Germany: young people engaging on common concerns

Youth leader Robert Hammerschmidt from the Evangelical Church in Central Germany

(LWI) – It was an encounter with a pastor gardening in a neighboring allotment which first brought atheist Robert Hammerschmidt into the church. He was attracted by the sense of community and the opportunities the Evangelical Church in Central Germany offered to young people like himself.   

He is currently studying political science and working with the Ecumenical Youth Council in Europe, where he serves as treasurer and encouraging young people interested in the ecumenical movement to be trained for service in their churches. He is particularly interested in how young people in different churches can find common ground to engage with secular organizations on pressing issues of the day. 

On the sidelines of a recent Seminar for Laypersons in Church Leadership (https://lutheranworld.org/news/lay-leaders-meet-geneva-and-wittenberg) he spoke about how his church and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) have opened up new horizons for him.  

What church do you come from and what is your responsibility there?  

I come from the Evangelical Church in Central Germany and am actively involved in the church’s work with young people. My main activity is however in the Ecumenical Youth Council in Europe where I’m currently serving as treasurer. The task of the Council is to bring together churches in the ecumenical movement in Europe and beyond.  

First, we plan theological programs for young people interested in ecumenism, and who volunteer to undergo further training as youth leaders in the individual member churches. In addition, however, we discuss what ecumenism means and what it means to be part of this movement. But, as a student of politics, I’m most fascinated by the representation of the ecumenical movement to the outside world.  

What fascinates you about it?  

As a movement, we are many churches and have many opinions. That always makes the internal discussions and negotiating process most interesting. But going public on that and saying we have come to an agreement as young people in the church and we now want to stand up for this or that cause is something I find very, very fascinating.   

For example, once, at the European Youth Forum, we voted on the conflict in Western Sahara. We discussed what this conflict actually means for us as churches. What does it mean that we are churches and that we have Muslim sisters and brothers? What does it mean for Christian minorities, including in other countries, where people are suffering? How can we help? Those are the questions I like dealing with most: how can the ecumenical movement reach out into the world?   

How did you, a political science student, get involved in the church?  Did you grow up in a Christian family?   

No, I grew up as an atheist. But at 13, you can decide for yourself about religion and I opted to be baptized because I wanted to take part in a confirmation class. I was baptized in Weimar on the night before Easter. I was fascinated by a community that stays together for reasons not only connected to a classroom, so to speak, but sharing a common foundation. And then I quickly grasped that faith is community and community is faith. 

And then I was somehow fully involved in the church.   

What, or who brought you to the church?   

We have an allotment garden and the neighboring garden belonged to a pastor, a really impressive person who was running a confirmation class. He has retired in the meantime, but he brought me to the church back then. To this day, I’m grateful to him for that.  

In Europe there is a lot of skepticism about the church, particularly among young people, and that is also understandable. These are issues we have to work on. All the same, I must say that as a young person you get an incredible number of opportunities. I have always been able to make good use of them, even though I come from a less privileged family. Without the church, and above all the Evangelical Church, I would not be here – and also not taking the university course that I am now enrolled in.  

Why not?   

If you are inwardly strongly motivated, you can sort out a lot of things for yourself, regardless of whether you want to study architecture, medicine, or political science. But it takes time and energy. And precisely at that point, the church opened doors and brought me closer to the topics that interest me.  

That is also my vision of community. I give something, I’m active in the church, I help to plan and shape it – in worship, when writing prayers, in the spiritual and also the policy-making life of the church. And in return I receive support and come closer to my goals.  

Your father was part of the peaceful revolution in the German Democratic Republic. How did that influence you?  

I am 19 years old, so I was born after the peaceful revolution or the fall of the Berlin Wall and have always only heard stories about it.  

The intriguing thing was that my father was always a part of the church. On the other hand, my mother had no particular interest in the church. She came from very modest circumstances and that’s why she always took all the available opportunities to be among young people. So, they were both very critical of the system but for quite different reasons. 

An influential factor for me was that I was able to benefit to some extent from both of them: I appreciate the church as a space for youth encounters and community. At the same time, I have also learned to critically question the church and to examine where it has to develop and change.  

What does it mean for you and your church to be part of the Lutheran World Federation?   

It is fantastic that it is not just a loose network but a place where things happen. When we have questions going beyond our congregation and even our country, we can find answers there.   

That may sound a bit abstract. But in practical terms, it means that we not only know there are these churches, but we can share information and demonstrate solidarity. As a privileged German regional church, we also have the opportunity to really practice what we preach, that is compassion and solidarity.  

Yet it’s not a matter of offering assistance in a top-down way, but of genuine cooperation at eye level. The Lutheran World Federation provides a framework for that, in which all churches are equal, or are at least moving in that direction.  

And internationally speaking, that is something special. Being at eye level is not something to be taken for granted. In that regard, I’m also a bit proud when I can say: we are a part of the Lutheran World Federation.