October 28, 2009

CHICAGO – The Rev. Margot Kaessmann, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hannover, was elected Oct. 28 to chair the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD).

Kaessmann, 51, is the first woman has become the highest representative of 25 million German Protestants. She is also the youngest chairperson of the EKD council.

Kaessmann was elected to a six-year term by the EKD's highest governing body, its synod, meeting in Ulm, Germany. The lone candidate, Kaessmann received 132 of 142 votes.

The EKD is the umbrella organization for 22 regional Lutheran, United and Reformed churches. It accounts for most of the country's Protestant Christians.

Kaessmann has been bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hannover since 1999.

The Rev. Ishmael Noko, general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), hailed Kaessmann's election. "The election sends a signal to the church worldwide that God calls us to leadership without consideration of gender, color or descent," said Noko, a Zimbabwean theologian.

Kaessmann will succeed the Rev. Wolfgang Huber, 67, who is retiring. Huber is also bishop of the Protestant Church of Berlin-Brandenburg- Silesian Oberlausitz.

In September 2008 the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop and LWF president, visited the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hannover and Kaessmann, and the EKD and Huber, while in Germany.

In September 2007 Hanson and Huber signed an agreement here that committed the ELCA and EKD to mutual exchange of information, and providing assistance and care for English-speaking Lutheran congregations in Germany and German-speaking congregations in the United States. The agreement, effective Jan. 1, 2008, provided for mutual exchange of pastors, EKD deacons, ELCA diaconal ministers and Christian education teachers.

ELCA News Service
Information was provided by Ecumenical News International.