Evangelical Church of Westphalia

The Protestant Church of Westphalia (German: Evangelische Kirche von Westfalen, EKvW) is a United Protestant church body in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Lutheran Church of Westphalia

Neustädter Marienchurch in Bielefeld

The seat of the praeses (German: Präses, the head of the church) is Bielefeld. The EKvW emerged on 13 June 1945, when the ecclesiastical province of Westphalia within the Lutheran Church of the old-Prussian Union assumed its independence as church body of its own. The EKvW is a full member of the Protestant Church in Germany (EKD), and the Reformed Alliance^[1] and is a church whose bases are in a Union between parishes in Lutheran and Calvinistic traditions. The church is also a member of the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe. Präses (president) of the EKvW is Annette Kurschus (2012), as its first female leader.

Präses (President)

• 1834–1835: Jakob von der Kuhlen
• 1835–1841: Christian Nonne
• 1841–1843: Bernhard Jacobi
• 1844–1874: Wilhelm Diedrich Albert
• 1874–1902: Ludwig Polscher
• 1902–1914: Friedrich König
• 1914–1927: Heinrich Kockelke
• 1927–1949: Karl Koch (until 1934 Präses der Provinzialsynode, 1934–1945 of Bekenntnissynode, since 1945 of synode)
• 1949–1968: Ernst Wilm
• 1969–1977: Hans Thimme
• 1977–1985: Heinrich Reiß
• 1985–1996: Hans-Martin Linnemann
• 1996–2004: Manfred Sorg
• 2004–2012: Alfred Buß
• 2012–2023: Annette Kurschus
• since 2025: Adelheid Ruck-Schröder^[2]

Practices

The church permits the ordination of women. Blessing of same-sex marriages has been allowed from 2019.^[3][4][5]