Nordkirche Partnership
The Diocese of Lichfield has enjoyed an active Partnership with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Mecklenburg (now part of the ‘Nordkirche’) since 1997.
This partnership is based on a five-year Covenant Agreement which has now been renewed twice. The third revision drafted during a conference in Mecklenburg was signed at Advent 2014 by Bishop Jonathan Gledhill (Diocesan Bishop – Lichfield) and Bischof Gerhard Ulrich (Presiding Bishop – Nordkirche).
The first visit of a German group to St. Mark’s took place in May 2008 when ten people from the Bernogemeinde (Schwerin) spent time at our Diocesan Partnership Conference called ‘Cross-Talk’ and a number of days following the conference in the parish.
More widely, the Partnership has given opportunities for numerous study conferences and reciprocal visits by those training for ordination as well as the newly-ordained. Youth groups from Mecklenburg have visited parishes in the diocese and groups attend the annual ‘Soul Survivor’ event in Stafford, where in 2014, as per the picture below, a group was able to meet the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Each year the Partnership celebrates with an Advent service held alternately in Germany and England. The 2019 venue will be Güstrow which lies about 50km due south of Rostock on the Baltic coast.
A leaflet describing the work of our partnership can be read or downloaded from this link… Nordkirche Leaflet
An ecumenical pilgrimage in Mecklenburg is being offered in June 2020, the information can be downloaded here… An Ecumenical Pilgrimage