EKD Survey - The field of experience, action and decision-making, and the competencies of actors at the intermediate church management level

(Das Erfahrungs-, Handlungs- und Entscheidungsfeld sowie die Kompetenzen von Akteuren der mittleren kirchlichen Leitungsebene)

State of research

It is known that the church district (Kirchenkreis) conveys various aspects of the church (see Hermelink 2010; Herpich/Lindner 2010): It makes distinctions and connections, for example between the upper ecclesiastical level of the regional church and the diverse lower levels of the church hierarchy, as well as between the inner church and various external societal positions. Here, law and theology interact in a special way.

Furthermore, in the church district, regional traditions must be combined with an orientation towards the future. Many new forms of church work have first developed at the district church level. In this respect the church district is the place where at present particularly numerous changes in church organisation take place (Weymann/Hahn 2005; EKD 2015). Nevertheless - or precisely because of it - the ecclesiological status of the church district is controversial. The leadership of a church district must balance and shape tensions of the church organisation to a very special degree, without being methodologically and theologically sufficiently equipped for it. Therefore, these leaders are the focus of our project.

There exist various empirical studies on the social conditions of church life (for an overview see Hermelink/Latzel 2008). However, no such studies exist so far on the tasks and the authority of actors on the middle ecclesiastical leadership level. The proposed project is intended to fill this gap.

Applicant
 

• Felten, Armin; Gemeindeakademie Rummelsberg (Leiter der Evang.-Luth. Gemeindeakademie der Evang.-Luth. Landeskirche Bayern, Theologe und Pfarrer, Coach und Trainer für Führungskräfte, Organisationsentwicklung und Gemeindeberatung)
• Dr. Häder, Michael; Technische Universität Dresden (Professor, Soziologe, Inhaber des Lehrstuhls für Methoden der empirischen Sozialforschung am Institut für Soziologie der TU Dresden, Arbeitsgebiete: Umfrageforschung, Delphi-Studien)
• Dr. Hermelink, Jan; Georg-August-Universität Göttingen (Professor, Lehrstuhl für Praktische Theologie, Schwerpunkte Homiletik, Kasualien, Kirchentheorie und Kirchenrecht, empirische Religionsforschung)
• Dr. Schatz, Susanne; Gemeindeakademie Rummelsberg (Studienleiterin an der Evang.-Luth. Gemeindeakademie, Theologin und Pfarrerin, Coach und Trainerin für Führungskräfte, Organisationsentwicklung und Gemeindeberatung)
   

Project members

Prof. Dr. Michael Häder
Elisabeth Dittrich
Stefan Fehser

Project partners

• Gemeindeakademie Rummelsberg, TU Dresden, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
• Funded by: Bayrische Landeskirche, Hanns-Lilje-Stiftung Hannover, Kirchenamt der EKD, Theologische Fakultät Göttingen