A farewell service was held at the Luther Church in Frankfurt on Friday, 31 January, in honour of Dr honoris causa Detlev Knoche's retirement. Detlev Knoche assumed many leading roles and responsibilities in the worldwide ecumenical movement during the many decades of his working life. Since 2015, he has headed the Centre for Ecumenism jointly run by the Protestant Church in Hesse and Nassau (EKHN) and the Evangelical Church of Kurhessen-Waldeck (EKKW). As President and Chair of the General Meeting, he navigated the Evangelical Mission in Solidarity (EMS) through challenging times.

A passionate advocate for ecumenism

In her welcoming address, Anne Heitmann expressed her conviction that “Ecumenism needs people like Detlev Knoche. People who build networks and combine topics. People who pursue their convictions and persevere, even at times when things get difficult. People who succeed in combining things in such a way that we can move forward together.”

The EMS Fellowship has certainly made progress in the years of Knoche’s presidency. Knoche was a driving force behind bringing the Church of North India (CNI) and the Christian Church in West Sulawesi into the EMS network. He accompanied an intensive organisational development process for drafting sustainability guidelines, formulating eco-theological guidelines and radically reforming the EMS constitution. Last but not least, since 2022 Knoche has paved the way to depart from the virtual Zoom rooms of the coronavirus era back into direct contact and person-to-person networking. “It has always been my aim to open people's eyes to the global community and the shared responsibility for peace, justice and the integrity of creation,” says Knoche.

Responsibility for peace, justice and the integrity of creation

Detlev Knoche, born in Homberg (Efze) in 1958, studied Protestant theology and pedagogics in Frankfurt and Marburg. The graduate pedagogue and pastor of the Protestant Church in Hesse and Nassau (EKHN) headed the Centre for Ecumenism of the EKHN from 2009 to 2014. In 2015, he was appointed head of the Centre for Ecumenism jointly run by the Protestant Church in Hesse and Nassau (EKHN) and the Evangelical Church of Kurhessen-Waldeck (EKKW). Since 2012, Detlev Knoche has been a member of the EMS Mission Council. After serving four years as deputy chair, he was elected Chair of the EMS General Meeting and the EMS Mission Council in 2022. In 2024, Knoche received an honorary doctorate from the renowned Henry Martin Institute (HMI) in Hyderabad.

Farewell and continuity

At the start of spring this year, Detlev Knoche will have more free time on his hands. Anne Heitmann already took over from Detlev Knoche as Chair of the EMS Executive Committee in November 2024. At the same time, Knoche was re-elected to the Mission Council at the EMS General Meeting. So Detlev Knoche is retiring, but at the same time he remains – a passionate advocate for ecumenism.