Germany

The EKD is a federation of 23 Lutheran, Reformed and United Protestant regional/national churches, but it suffers deep divisions on many levels. The more evangelical/conservative groups and congregations are concentrated in Württemberg, Siegerland and south Saxony. Steadily declining attendance – and therefore income – translates into not only low morale for congregations, but also increasingly empty and crumbling physical structures. Many of the Lutheran clergy do not even believe in life after death; it is often difficult for born-again ministers in the EKD to openly minister in their own churches! Since 2001, the need for evangelization is recognized, and new church-development concepts enjoy popularity; without a return to genuine faith in the Bible, however, new concepts and programmes will never replace the need for renewal.