a Good four months before Christmas, the President of the Protestant Church in Hesse and Nassau (EKHN), Volker Jung, which prompted around 1100 municipalities in the Church area, Corona has a plan-appropriate formats for the Christmas services. “The question is: We want to continue?”, Young said during a summer reception in the Evangelical Academy in Frankfurt. The event was due to the sanitation and clearance rules as a blend of classroom and Online-participation of journalists created.

Tobias Rösmann

editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

F. A. Z. Twitter

Uniform requirements to the Christmas worship services by the Church Young rejects. This would be useful, because the conditions were different in the communities. “It is not a concept for all to develop.” It is important, already now, Church services are Free to think. Suitable areas could be market places, streets and sports courts. Jung called also a “forest Christmas” as an Option. Also a number of smaller services, distributed over the three days were a possibility. “Please check the on-the-spot.” Young but also to keep in mind that no one could predict how the pandemic situation in December will be.

At Christmas, especially on Christmas eve, the churches are always very full. The Church services in the usual Form, to hold, will not be due to the minimum distance rules in the pandemic possible. At Easter all the public services had failed. At that time, the churches that the Lockdown had been surprised.

“The proximity must be maintained”

To the Ecumenical Kirchentag, to be held in may 2021 for several days, in Frankfurt, announced by the Church President for the end of September or beginning of October a decision. Even now, danger in the face of infection by the Coronavirus is clear: “There will be another Ecumenical Kirchentag.” An event with 100,000 participants will not be possible. “Maybe it is a Church with 30,000, 40,000 or 50,000 people.” He will stay optimistic, there is also the question in the space of the Ecumenical Church, to cancel standing but “always”.

In the development of their own country Church with declining membership and tax revenues fight, called Young’s three areas of focus. Firstly, the development in the regions. The municipalities would have “regional networked work” in order to secure with less money and less staff the offer. “The proximity must be maintained.” Important both the turning to the members, the “relationship work”, as well as the dedication to the community is to remain relevant to society.

The second important point is for the Young, the digitization, which could significantly help in the Church development. The have shown the Corona-crisis, in which the digital offers a lot more would be used than before. As a third point Jung called a sustainable development of the Hesse-Nassau Church. The same is true for the building, which he described as important for their own recognition. “The municipalities are not to be abolished by us.”