The Bishop of Berlin, Bishop Dr Markus Droege, visited the Diocese of London to be installed as an Honorary Canon of St Paul’s Cathedral by the Bishop of London.
During his time in London, the Bishop of Berlin also had the opportunity to experience some of the positive work going on in the Diocese of London, including the project at Tottenham Hale, a regeneration development of housing for 15,000 new residents on a former brownfield site which sits between the parishes of St Mary’s Lansdowne Road and Holy Trinity Tottenham.
Bishop Droege also attended the London Church Leaders meeting to hear about the work of Churches across the Capital. The Bishop was accompanied by Dr Roland Herpich, the Director of the Berliner Missionwerk, and met with officials at the London Diocesan Office to learn about the work of the London Diocesan Fund, and the administrative structures of the Church of England.
The Diocese of London has had a formal partnership with the Diocese of Berlin-Brandenburg since 1999 when the Bishop of London and the Bishop of Berlin-Brandenburg, Prof Wolfgang Huber, committed to deepening their unity in Christ through prayer, witness and service. The partnership consists of close links between parishes and chaplaincies, common study and prayer in bi-annual conferences, and a growing interchange of personnel.
There are some forthcoming visits of parishes in Germany to London in the near future, which includes parish of Spandau in June 2015 and the parish of Berlin Mitte in September. There are a number of individual London parishes which have links with churches in Berlin. Recently a party of 17 curates from the Edmonton Episcopal Area visited Berlin to see the work of the church there and as part of a study of the work of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. If you would like to become involved please contact Brian Leathard.
The Archdeacon of Hampstead, The Ven Luke Miller, who is the senior staff portfolio holder for the link with Berlin said:
“Building links with others who work in a similar situation but in a different culture and in different ways enables us to look together at common problems and to discern more effective ways of enabling our common mission.”
The Bishop of Berlin made an hon canon @StPaulsLondon yesterday #BerLon @dioceseoflondon @DiakonieBerlin pic.twitter.com/caJbBuJfMi
— Luke Miller (@ArchdeaconLuke) April 15, 2015
