Future of the Church: Fusion of the Deanery Gunzenhausen, Weißenburg, Pappenheim?
Future of the Church: Fusion of the Deanery Gunzenhausen, Weißenburg, Pappenheim?
In Gunzenhausen there was a remarkable meeting of the dean's committees from the Evangelical Dean's Office Gunzenhausen, Weißenburg and Pappenheim, which could set the course for the future of these communities. Dean Ingrid Gottwald-Weber, Dean Christian Aschoff and Dean Wolfgang Popp invited to discuss a possible merger of the three deanateates. The aim of the meeting was to reflect on existing cooperation and to plan the next steps for a common dean's district. These discussions are particularly relevant because the Deanery Gunzenhausen is merged with the Deanery Heidenheim on January 1, which has changed the dynamics in the region.
The current situation was also addressed as part of the meeting: 21 full -time positions in the three dean's offices look after a total of 43 parishes. The Dean's Office in Weißenburg, which, in addition to the cities of Weißenburg and Ellingen, also includes the surrounding areas such as Pleinfeld and Greding, faces the challenge of filling all full -time positions by September. In this context, the smallest deanery Pappenheim is also considered, which will switch 22 parishes and its community of Kipfenberg will switch to the Deanery in Ingolstadt in 2026. The considerations for the merger are closely related to the current development in the Evangelical Church, in which smaller communities are increasingly under pressure to merge. The synod of the EKBO already stipulates that municipalities with fewer than 300 members can be forced to merge, which leads to intensive debates in the municipalities, such as [evangelische-zeitung.de] (https://www.evangelische-zeitung.de/gemeinde fusions).challenges and opportunities of the mergers
The challenges are diverse. Reducing the number of membership in the Protestant churches is alarming: Forecasts show that around 50% of the parishioners could be lost by 2045. This development ensures worrying faces and intensive discussions about the future of the parishes. There are both supporters and opponents of the mergers. While some question the livelihood of small communities, the others fear alienation from local anchoring and social proximity, as the expert opinion of Uta Pohl-Patalong, professor of practical theology.
A possible merger of the three dean's offices could lead to around 60,000 parishioners come together and only two dean positions would be necessary. The regional church has already introduced a minimum standard of 35,000 parishioners per dean's office. The increasing savings and the need to make decisions in the dean's committees and partly in the dean's synods show the urgency of the topic. The process for examining merger options is accompanied by regular meetings of a working group, which is supported by the "Workshop Evangelical" team.
A look over the borders
A look across the borders of Bavaria shows that similar considerations are also discussed in other parts of the Evangelical Church. In Düsseldorf, the Evangelical Church plans to form one from currently 17 parishes by 2035 - an exciting, strategic project that is fed by the same problem of the membership. Synergies are to be used in the organization and the administrative effort is to be reduced, which causes many communities to think about their own future. Here, too, there are protests and discussions about the meaning and nonsense of such mergers that also affect the identity of the communities.
The debate about the mergers in the Bavarian deanary offices raises important questions: How can the Evangelical Church remain relevant? And what structure is necessary to meet the needs of the believers? One thing is clear: the conversations are necessary to find ways of keeping the church alive in the future without losing sight of people and their needs.
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| Ort | Gunzenhausen, Deutschland |
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