Birgit Winterhoff
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The Board of the German Lausanne Movement elected Birgit Winterhoff 14 November 2005 as the new chair of the German Lausanne Committee, also known as the “Coalition for Evangelization.” Rev. Winterhoff lives in Halle and is a full-time pastor of the Evangelical Church of Westphalia. Winterhoff follows Rev. Ulrich Parzany, who is unable to hold position any longer due to age restrictions.5
Apart from her pastorate ministry, the 52-year-old Winterhoff is also deputy chair of “Evangeliumsrundfunk” in Wetzlar (“ERF—Good News” Evangelical Broadcasting). She also served as chair for seven years of “Arbeitsgemeinschaft Jugendevangelisation,” an association that joins evangelistic youth ministries, and contributed regularly to the planning and carrying out of the “Christival” (the largest German Christian Youth Congress) in Dresden in 1996 and in Kassel in 2002. Winterhoff has also done morning radio devotions for thirteen years and has contributed to different projects of the “Arbeitsgemeinschaft Missionarischer Dienste, AMD,“ an organization that initiates evangelistic projects within the Evangelical Church in Germany.
Other Newsmakers
Hartmut Bärend, general secretary of the AMD, and Hartmut Steeb, general secretary of the German Evangelical Alliance, have been elected as deputy chairs once again. The German Lausanne Committee also announced that the network will be led by an executive committee consisting of Winterhoff, Barend, Steeb and the following leaders: Wilfried Bohlen, head of the Missions Department, “Bund Evangelisch-Freikirchlicher Gemeinden“ (Baptist Church); Klaus Jürgen Diehl, head of the AMD—Evangelical Church of Westphalia; Erhard Michel, head of the “Inlandmission im Bund Freier Ev. Gemeinden” (Evangelical Free Church); Dr. Roland Werner, head of Christustreff–Fellowship and chair of Christival since 1993.
Office Moves to Bad Blankenburg
With the changes and growth in the leadership structure, the German Lausanne Committee office will move to the German Evangelical Alliance headquarters in Bad Blankenburg (Thuringia).
The “Coalition for Evangelization” operates as a network of ministry leaders of evangelistic and mission-orientated movements in Germany. The goal is to further evangelization in Germany, to initiate and carry out mission projects and to search for new ways to reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
At the most recent board meeting, Barend reminded members of the committee about the key points in the Lausanne Covenant, which he summed them up in the following ways::
• A clear affirmation of the death of Jesus Christ as the ransom for the sins of men.
• A clear affirmation of the authority of the Bible as the one Word of God.
• A passionate focus on world evangelism, including the central task of inviting people to (1) a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and (2) being members of his church.
• A clear affirmation that evangelization and social responsibility are both part of our Christian duty.
• A clear call to follow Christ.