United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany

The United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany (German: Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands, VELKD) was founded on July 8, 1948, in Eisenach, Germany. Its total membership is 7.8 million people.^[1] All its member churches belong to the Protestant Church in Germany, with which it co-operates closely. In 2018 it has been reduced from an independent legal entity to an administrative unit within the larger Protestant Church in Germany.

The seat of the VELKD is in Hanover. The leading bishop (German: Leitender Bischof) is Ralf Meister.

Leading Bishops of the VELKD

1948–1949: Wilhelm Henke
1949–1955: Hans Meiser
1955–1969: Johannes Lilje
1969–1975: Hans-Otto Wölber, Land Bishop of Hamburg
1975–1978: Eduard Lohse
1978–1981: Gerhard Heintze
1981–1990: Karlheinz Stoll
1990–1993: Gerhard Müller
1993–1999: Horst Hirschler
1999–2005: Hans Christian Knuth
2005–2011: Johannes Friedrich
2011-2018: Gerhard Ulrich
since 2018: Ralf Meister

President of the Church Office of the VELKD

1949-1963: Heinz Brunotte
1963-1967: Max Keller-Hüschemenger
1968-1976: Hugo Schnell
1976–1982: Günther Gaßmann
1983-2000: Friedrich-Otto Scharbau
2000-2015: Friedrich Hauschildt ( also Vice-President of the Office of the Protestant Church in Germany (EKD), between 2007 and 2015)
2015-2023: Horst Gorski (also Vice-President of EKD between 2015 and 2023) ^[2]
since 2023: Stephan Schaede (also Vice-President of EKD since 2023) ^[3]