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Adventists in Germany elect church leadership

Adventists in Germany elect church leadership

APD.

Pastors Werner Dullinger and Johannes Naether have been re-elected as presidents of the two German Union Conferences of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. 

The 332 delegates from the regional conferences in southern Germany elected Pastor Werner Dullinger as president of the South German Union Conference (Süddeutscher Verband, SDV). He has held this office since 2015. 

The 229 delegates from the northern conferences elected Pastor Johannes Naether as president of the North German Union Conference (Norddeutscher Verband, NDV). He has served in this capacity since 2012. 

Delegates from the two Adventist Union Conferences in Germany met on May 15 and 16, 2022, on the grounds of the Friedensau Theological College (near Magdeburg), in both joint and separate sessions.

Results of the elections

In the election, delegates from both Unions voted separately. Both Union presidents received over 80 percent of the votes from the delegates of their respective conferences.

With the exception of the Union presidents, all other leadership positions were filled in personal union, meaning that those elected are responsible for both of the Adventist Unions and were elected in separate votes by delegates from both Unions. All of them also received over 80 percent approval. Pastor Alexander Kampmann was elected vice president and department director for church development. 

In the absence of an election proposal, the election of a chief financial officer was delegated to the executive committees of the Unions. Dieter Neef last held this office from 2016 until the end of February 2022.

Christian Fischer was elected as director of the Education Department. 

Pastor Ruben Grieco will lead the Adventist Youth and Communications departments. He already had experince leading the Adventist Youth in Germany, together with Pastor Bert Seefeldt. 

Bert Seefeldt moved to the Adventist relief organization, ADRA, on April 1. 

The communications department was headed until mid-2021 by Pastor Stephan G. Brass, who subsequently retired but has since, temporarily, returned to work as a local pastor in Munich.

Daniela Canedo was re-elected as director of the Women's Department. She has held this position since April 2021, succeeding Angelika Pfaller, who retired in the summer of 2021. 

Pastor Friedbert Schramm was re-elected as department director for pastoral services.

North German and South German Adventist Union Conferences

The North German Union, headquartered in Hannover, has 18,716 adult baptized church members in 325 Adventist congregations. The South German Union, based in Ostfildern near Stuttgart, counts a total of 15,569 adult baptized church members in 221 Adventist congregations.

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