Dirk Schmid-Hornisch, pastor of the Resurrection Church, leaves Offenburg. On September 1, he becomes dean of the evangelical church district of Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald. He will be adopted on Sunday, July 9th.
Dirk Schmid-Hornisch is leaving the Protestant Resurrection Church in Oststadt after more than 13 years. The 52-year-old father felt it was a good time for a change so that he could once again face new challenges. And there will be no lack of that, because the signs are pointing to change in the evangelical church too. In the Ekiba 2032 structural process, the aim is to actively shape change and look for new paths.
Born in Pforzheim, he studied Protestant theology in Heidelberg, Marburg and Sao Paulo, as well as diaconal science in Heidelberg. In 2010 he moved to the Offenburg-Ortenberg Resurrection Congregation with the districts of Southeastern, Fessenbach and Ortenberg. Since 2014 he has been a part-time deaconry pastor of the Evangelical church district of Ortenau, since 2015 district pastoral officer for the Offenburg region, and since 2016 he has been chairman of the supervisory board of the diaconal work in the church district of Ortenau. Since 2015 he has been heavily involved in the working group Interreligiser Dialog Offenburg (AKIDO).
A highlight of the past 13 years in 2019 was the restoration of the Church of the Resurrection and its organ. This made it possible to adapt the concrete building erected 55 years ago to the changing needs of today. Working in a team was always important to him, whether in the preparation for the service or in the group of elders, where we supported each other. The good cooperation with the “Haus der Sonnenkinder” day-care center will remain in his memory, as will the “Ethics Forum”, which opened up the Church of the Resurrection to socially relevant topics. The kumene worked well as a joint testimony and had an impact on the residential areas.
The diverse activities of the interreligious working group went beyond the Christian churches. It focuses on good cooperation and the peace witness of religions and initiated the “Path of Religions” through Offenburg in 2022. Regular peace prayers with the Holy Trinity Catholic community developed out of the ecumenical Peace Decade. The connection with the community in Seiden thread and the conscious participation in district festivals with ecumenical services have shown that the evangelical church does not just want to be there for itself. As a deaconry pastor, Schmid-Hornisch was also chairman of the board of directors of the Diakonisches Werk in the whole of Ortenau, held services in the Paul-Gerhardt-Haus and in the Vinzentiushaus. The networking of pastoral care, confirmation work and religious instruction were also very important to him.
As dean of the Evangelical church district of Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald, Schmid-Hornisch also wants to help turn a time of upheaval into a time of new beginnings. People should feel welcome in local church and future collaborative spaces. Experiments and new offers should be used to bring the gospel closer to people even better. “The community structures that have grown with the volunteers are a lasting treasure that we have, and at the same time we have to see where there are new things that we can try out,” he says. Church does not only take place in the service and in the parish hall, institutions such as diaconia or kindergartens should be more important parts of the awareness. There is currently a lot of room for change in order to shape the start. One can remain innovative and at the same time calm, change has always been part of Christianity. “The church is in God’s hands. We can do our part to shape it,” said the pastor.
Note: Pastor Dirk Schmid-Hornisch will say goodbye on July 9, 6 p.m., in the service in the Church of the Resurrection, Hlderlinstrasse, followed by a reception in the parish hall.
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