An old stone staircase leads up to the small village church in the Welkershausen district of Meiningen, which looks plain from the outside. Some of the stones are no longer firmly grouted. The climb is a bit shaky.
A little surprise is hidden behind the green wooden door. The interior of the church, built in 1724, is a real gem in contrast to the external impression. Historical wall paintings give the room its own aura.
Declining membership, declining income
A Thursday evening in mid-June. The wooden benches are well filled, around 40 people have taken a seat in the five rows. A rather rare sight in these rooms. The occasion is not a church service, but a public discussion on the future of the church. Because the Evangelical Church District Meiningen has a problem. He, too, is affected by declining membership numbers.
“And that also has a financial impact,” says Tilman Krause, executive pastor of the Meiningen church district. In concrete terms, this means that not all properties can be held for the long term. After discussions in the district church council, the focus was on the church in Welkershausen, says Krause. They had come to the unanimous opinion that the community could best do without them.
Building needs to be renovated
The only regular event that takes place in the village church in Welkershausen is a so-called summer church. It consists of a Sunday evening service during the warm months. According to Pastor Tilman Krause, between 15 and 25 people are taking part. “Among them is exactly one person who comes from Welkershausen.”
The summer church could therefore also be relocated to one of the surrounding towns, Krause concluded. His impression is that there is otherwise little interest in the church from the community. And then there is the poor structural condition of the building. The windows are rotten, the beams in the tower are rotten, Krause lists.
Added to this is the broken bell, the wobbly stone staircase, and the lack of barrier-free access to the church. It is unclear how high the renovation costs will be. But it is clear, as Pastor Krause says, that the money will be missing.
Rumors of a demolition are circulating
Some people are already interested in what is happening to the church in Welkershausen. Manfred Bickel was among the 40 people who came to the citizens’ talks. He has heard that the church could ultimately be demolished: “That shocked me,” says the 85-year-old.
I hope someone can be found to take matters into their own hands.
Manfred Bickel
Manfred Bickel was born in Welkershausen, was baptized and confirmed in the village church. He used to ring the bells too, he says. He has been a volunteer in the local community throughout his life. But at the age of 85 he is no longer able to save the church. “I hope that someone can be found to take matters into their own hands.”
During the citizens’ discussion, frustration is also discharged among others. A man thinks that the city of Meiningen should be responsible. Many vent their incomprehension. The school and cemetery were closed in Welkershausen, the singers’ home was sold and now the church is supposed to disappear as well?
Looking for new uses
Pastor Tilman Krause also hopes that someone from the village will take care of the future of the church building and also makes it clear: “Tearing down the listed building is out of the question.” The citizens’ discussion was organized to collect ideas on how the church could be used differently. Thoughts and wishes were exchanged in small groups. The church as a place for cultural and musical events or as a venue for lectures with content beyond the Bible. The church as a café?
EKM: Number of similar cases is increasing
What happened in Welkershausen is not an isolated case. According to the Evangelical Church in Central Germany (EKM), there are 3,890 churches on their own territory, which is mainly in the states of Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt. This corresponds to around 20 percent of all churches in the Evangelical Church in Germany, although there are only 3.2 percent of the Evangelical Church members in the EKM.
Nowhere else in Germany can you find so many historic places of worship. According to the EKM, the average number of parishioners per church is 178, the national EKD average is 1,190. All of this shows what a great challenge the rehabilitation and preservation of the churches means for the EKM.
In addition, about half of the churches recorded are in need of renovation. At the same time, not all churches are used regularly anymore. Nevertheless, according to the EKM, ways are always sought first to continue to use churches and, if necessary, to use them differently. If this is not possible, a sale will be considered.