Our faith

We are an ecumenically minded Protestant Church and see ourselves as part of worldwide Christianity. We confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour and the Triune God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, in accordance with the worldwide fellowship of churches forming the World Council of Churches.

Fundamental for the theological and ecumenical orientation and social engagement of the EKHN until now were the experiences of the Confessing Church in the "Third Reich" in their struggle against the Nazi-World-View. Linked with this struggle is the name of its first Church President, Pastor Martin Niemöller.

After World War II, in 1947 the EKHN was founded as a union of three churches with different Protestant denominational backgrounds. Thus the EKHN is a United Church that includes Lutheran, Reformed (Presbyterian) and United congregations.

Vital to our church is the inseparability of faith and social responsibility. A lively spirituality, the engagement for peace, a fair distribution of wealth and employment within our country, a future-orientated, sustainable and responsible economic policy and the stewardship of God's creation are central to our Christian identity.

The multireligious context in which we live in these times of globalization, the decline of church membership - mainly for demographic reasons - continues to challenge us "to give witness to the living hope within us" (1. Peter 3:15b).