Visit to North Elbe

September 2009

Bishop David and Archdeacon Hugh with Proepst Juergen Jessen-Thiessen and Proepst Kay-Ulrich Bronk of the North Friesland Church District, with which Ely Team Ministry has a long-standing partnership. © The Revd Will Adam

Bishop David with Bischofin Maria Jepsen, the Bishop of Hamburg. © The Revd Will Adam

The Bishop of Huntingdon, Dr David Thomson, along with the Venerable Hugh McCurdy, Archdeacon of Huntingdon and Wisbech, made an official visit to the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of the North Elbe, Germany, from 11-13 September 2009. This was the Bishop's first visit to the North Elbe, which has had a partnership with the Diocese of Ely since the early days of the Meissen Agreement (1989), which increased possibilities for partnership between the Church of England and the Protestant Church in Germany.

The Bishop and Archdeacon, accompanied by the Revd Will Adam, visited the northern part of the North Elbian Church, Nord Friesland (Fresia), on the North Sea coast near the Danish border, for a well attended festival for the churches of the area. Nord Friesland contains the group of parishes which has a long-standing partnership with the Ely Team Ministry.

Bishop David administering communion in the Church of St Peter, Hamburg. © The Revd Will Adam

The party then joined the Bishop of Hamburg, Maria Jepsen, for prayers for peace in a church near Hamburg, significantly twenty years after the beginnings of a series of services with prayers for peace that took place in Eastern German cities and which led to the dismantling of the divisions between East and West in Germany. On the Sunday morning the Bishop and Archdeacon joined in Holy Communion at St Peter's Church, Hamburg. The Bishop greeted congregations and prayed in German.

Themes explored during the visit included church music and spirituality, especially exploring what spirituality means in the Lutheran tradition.

Further details of the Ely - North Elbe Link can be obtained from Will Adam, Diocesan Ecumenical Officer, at wja@luxmundi.co.uk

Bishop David, Pastorin Kirstin Faupel-Drevs (warden of Ansverus Haus retreat house), Archdeacon Hugh and the Revd Will Adam. © The Revd Will Adam