Evangelical Church of Westphalia
The Lutheran Church of Westphalia is a United Protestant church body in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
The seat of the praeses is Bielefeld. The EKvW emerged on June 13, 1945, when the ecclesiastical province of Westphalia within the Lutheran Church of the old-Prussian Union assumed its independence as church body of its own. The EKvW is a full member of the Lutheran Church in Germany,and the Reformed Alliance and is a church whose bases are in a Union between parishes in Lutheran and Calvinistic traditions. The church is also a member of the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe. Because the church is not run by a "bishop" there is no cathedral. Präses of the church is Annette Kurschus. Annette Kurschus became the first female praeses of the Lutheran Church of Westphalia in 2011.Präses (President)
- 1834–1835: Jakob von der Kuhlen
- 1835–1841: Christian Nonne
- 1841–1843: Bernhard Jacobi
- 1844–1874: Wilhelm Diedrich Albert
- 1874–1902: Ludwig Polscher
- 1902–1914: Friedrich König
- 1914–1927: Heinrich Kockelke
- 1927–1949: Karl Koch
- 1949–1968: Ernst Wilm
- 1969–1977: Hans Thimme
- 1977–1985: Heinrich Reiß
- 1985–1996: Hans-Martin Linnemann
- 1996–2004: Manfred Sorg
- 2004–2012: Alfred Buß
- 2012–: Annette Kurschus
Practices
and blessing of same-sex marriages were allowed.
