Danish Church in Southern Schleswig


The Danish Church in Southern Schleswig is an evangelical Lutheran church in Southern Schleswig in Northern Germany.
The Church was founded by the Danish minority of Southern Schleswig and is affiliated with the Danish Church Abroad and the Church of Denmark. It shares many of the liberal views of the Church of Denmark, including support for the ordination of women and remarriage after divorce.
Today, the church has 35 Danish congregations across Southern Schleswig. There are approximately 6,500 registered members who are serviced by 24 priests. The central church is the Church of the Holy Spirit in Flensburg.

History

Following the reformation, many pastors in Southern Schleswig preformed services in Danish, though certain parts of the ceremony had to be preformed in German by mandate of the German Church. In 1905, the "Church Society of Flensburg and the Surrounding Area" was established with the purpose of reaching congregations within the German Church whose primary language was Danish. The society was rejected by officials who felt the Danish minority should conform to German society and its language.
In 1921, following the 1920 Schleswig plebiscites, the Danish Church in Flensburg was established as a free church. In the following years the church expanded to include the whole of Southern Schleswig, and in 1959 it was given its current name.

Provosts

Incomplete list of churches within the Danish Church in Southern Schleswig: