Conference of European Clergy

History and Mission

Since the anniversary year of Luther in 1983 representatives of the Protestant pastors are networked across Europe. The Conference of European Clergy (Konferenz Europäischer Pfarrverbände - KEP) is a volunteer network with the aim to maintain the solidarity of the European pastors and their families by:

sharing information
mutual assistance
pastoral theology working
visible signs of solidarity, fraternal communion
willingness to learn from each other
support for the work of Clergy associations, if necessary for the reconstruction of Clergy associations
yearly impulse - on Trinity Sunday / Sunday after Pentecost - to think of each other in worship by means of a sermon draft
publication in the European parish magazines and on the Internet
congress of the European evangelical pastors - every 3 years

We are associate member of the Conference of European Churches (Konferenz Europäischer Kirchen - KEK). Participation in the plenary meetings, participation in the Theological Commission "Churches in Dialogue" - Participation in the Ecumenical Assemblies.

The work for the dissemination of the Charta Oecumenica and for strengthening the ecumenical cooperation in the local communities is very important to us. By personal visits of the committee or of individual members, the exchange with the various professional associations and Clergy associations is maintained locally.

The aid for the construction of professional associations for pastors is a goal that can not be easily realized, the more necessary it seems in many churches throughout Europe.

Conventions and Congresses

First encounter meetings:

1983 Eisenach (DE)
1985 Utrecht (NL)
1986 Zürich (CH)

Congresses:

1989 Bonn (DE)
1992 Berekfürdö (HU)
1995 Château du Liebfrauenberg (FR)
1998 Granavolden (NO)
2001 Michalovce (SK)
2004 Løgumkloster (DK)
2007 Torre Pellice (IT)
2010 Wisla (PL)
2013 Elspeet (NL)
2016 Bad Urach (DE)
2019 Admont (AT)
2022 Château du Liebfrauenberg (FR)

Compiled on the basis of the deliberations of the KEP Bureau on May 15th, 2010, Gerd Rainer Koch