship from UC News, August 2008

Pastoral Exchanges
A pastor may arrange to exchange places with a German pastor for a shorter or longer period of time.

Pastoral Internships
In cases where no direct, one-for-one exchange is feasible, a pastor may arrange to work in a parish, social project, or mission undertaking in Germany.  These experiences are arranged through the Ohio Conference EKD / UCC Working Group.

Group Visits
Tours by local churches or groups from the Ohio Conference may be arranged.  Historical tours give participants an opportunity to trace their own faith roots.  Tours of sites where the church is at work in Germany allow participants to see how the church ministers in a different cultural setting.

Host a Group
A local congregation may wish to invite a group from Germany to visit.  Housing in homes and visits to local sites where the church is at work can help German Christians to get to know American Christians more deeply.

For more information, contact:

Conference Minister
Ohio Conference, UCC
6161 Busch Blvd., Suite 95
Columbus, OH 43229
ohioucc@ocucc.org
800.282.0740, Ext. 203

Michael Penn Moore
Church of the Redeemer UCC
23500 Center Ridge Road
Westlake OH 44145
Michael Moore
440.331.0834

Ecumenical Partners