Churches in the former Bradford diocese have enjoyed a link with the Lutheran Church in the City of Erfurt, former GDR, since the 1990’s. Now there are two further opportunities to take part in visits to the city – for the Kirchentag in May 2017, or on a visit with Bishop Nick Baines this coming October.
The opportunities follow a recent visit in June by Mrs Ros Beeson, Revd David Houlton and Revd Mike Cansdale. The group stayed in the cloisters of an Augustinian Abbey where Martin Luther studied as a monk.
Rev Mike Cansdale said, “This was my first visit to Erfurt. Not only is it a beautiful and historic city but it was great to see the ways in which the churches are engaging with contemporary issues. For example, we saw how they have developed language courses and advice centres for Syrian refugees and we joined one evening with a congregation who had opened their church hall for an Ifthar (Muslim breaking of the Fast during Ramadan) attended by more than a hundred people.”
Bishop Nick will be preaching at a special service when he visits at the end of October 2016, marking the start of a year of Celebration. October 31st is an important date in the Lutheran Calendar as it was on this day 1517 that Luther reputedly nailed his 95 Theses to the door of Wittenberg Schlosskirche. This act is widely regarded as the start of the Reformation and 2017 marks the 500th Anniversary.
With the EU Referendum result, it is felt that the link will be just as important, if not more so in the future. Revd David Houlton said: “In some ways this makes our relationship with the church in Erfurt even more important as our country seeks to work out our new place in Europe but outside the EU.”
In May 2017 there will be a huge event, the Kirchentag, taking place across a number of cities including Erfurt and it is hoped to take a large group from the diocese to experience the celebration.
If you would like to find out more about the Link or would be interested in joining one of the visits, please get in touch with members of the committee.
More about the Erfurt Link on the Overseas web pages here
October 28th to November 1st 2016 - Visit to Erfurt with Bishop Nick Baines
May 24th to May 28th 2017 – Kirchentag visit to Berlin, Erfurt and Wittenberg
Contact details:
Revd Mike Cansdale (Chair) Email: michael.cansdale@gmail.com
Mrs Ros Beeson (Vice Chair) Email: rosalind.beeson@btinternet.com