AN ANGLICAN priest has pledged to work for closer ecumenical ties in Germany after being chosen to chair the country’s main inter-Church council.
“Belonging to one of Germany’s smallest Churches, I see my appointment as a significant acknowledgement that Christianity here is made up of more than just two large Churches,” the Rector of St Augustine of Canterbury, Wiesbaden, the Revd Christopher Easthill, said.
“Those electing me knew that Anglicans are open to various aspects and expressions of the Christian faith — as well as to different thoughts, ideas and theologies.”
Fr Easthill was speaking after his appointment as chairman of the Association of Christian Churches in Germany (ACK) at its Augsburg assembly. He succeeds the Greek Orthodox Archpriest Radu Miron, who held the post for six years.
In an interview with the Church Times, he said that almost all past ACK chairmen had belonged to Germany’s predominant Evangelical or Roman Catholic Churches. This made his election an opportunity to “make people better aware” of the country’s Anglican communities.
He would encourage all denominations to work together on structural reforms, he said, at a time of preoccupation with rising costs and falling memberships, when some had become too “focused on themselves”.
Founded in 1948, with the Evangelical pastor Martin Niemöller (1892-1984) as the first chairman, the ACK was reconstituted in 1992 after German reunification, and currently includes 19 member Churches and six guest denominations.
The Association, which says that it represents 50 million German Christians, elected Evangelical and Orthodox bishops to serve as deputy chairman to Fr Easthill, who was born in Singapore, and trained at St John’s Theological College, Nottingham, and the US Virginia Theological Seminary, after managing an international insurance company.
In his interview, Fr Easthill said that ACK membership ranged from the mainstream Evangelical and RC Churches, together making up almost half the German population of 84.4 million, to smaller denominations with only a few thousand adherents.
He said, however, that all of them contributed “valuable experiences and influences”, and supported the ACK’s commitment to theological dialogue, justice, peace, and the integrity of creation.
“As traditional bridge-builders, Anglicans can provide a voice for smaller Churches here, including those with large migrant memberships who need support in working against barriers,” Fr Easthill, who holds joint German and British citizenship, said.
“Having our own independent Anglican association gives us a national presence and visibility which we wouldn’t have enjoyed otherwise.”
The Council of Anglican and Episcopal Churches in Germany has about 3000 active members, spread over 19 congregations in Berlin, Bonn, Cologne, Hamburg, Munich, and other cities, and works alongside the diocese in Europe and the Convocation of Episcopal Churches.