Kirchentag in Stuttgart

From Wednesday June 3rd to Sunday June 7th, the German Protestant "Kirchentag" ('a joyful festival for everyone') will take place in Stuttgart, Germany. Over five days, there will be 2500 events, 100,000 full-time visitors, and 30,000 active participants from many countries in the world. The Kirchentag was founded in 1949 as a festival of faith and a forum for the world, unique in Germany in enabling encounter and dialogue, strengthening Christian thought and action, and engaging in public witness. 

The 2015 theme is "That we may become wise" (Psalm 90). President of the Stuttgart Kirchentag, Andreas Barner, said the theme is about answers to the questions of our times, specifically about the long-term considerations of our deeds: "Our days are numbered, which makes it especially important that we change our bearing towards long-term consequences, because almost everything will continue without us when we are gone." Topics will include sustainable thinking and "wise" economics.

Frank Otfried July, presiding bishop of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Württemberg, sees the theme as one of disruption. "It calls on us to shift gears in our lives and our routines, in our daily treadmills on the fast lane. To question ourselves and the lives we lead. To distinguish between final and less final things and to start at the end when doing so, which means true sustainable thinking. That is the great gift of this theme."

The theme is developed in the following categories: theology and spirituality; church and congregation; interreligious dialogue; society and education; global challenges; environment, economics, transformation; ways of life and living together. 

DIAKONIA World Federation will be represented by the DWF Secretary, Traude Leitenberger, along with Kaiserswerther Verband, Zehlendorfer Verband and VEDD. As well, people from other Diakonia organizations will be there, as well as Dr. Müller and Wolfgang Schaid.