Eight new co-workers at the Evangelical Mission in Solidarity (EMS) were officially welcomed during a festive service on 24 October 2024, including the new General Manager, Ute Kauffmann, and the new Head of the Programmes and Networks Department, Reverend Eleanor McCormick. The welcoming service took place in the Pauluskirche (St Paul’s Church) in Stuttgart.   The Deputy President of the EMS, Church Councillor Anne Heitmann, and the General Secretary of the Evangelical Mission in Solidarity (EMS), Dr Dieter Heidtmann, jointly introduced the new staff members to their tasks.

info_outline

The new Head of the Programmes and Networks Department, Reverend Eleanor McCormick (left) and the new General Manager, Ute Kauffmann. (Photo: EMS/Krüger)

Besides several new appointments in various departments, there are also two changes at the top of the EMS. Ute Kauffmann is the new General Manager of the EMS. She takes over the post from Rudolf Bausch who is retiring after 14 years in the Secretariat.

Ute Kauffmann's last position was head of the Church Administration Office in Calw. The 51-year-old has spent 18 years of her professional life in management positions, most of them at the Church Administration Office in Stuttgart. As the new General Manager, she will keep a close eye on finances and has already set herself a clear aim: “Despite the increasingly difficult financial conditions, I intend to maintain the various tasks of the EMS at the current level,” says Kaufmann, who has a degree in public administration. Throughout her professional life, she has held honorary posts on several occasions. For instance, she was member of the association committee for church wardens and for five years, she was spokesperson for the church administration offices in the Stuttgart diocese. 

The other new member of the Secretariat is Reverend Eleanor McCormick. She has headed the Programmes and Networks Department at EMS since September and is also responsible for the Unit for Intercultural Theology and Education, Women and Gender.

Eleanor McCormick was born in the USA and stems from Connecticut, near New York. After completing a bachelor's degree in economics and political science, she obtained a Master of Divinity in Theology from Yale in 2011. This was followed by 12 years as an ordained pastor in the service of the United Church of Christ (UCC). She has been living in Germany since 2019, working as an ecumenical pastor in the Protestant Church of Baden. In the EMS, she aims to focus her attention on women's empowerment. “My goal is to strengthen the voices of women and to pay special attention to the 25 million Christians at the grass roots of our organisation,” says McCormick.

Dr Dieter Heidtmann, Secretary General of the EMS, is looking forward to working with his new colleagues. “The new staff members will make the EMS Secretariat a much younger and more diverse team.  We are delighted we have been able to fill the positions with such qualified people. Through its work, the EMS changes people's lives. Finding new people who can commit to the global EMS Fellowship is not always an easy task.”