Newsletter to members and friends

No 4
Christmas 2010
FRIENDS
Newsletter to members and friends
Sanibonani abangame
Dear Friends of Partnership,
Liebe Mitglieder und Freunde sowie Freundinnen
von
.
FRIENDS
On Wednesday Oct 27, 2010, the partnership committee of KwaMashu parish had invited their
German visitors to Bishopstowe:
This is our Newsletter No. 4. 2010
Rev. Duscha visiting South Africa
In October 2010 Rev. Heribert Duscha chairman of
– staying in Durban and Umngeni
circuits on behalf of the book about
the nearly 40 years lasting partnership – took the
opportunity to have a look on the site of the
Bishopstowe project.
The Jacaranda trees are cut (helped with a donation of 1.000 D = 9.500 Rand from
,
some money is still left).
The youth of Pietermaritzburg North helped together with Mr. Sabela to renovate three of the
classrooms. The farmer next to the site promised
to put aside the cutted logs.
FRIENDS
FRIENDS
Visiting the project site: (from left) Rev. Bernhard
Julius, Melle-Paulus; Rev. D.N. Nsele, KwaMashu;
Mrs Hannelore Haußer, Melle-Paulus; (behind her:
Mr Ngubane, KwaMashu); Mrs „Futi“, KwaMashu;
Mr Sipho Chonco, KwaMashu; Rev. Wolfgang
Diekmann (retired), Mr Pius Mbuyisa, Pietermaritzburg North and member of Coordinating Committee
He had the chance to take part in a meeting of
the Coordinating Committee of Durban and Umngeni Ciruits with Rev. Heribert Duscha on November 14, 2010, in Mpumalanga. The main item
was how to raise funds for the new dormitory
which shall be built on the site to accommodate
the trainees.
Mr Hermann Roelker, a retired teacher
from Osnabrueck,
will arrive on December 14th, 2010 to
assist on the project at Bishopstowe. He intends to stay for
three months and wants to stay
on the site, living in one of the
cottages.
Rev. Heribert Duscha visited a lot
of partners in Umngeni and Durban circuits to ask them about
their experiences with partnership during the last 40 years.
There are some who can remind
the begin of partnership in the
early 1970s. All these experiences will be part of the partnership book which will be completed during 2011, hopefully not
only in German but in English,
too.
News Spot
On November
25th, 2010, the
synod of Hanover Church
elected our
new bishop, the General Dean
of Berlin, Rev. Ralf Meister
(48). He will take over his new
duty in March 2011.
The Coordinating Committee members visited Melle and Pirna circuits from September 3rd to September 23rd 2010. Besides other
important topics the Melle circuit committee and the Pirna circuit
committee took the chance to agree with the Coordinating Committee on new Guidelines for Partnership. On the side of the Melle
partners these guidelines were approved by the Circuit Assembly
on September 22nd, 2010. The agreement is ready to be downloaded as pdf-files in english and german at:
www.kirchenkreis-melle.de -> Angebote -> Partnerschaftsarbeit...
Signing the agreement: (from left) Ms Rhosta Gcaba, Mr Thulasizwe Mfeka, Dean Thulani Nzama, Mr Heiko Grube (chairman of the
synod), Dean Nkosinathi Myaka, Mr Eckhard Eilers; behind: Mr
Musa Godfrey Ngcobo, Ms Beauty Msomi, Dean Wolfgang Loos,
Rev. Elfriede Siemens.
The South African partners were moreover informed that there
will be new structures for the parishes of Melle circuit, starting at
1st January 2013: The seven Southern parishes will form together
with most of Georgsmarienhuette circuit the new Melle-Georgsmarienhütte circuit. The eight Northern parishes (Wittlage area)
will be united with Bramsche circuit.
More information: see pages 4 and 5!
FRIENDS
Co-operate!
Don’t hesitate to pass over a
comment about this newsletter,
news to be published or e-mail
addresses of other interested
persons to [email protected]
We wish all our friends and
members a peaceful Christmas
2010 and a friendly Year 2011.
Sinifisela uKhisimusi omuhle
kanye na-unyka omusha osasayo
2011.
We greet all with the words for
2011:
Jesus Christus spricht:
Euer Herz erschrecke nicht.
Glaubt an Gott und glaubt an
mich. Joh 14, 1
Jesus Christ says:
Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. John 14:1
UJesu Kristu uthi:
Inhliziyo yenu mayingakhathazeki. Kholwani
nguNkunlunkulu, nikholwe nayimi. NgokukaJohane 14:1
May God bless all of us.
iNkosi busisa sonke!
Maybe...
Association „Friends of Partnership“ e.V.
...some body wants to join our
association "Friends of partnership” These are our objectives:
The development association
"Friends of partnership work an
the conviction that partnership
between people of different culture should be encouraged in
order to achieve justice and
peace in this world. So our association supports partnership on
circuit level as well as on congregational level in the circuits of
Melle, Durban, Pirna und
Umngeni.. Our association backs
and develops constituent projects, does promotion of publicity, fund raising, and other measures on this concern.
Hereby I apply for a membership in „Friends of Partnership“
beginning with ____________. I agree with the aims of the
association as mentioned.
To apply for membership please
print and fill in the application
form, and send it to our treasurer, Mrs Elke Eilers, Sonnenweg
3, D-49152 Bad Essen, Germany.
You may as well simply send a
mail encluding your details to
[email protected].
Annual subscription in Germany
is at least Euro 12.00. For rates
in South Africa, please, ask Elke.
Membership application
Annual subscription (1,00 Euro/month = 12 Euro/year)
(10,00 Rand/month = 120 Rand/year)
other subscription amount
_____ Euro/month = _______ Euro/year
name. family name ______________________________________
________________________________________________________
pysical address __________________________________________
________________________________________________________
postal address __________________________________________
________________________________________________________
email __________________________________________________
for German only:
Account Nr.: ____________________________________________
Bank and Bank Code: ____________________________________
________________________________________________________
I will set up a standing order to the account of "Friends of
Partnership”
place, date ______________________________________________
signature ________________________________________________
FRIENDS
Eingetragener Verein zur Förderung der Partnerschaft der Ev.-luth. Kirchenkreise Durban, Melle, Pirna
und Umngeni / Registered Association for the Promotion of Partnership by the Evangelical Lutheran
Circuits Durban, Melle, Pirna and Umngeni
Vorsitzender/ Chairman:
Heribert Duscha, Parkstr. 5 31707 Bad Eilsen, Tel.:(0949/ 0) 5722/892469, E-Mail: [email protected]
Bankverbindung: Konto-Nr. 101 493 Kreissparkasse Melle (BLZ 265 522 86)
On the way to new structures and better contents
The lutheran church in the circuits of Osnabrück county and town
The start for renewed structures
in Hanover Lutheran Church
The Start of the process
in Osnabrück region
At 23rd November 2005 the 23rd synod of Hanover
Lutheran Church decided and agreed about paper
Nr. 98A with the headline “Creating the future –
perspectives and priorities for the acting of the
Hanover Lutheran Church”. Beside other topics
this paper contains the following basics under the
knowlege of a decreasing number of church members in the future:
■ A circuit should have a membership of 45,000
registered members at least.
■ The number of 42 circuit administration offices
has to be reduced by 50 per cent.
■ In a first step the expences for stuff member has
to be reduced by 15 per cent until 2013.
In 2006 the lutheran circuits Bramsche, Georgsmarienhütte, Melle und Osnabrück elected four delegates each to join in a so called steering group
working on solutions to fullfill the tasks the synod
had given. The four circuits have been choosen as
one group as they are identic to the area of the
county Osnabrück and the town Osnabrück. The
steering group is accompaned by a professional
company for management consulting, named Dr.
Dithmar & Partners from Stuttgart.
The members of the steering group have been:
A: for Bramsche circuit:
Dean Dietmar Rehse
Carsten Krabbenhöft (leader circuit adm. office)
Wolfgang Deffner (member circuit council)
Armin Trigloff (chairman circuit synod)
B: for Georgsmarienhütte circuit:
Dean Doris Schmidtke
Eckhard Kallert (chairman circuit synod)
Rev. Frieder Marahrens (member circuit council)
Peter Heemann (member circuit council)
C: for Melle circuit:
Dean Wolfgang Loos
Helmuth Beek (leader circuit adm. office)
Heiko Grube (chairman circuit synod)
Manfred Hugo (member circuit council)
D: for Osnabrück circuit
vice Dean Martin Steinke (later on Dean Pannen)
Detlev Kusserow (leader circuit adm. office)
Michael Kirchhoff (member circuit council)
Klaus Havliza (member circuit council)
Current shape of the circuits
in Osnabrück region
Bramsche circuit
Discussions and decisions
Osnabrück
circuit
current circuits
registered members
of the church in the current
circuits at mid of 2007:
Bramsche:
Melle:
Georgsmarienhütte:
Osnabrück:
45,273
40,889
48,066
51,082
Georgsmarienhütte circuit
In November 2008 the steering group
presented a solution for a new structure
of the lutheran church in the area of
Osnabrück to the four circuit synods. In
the steering group six possible solutions had been discussed to present
one. The solution include the following
changes:
a) The 8 northern parishes of Melle circuit
and Bramsche circuit form a new circuit.
b) The 4 parishes Vehrte, Belm, Gretesch-Lüstringen and Hasbergen (by own wish) of Georgsmarienhütte form a new circuit together with
Osnabrück circuit.
Melle
circuit
c) the other parishes of Georgsmarienhütte circuit and the 7
southern parishes of Melle circuit
form a new circuit.
This solution was discusses by the
circuit synods including statements
of committees and then given to
elect just “yes” or “no” in April
2009. The results were:
Bramsche:
70 % yes
Georgsmarienhütte: 60 % yes
Osnabrück:
90 % yes
Melle:
25 % yes
New shape of the circuits in Osnabrück region
current circuits
circuits after
the reform
Bramsche circuit
Bramsche-Wittlage circuit
In December 2008 the Melle partOsnabrück
nership committee – after consultcircuit
ing the Georgsmarienhütte partnerOsnabrück
Melle
circuit
ship committee – invited represenregistered members
circuit
tatives of all four circuit’s partners- of the church in the current
hip committees to meet and talk circuits at mid of 2007:
Bramsche:
45,273
40,889
together about how partnership Melle:
Melle-GeorgsmarienGeorgsmarienhütte: 48,066
work is done in the different circu- Osnabrück:
hütte circuit
51,082
its.
registered members
GeorgsmarienIt was found that three of the circuit of the church in
hütte circuit
new circuits:
have a circuit partnership relation to the
Osnabrück:
61,490
Bramsche-Wittlage: 64,118
ELCSA-SED circuits:
Melle-GeorgsGeorgsmarienhütte – Umvoti
marienhütte:
59,702
Melle – Durban and Umngeni
Osnabrück – Umfolozi
ce of Hanover and Brunswick Lutheran Church for
Bramsche has a partnership relation to the lutheran about 20 years.
church of Estonia and is starting a relation to the Since then the group met 3 times and worked about
lutheran church of Malawi.
■ excellences and debilities of the partnerships
Additionally the parishes of Georgsmarienhütte and ■ Ideals of ecumenical partnerships
Melle circuits perform partnership relations on ■ Co-operation with Hermannsburg mission Board
parish level which are covered by the circuit part(ELM)
nerships.
■ Co-operation with “bred for the world”
All partnerships practice circuit delegation, in Melle ■ In the next meeting on 9th September the prothe parishes are free to realize parish delegations.
ject group will work on the topics
- qualification and sourcing of partnership
Project group ecumenical work
work,
- experiences of the partners in South Africa with
The committees kept on meeting until the steering
structural changes in ELCSA-SED
group installed project groups for the following
- youth in partnership work
issues:
The major aim of the project group is to find a fut■ Stratec planing
ure way of partnerhsip/ecumenical work in the
■ Diakonia
region of Osnabrück, which might be synchronised
■ Circuit office fusion
between the three new circuits.
■ Partnership and mission/ecumenical work
■ Church music
Please note: In future all circuits in Hanover
■ Youthwork
In August 2009 the partnership representatives have lutheran church will be faced with decreasing
been ask to propose an external project leader. At budgets. This will influence all fields of work.
the 15th of September they decided to ask Hermann Never the less all partnership committees of the
Hartmann, a retired socialworker who worked as circuits in Osnabrück region are trying to provide
the commissioner for the church development servi- the reduction of their budgets.