Church district synod decides on future plan for buildings and parish offices

Church district synod decides on future plan for buildings and parish offices

At a special meeting of the Schwalm-Eder church district synod on June 26th, a groundbreaking decision was made that will significantly influence the future structure of the church district. The focus was on the building and parish plan, which was approved by the synodal council with an overwhelming majority. This is what our colleagues report nh24 that the vote recorded 89 votes in favour, 9 against and 7 abstentions.

The church district currently includes an impressive 218 churches and 80 community centers, which, however, need to be examined more closely in view of the declining number of members. According to the chairman of the building committee, Dirk Schnurr, there was no decision to close it, which is positive news for the communities. In the future, however, only 88 churches and 25 community centers will be classified as eligible for funding. This step is part of a long-term strategy that aims to make better use of the regional church's financial resources while preserving the cultural significance of the churches.

Reduction in pastoral positions

A central concern of the synod was the reduction of parish positions from 68.5 to 54 by the end of 2031, in accordance with the requirements of the regional church. Dean Norbert Mecke emphasized that the goal is to maintain as many full positions as possible in order to be able to continue to offer the communities qualified pastoral care in the future. These considerations are also reflected in the presentation by Dean Sabine Tümmler, who does not want to rule out further reductions in the future.

The synod members were divided in their reactions: While some pointed out the need to keep the pastoral positions in the parishes, there are also suggestions to redesign the parish service across parish boundaries. A decision in this regard will be made at one of the two synods in 2025. Until then, the various implementation variants should be sufficiently discussed in the communities.

Strategies for the future of the churches

According to the, the challenges facing the churches in Germany are: Wüstenrot Foundation, characterized primarily by the declining number of parishioners and high maintenance costs. Solutions could lie in merging congregations or even closing church buildings. However, this could also result in the loss of social offerings and opportunities for community work - a critical point that was also discussed in the synod.

This makes it all the more important to find creative approaches and recognize the economic potential of church buildings. The “Hessentag Church”, for example, was very popular: over 30,000 visitors experienced an offering that ranged from music to dance to theater and shows how versatile church can be. The volunteers involved did a great job and launched the project as a community project of the church district.

Overall, the signs point to change for the churches in the Schwalm-Eder district, with the church leadership doing everything in its power to make this evolution as tolerable and future-oriented as possible. President Hartmut Paul said farewell to the synod members with a blessing and hopeful outlook for the challenges and opportunities ahead.