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 in Thuringia, Germany with 42,000 inhabitants, located west of Erfurt, southeast of Kassel and northeast of Frankfurt. It is the main urban centre of western Thuringia and bordering northeastern Hessian regions, situat ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Its total membership is 8.6 million people. The Member Churches of this organization are in full fellowship with the

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is a mainline Protestant Lutheran church headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA was officially formed on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three Lutheran church bodies. , it has approxim ...

(ELCA). All its member churches belong to the

Evangelical Church in Germany The Evangelical Church in Germany (german: Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland, abbreviated EKD) is a federation of twenty Lutheranism, Lutheran, Continental Reformed church, Reformed (Calvinism, Calvinist) and united and uniting churches, United ( ...

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

. The seat of the VELKD is in

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

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

Gerhard Ulrich Gerhard is 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 (1919–19 ...

Leading Bishops of the VELKD

* 1948–1949:

Wilhelm Henke Wilhelm may refer to: People and fictional characters * William Charles John Pitcher, costume designer known professionally as "Wilhelm" * Wilhelm (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname Other uses * Mount ...

* 1949–1955: Hans Meiser * 1955–1969:

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

* 1969–1975: Hans-Otto Wölber, Land Bishop of Hamburg * 1975–1978:

Eduard Lohse Eduard Model Accessories is a Czech manufacturer of plastic models and finescale model accessories. Formed in 1989 in the city of Most, Eduard began in a rented cellar as a manufacturer of photoetched brass model components. Following the succ ...

* 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 * Horst, ...

* 1999–2005: Hans Christian Knuth * 2005–2011: Johannes Friedrich * since 2011:

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 - ? : Hugo Schnell * 1983-2000: Friedrich-Otto Scharbau * 2000-2015:

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

( also Vice-President of the Office of the

(EKD), between 2007 and 2015) * since 2015:

Horst Gorski 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 * Horst ...

(also Vice-President of EKD since 2015)

Members

* Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria *

Evangelical Lutheran State Church of Brunswick The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Brunswick (german: Evangelisch-Lutherische Landeskirche in Braunschweig) is a Lutheran church in the German states of Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. The seat of the Landesbischof (bishop) is Wolfenbüttel. Its d ...

* Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover *

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 Evangelical Church in Germany (Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland, EKD). It was established on 27 May 2012 ...

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saxony The Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Saxony (''Evangelisch-Lutherische Landeskirche Sachsens'') is one of 20 member Churches of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), covering most of the state of Saxony. Its headquarters are in Dresden, and its b ...

Evangelical Lutheran State Church of Schaumburg-Lippe The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Schaumburg-Lippe (german: Evangelisch-Lutherische Landeskirche Schaumburg-Lippe) is a Lutheran member church ( Landeskirche) of the Evangelical Church in Germany. It covers the former principality of Schaumburg-L ...

* 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-stub