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Lower Saxony is a German state (Land) situated in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, being larger than Denmark or the Netherlands with 47,624 km2 (18,388 sq mi), and fourth-largest in population among the 16 Länder federated as the Federal Republic of Germany. In rural areas, Northern Low Saxon and Saterland Frisian are still spoken, but the number of speakers is declining.
The Evangelical Church in Germany is a federation of twenty Lutheran, Reformed (Calvinist) and United Protestant regional churches and denominations in Germany, which collectively encompasses the vast majority of Protestants in that country. In 2019, the EKD had a membership of 20,713,000 members, or 24.9% of the German population. It constitutes one of the largest national Protestant bodies in the world. Church offices managing the federation are located in Hannover-Herrenhausen, Lower Saxony. Many of its members consider themselves Lutherans.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Thuringia was a Lutheran member church of the umbrella Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD). The seat of the church was in Eisenach. The church covered those parts of the state of Thuringia that were not part of the former Province of Saxony. It was the largest Protestant denomination in this area.
Bad Bentheim is a town in the southwestern part of Lower Saxony, Germany, in the district of Grafschaft Bentheim on the borders of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Netherlands roughly 15 km south of Nordhorn and 20 km northeast of Enschede. It is also a state-recognized thermal brine and sulphur spa town, hence the designation Bad (“Bath”). Also to be found in Bad Bentheim is the castle Burg Bentheim, the town's emblem.
The Independent Evangelical-Lutheran Church is a confessional Lutheran church body of Germany. It is a member of the European Lutheran Conference and of the International Lutheran Council (ILC). The SELK has about 33,000 members in 174 congregations. The seat of SELK is in Hanover.
The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), formerly named Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches until 31 December 2019, is a federation of 25 member churches — 24 cantonal churches and the Evangelical-Methodist Church of Switzerland. The PCS is not a church in a theological understanding, because every member is independent with their own theological and formal organisation. It serves as a legal umbrella before the federal government and represents the church in international relations. Except for the Evangelical-Methodist Church, which covers all of Switzerland, the member churches are restricted to a certain territory.
The Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Hanover is a Lutheran church body (Landeskirche) in the northern German state of Lower Saxony and the city of Bremerhaven covering the territory of the former Kingdom of Hanover.
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Oldenburg is a Lutheran church in the German state of Lower Saxony.
The World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) is the largest association of Calvinist churches in the world. It has 230 member denominations in 108 countries, together claiming an estimated 80 million people, thus being the fourth-largest Christian communion in the world after the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Anglican Communion. This ecumenical Christian body was formed in June 2010 by the union of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) and the Reformed Ecumenical Council (REC).
The Protestant Church of Westphalia is a United Protestant church body in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Evangelical Church of the Palatinate is a United Protestant church in parts of the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, endorsing both Lutheran and Calvinist orientations.
The Evangelical Reformed Church, until 2009 Evangelical Reformed Church – Synod of Reformed Churches in Bavaria and Northwestern Germany is a Calvinist member church of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD).
Lutheran viewpoints concerning homosexuality are diverse because there is no one worldwide body which represents all Lutherans. The Lutheran World Federation, a worldwide 'communion of churches' and the largest global body of Lutherans, contains member churches on both sides of the issue. However, other Lutherans, including the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference and International Lutheran Council, completely reject homosexuality.
In Germany and Switzerland, a Landeskirche is the church of a region. The term usually refers to Protestant churches, but—in case of Switzerland—also Roman Catholic dioceses. They originated as the national churches of the independent states, States of Germany (Länder) or Cantons of Switzerland, that later unified to form modern Germany or modern Switzerland, respectively.
Buß- und Bettag was a public holiday in Germany, and is still a public holiday in Saxony. In Germany, Protestant church bodies of Lutheran, Reformed (Calvinist) and United denominations celebrate a day of repentance and prayer. It is now celebrated on the penultimate Wednesday before the beginning of the Protestant liturgical year on the first Sunday of Advent; in other words, it is the Wednesday that falls between 16 and 22 November. However, it is not a statutory non-working holiday any more, except in the Free State of Saxony. In the Free State of Bavaria, it is a school holiday only.
The Evangelical Church in Central Germany is a United church body covering most of the German states of Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia and some adjacent areas in Brandenburg and Saxony.
The German Evangelical Church Confederation was a formal federation of 28 regional Protestant churches (Landeskirchen) of Lutheran, Reformed or United Protestant administration or confession. It existed during the Weimar Republic from 1922 until being replaced by the German Evangelical Church in 1933. It was a predecessor body to the Evangelical Church in Germany.
The Lutheran Evangelical Church in Italy is a Protestant denomination in the Lutheran tradition in Italy.
The Swiss Reformed Church is the Reformed branch of Protestantism in Switzerland started in Zürich in 1519 by Huldrych Zwingli (1484–1531). It spread within a few years to Basel, Bern, St. Gallen, cities in southern Germany, and via Alsace to France.
The Evangelisch-reformierte Kirche Basel-Stadt is a Reformed denomination in the canton of Basel-Stadt. In 2004 it had 51,000 members in six German parishes with 3 German speaking congregations, one Italian, one French Reformed congregation and 49 ordained clergy. Member of the Schweizerischer Evangelischer Kirchenbund and the Conference of Churches on the Rhine.
References
- ↑ de:Evangelisch-Altreformierte Kirche
- ↑ de:Evangelisch-Altreformierte Kirche#Theologie und Glaube
- ↑ de:Evangelisch-Altreformierte Kirche#.C3.96kumenische Beziehungen
- ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 21, 2013. Retrieved May 19, 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- ↑ Eglinton, James (2020). Bavinck: A Critical Biography (1 ed.). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic. p. 9. ISBN 9781540961358.
