- Provincial Bishop: Experimenting with Faith
Unburdened offers like blessing actions at rest areas, spontaneous weddings and baptisms, or even services with music from pop icons like Taylor Swift, can, in the conviction of the Evangelical State Bishop, help people build or regain trust in the church.
"It's about making positive experiences with the church," Heike Springhart told the German Press Agency in Karlsruhe. "And in a moment later, whether it's tomorrow or in three years, people remember and say, 'That touched me then and gave me more than I might have expected, so I'll turn to it.'"
Not a solution for membership decline?
Springhart doesn't believe that such actions can reverse the decline in membership. "Turning the tide would mean the numbers suddenly go back up. Even if I keep my hopes high, I wouldn't count on that," she said. "There's a societal trend, and we won't stop it with three flyers."
It's a long-term development also related to demographic change. "And yet, our primary mission as a church is to win people - first and foremost for the Christian faith, not as a membership drive."
For Springhart, it doesn't matter if many people feel addressed or just two who happen to be touched at the right moment at a rest area.
Experimenting with formats and breaking free from traditional forms
The number of members in the Evangelical State Church in Baden has fallen to around one million by the end of last year. While the number of departures decreased compared to the previous year (from 22,149 to 21,731), there were fewer entries (1,038 compared to 1,165 in 2022). Numbers were also down for baptisms, confirmations, and church weddings, a topic that concerns other churches in the region as well.
"People need to experience the relevance of the church more clearly," Springhart said. The church must show where it's there for people and that there's no church without the people who form it.
"The range is broader: the courage to do something low-threshold and simply try something, that the doors are wide open, beyond the traditional forms," she said, citing the so-called pop-up church as an example. "Colleagues distribute blessings in the pedestrian zone. The contact is very random."
Experiments have been ongoing to make the church service landscape more diverse - for example, with film services or offers from the Holy Spirit Church in Heidelberg with music by singers like Taylor Swift and Adele, where people might realize that church can be different than assumed.
Success isn't measured by whether someone attends church every Sunday. "But it's like a soil that needs to be watered regularly. And then it's watered and fertilized again."
No bureaucratic hurdles before weddings, baptisms, and funerals
Last year, the Baden State Church eased bureaucracy for weddings and baptisms, allowing couples to marry at their desired location with their desired pastor. For Springhart, it's a sign: "It's great that you want to get married, that you want to baptize your child, that you want to bury your grandmother. We're here for you, and we're here for you in a way that you don't have to go through a hurdle first."
Actions such as spontaneous weddings or baptisms, often bundled on a specific day, also drew more attention, said the Bishop of the region. They also had advantages for some. For instance, a spontaneous wedding ceremony could have a greater personal depth because it focuses on the essentials. In large wedding celebrations, the church service is just a small part. However, Springhart also emphasized: "No one has the idea that there will only be drive-through weddings in the future and the traditional wedding ceremony will no longer exist."
These developments, in her view, show one thing above all: Despite the separation of church and state, and in a situation where people no longer automatically attend church, the blessing "as a direct expression of God's favor" is still sought after.
"In some instances, these unconventional weddings could lead to potential conversations about marriage within the church, encouraging deeper engagement."
"Moreover, simpler baptism processes could make the church more accessible to families, fostering a sense of belonging and community."
