The Evangelical Church in Germany

The Evangelical Church in Germany, federation of Lutheran, Reformed, and United (a combination of Lutheran and Reformed) territorial churches in Germany. Organized in 1948 after the difficult years of the Nazi era (1933–45), it helped the German Protestant churches restore themselves, and it reestablished relations with churches outside of Germany.

The territorial churches in Germany had sought closer cooperation among themselves for many years. They had developed out of both the changes in church life and organization and the various religious and political settlements brought about by the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. Until 1918 the ruler of each German state was the head of the Protestant church in his territory, which was Lutheran, Reformed, or United. After Germany was defeated in World War I, the German Empire was replaced by the Weimar Republic, whose new Weimar constitution severed this connection between church and state. The territorial churches reorganized themselves into self-governing churches. Attempts to gain closer union were made. During the Nazi era the churches cooperated in various ways to resist the government’s efforts to control them.

After World War II a group of territorial church leaders met in August 1945 to consider forming the EKD. The constitution for the new federation was adopted in July 1948 in Eisenach, despite tensions arising out of the theological differences between the Lutherans and the Reformed. The establishment of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) in 1949 meant that, until German reunification in 1990, the EKD de facto represented only the West German territorial churches. In 1991 the EKD included all Lutheran, Reformed, and United churches.

In 1997 the EKD had 23 territorial churches and claimed about 27 million members. The majority of its members reside in what was formerly West Germany; the EKD claims 4 million members in the former territory of East Germany. The work of the EKD is limited to that assigned to it by the member churches and primarily involves ecumenical relations, works of mercy, and tasks concerned with the society and government of Germany. Headquarters of the EKD are in Hannover.