Anniversary in Sachsenhausen: Confirmants celebrate 50 years of faith!

Anniversary in Sachsenhausen: Confirmants celebrate 50 years of faith!

On Sunday, the former confirmation candidates of the Sachsenhausen Protestant parish honored their golden, diamond and silver anniversaries with a festive event in the Leonhard Church. Former pastor Udo Köser, who is almost 85 years old, celebrated with the anniversaries. The golden confirmation candidates who can look back on the year 1975 include Bernd Diehm, Rolf Diehm, and Petra Diehm.

This celebration was not only a look back at shared memories, but also a beautiful occasion to strengthen the community. The anniversaries from 1955 and 1960 were also honored during the service. Rolf Kirchner and Helga Baumann, among others, were represented from 1955. In addition, the diamond confirmation candidates from 1965, such as Rolf Prasse and Peter Lotz, celebrated their 60th anniversary.

A look at confirmation

Confirmation plays an important role in the lives of many young people in Germany. Since 1945, the social acceptance of confirmation classes has become an integral part of life, especially in the later GDR. There, in the 1950s, there was an important counterpart to church confirmation with the introduction of youth consecration, which led to many conflicts within families. While declining numbers of participants were observed in the GDR, West Germany experienced a different challenge: the distance between young people and the church.

Especially in the last few decades there has been an increase in unbaptized young people who want to take part in confirmation classes. Churches have adapted their concepts to meet the needs of this new generation. This is done through a holistic approach that addresses the young people's life questions and promotes active participation in church services.ekd.de reports that churches need to further develop their understanding of confirmation in order to remain relevant.

Coming challenges

The situational need to better coordinate religious instruction and confirmation work is becoming increasingly clear. It would be of little use to sing the praises of confirmation work, because the churches in West Germany are also faced with the challenge of doing justice to the changing realities of young people's lives.

But what does this mean for the future design of church offerings? The feedback from church members is mostly positive, but active participation from young people is crucial to the success of the programs. This shows that the development of curricula and community work offerings must be adapted to social changes.

These considerations and the joint celebration in the heart of the community show that tradition still has a firm place in today's world - and looking into the future remains just as important.

For readers interested in further information on this topic, take a look at the coverage of the jubilee confirmations as reported by Main Echo and fnweb be provided.