The Evangelical Mission in Solidarity (EMS) bids farewell to its former President, Dean emeritus Rainer Lamotte, who passed away on 15 November at the age of 78.

“We mourn the loss of a long-standing friend who shaped the development of EMS at crucial points,” says EMS General Secretary Rev. Dr. Dieter Heidtmann.

Rainer Lamotte served as a member of the board of the German East Asia Mission (DOAM) for decades and represented it in EMS bodies from 1990 to 2018. He played a key role in the Jerusalem Forum in 1991, where groundbreaking decisions for the internationalization of EMS were made. From 2002 to 2008, he was President of the EMS Synod and of the worldwide EMS fellowship.

In 1991, Lamotte shared his impressions of the Jerusalem Forum: “At that time, I found it a special privilege to get to know the representatives of our partner churches so intensively over many days during at this forum in Jerusalem. I truly felt part of a greater whole. What I remember most vividly is how we set out early in the morning – before sunrise – to the Mount of Olives, both to witness the sunrise and to begin the day with a devotion at this historic site. The entire conference sat in a large circle – a very special experience. To me it felt like a small Pentecost, and I realized ‘God makes no distinctions between us!’”

“That is exactly how we experienced Rainer Lamotte in the EMS fellowship,” says Heidtmann. “As part of a greater whole and as someone who participated in the life of other members of the ecumenical community with great enthusiasm. He lived out the conviction: ‘God makes no distinctions between us!’”

We share in the grief of his family, the German East Asia Mission, and the Protestant Church of the Palatinate.

“We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.” (Romans 14:7–8)