Farewell to Volker Jung: A church president in the sign of the crises

Farewell to Volker Jung: A church president in the sign of the crises

Frankfurt, Deutschland - The outgoing church president of the Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau (Ekhn), Volker Jung, looks back on an eventful term. Since his election in 2008, which he started on January 1, 2009, Jung has shaped the church in turbulent times. After 16 years at the top, his second term ended on December 31, 2024. In the past few weeks, numerous farewell events have been on the program, but the last few days were burdened by a scandal. An “anti -colonial Christmas market” in Darmstadt exposed anti -Israel symbols, which led to an immediate ban for the pastor and prompted the church leaders href = "https://www.faz.net/aktuell/rhein-main/frankfurt/ekhn-kirchenpraesident-volker-jung-zum-abschied-belanz-110193609.html"> Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported.

crises and successes in 16 years

Jung, born in Schlitz in 1960, dealt with numerous challenges during his term. From the financial crisis to the natural disaster from Fukushima to Corona pandemic-each of these crises was a test for the church. In particular, Corona pandemic proved to be the greatest challenge. Christmas services had to be held in the open air. Jung defends the decision to do without personal services to protect human life. "I still think it's right," he explained in retrospect. The church did not speak loudly in dealing with the pandemic, which it sees as a deficiency, but the priority was always when protecting the parishioners.

The development in the attitude of the EKHN to sexual diversity and the involvement of same -sex marriages was also particularly important. Under the boys' guided tour, the church's confession was passed to queer people to recognize suffering for decades. This statement was only part of his engagement within the church, which is still confronted with a loss of members of over 400,000. Many critics accuse the Church of losing relevance while Jung emphasizes that the changes are necessary to keep faith in a changing society.

On January 26, 2025, the official handover of his successor Christiane Tietz will finally take place. During his farewell, Jung feels melancholy, but also relief to finally create space for new ideas.