Inge Schneider, former Chair of the Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Wuerttemberg, receives the Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon (Bundesverdienstkreuz am Bande). Most recently, from 2014 to 2020, Inge Schneider held the Chair of the regional Synod, the highest honorary office in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Wuerttemberg. Schneider has been member of the Synod for all of 24 years and has influenced important development processes.

Inge Schneider, now deputy member on the international Mission Council of the Evangelical Mission in Solidarity (EMS), has been a reliable partner for the association for many decades. On behalf of the 28 member churches and mission societies of the EMS, Dr Dieter Heidtmann, General Secretary, was delighted on hearing the news: “Inge Schneider has been closely involved with the EMS for many years. On behalf of the international EMS association, I warmly congratulate Mrs Schneider on this special recognition for her great personal commitment.”

Inge Schneider became a member of the EMS Synod in the 1990s, first as a delegate of the Moravian Church and later as a delegate of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Wuerttemberg. In 2008, she was elected to join the international EMS Mission Council and was soon appointed Chair of the Finance Committee, a post she held for many years. Today, the educationalist is deputy member of the Mission Council and a strong supporter of ecumenical cooperation in her regional church. She emphasises that, through the EMS, she has learnt a lot about the different denominations within Protestant Christianity all over the world.

Born in Schwaikheim near Stuttgart in 1953, Schneider studied mathematics and religious education before working as a teacher. As a side-line she was a pastoral care minister for a diaconal elderly care agency. From 1982 to 1986, she lived with her family in Tanzania where she worked at a remote mission station helping the sick. Inge Schneider is married with three children.

Regina Karasch-Böttcher / Oliver Hoesch