Germany elects Werner Philipp as bishop

Key points:

• The Germany Central Conference elected the Rev. Werner Philipp, a district superintendent in eastern Germany, on the seventh ballot.
• Philipp will succeed Bishop Harald Rückert, who plans to continue as co-chair of the denomination’s Standing Committee on Central Conference Matters.
• Last year’s General Conference elected Philipp to serve on the Commission on the General Conference, which plans the legislative assembly.

The Rev. Werner Philipp, a district superintendent in eastern Germany, has been elected as a United Methodist bishop by delegates at the Germany Central Conference.

Philipp, 57, was elected Feb. 13 at the meeting in the Himmelspforten retreat house in Würzburg, a historic city in central Germany first Christianized by Irish missionaries in the seventh century. On the seventh ballot, he received 63 votes, exceeding the required two-thirds majority.

"I am ready to serve," he said in German upon the announcement of his election.

Philipp said he viewed the episcopal office as a service for which he is prepared. In his first words to those gathered, he set a theme of hope.

“Hope should be the big title under which I would like to ‘sail on’ with you — a well-founded hope that Jesus Christ has given us,” he said, addressing delegates from the three annual conferences in Germany: North, East and South. “This is a hope that becomes concrete in a life, a service to which God has called us all. It is a service that changes and remakes lives in order to give other people this opportunity to live.

“May God give us this hope and may he bless our church in everything it does and does not do and in everything it can bring to this world,” he said.

Philipp will succeed Bishop Harald Rückert. In Germany, bishops are elected for a four-year term and can be re-elected for an eight-year term for a maximum of 12 years. If they are serving at the time of their retirement, they are considered a bishop for life. If they are too young to retire after 12 years, they return to the pastorate. Rückert is set to retire in May.

Philipp is eligible to serve for eight years before he reaches the mandatory retirement age for United Methodist bishops.

He has led Zwickau District in the Germany East Annual Conference since 2019. He was born and raised in Erlabrunn in southern Saxony. The future bishop then embarked on a path to pastoral training in The United Methodist Church. After studying theology in Bad Klosterlausnitz and Reutlingen, he began his pastoral service in the Großenhain charge, located between Leipzig and Dresden. He was then assigned to Reichenbach and Dresden.

Last year’s General Conference elected him to serve on the Commission on the General Conference, which plans the legislative assembly. With his election as bishop, the Germany Central Conference will need to select another German to fill its seat on the commission.

The Germany Central Conference encompasses three annual conferences, regional bodies consisting of multiple churches and other ministries.

The United Methodist Church currently has seven central conferences — church regions in Africa, Europe and the Philippines — with plans to add an eighth central conference in eastern Africa in April. Central conferences elect bishops and have the authority to adapt parts of the Book of Discipline, the denomination’s policy book, as their missional contexts require.

Last year, the West Africa Central Conference elected Bishops Ande Ikimun Emmanuel of Nigeria and James Boye-Caulker of Sierra Leone. After Germany’s election, eight more new bishops are expected to be elected this year in the Africa, Congo as well as the Northern Europe and Eurasia central conferences.

In The United Methodist Church, bishops are ordained elders who are called to “lead and oversee the spiritual and temporal affairs of The United Methodist Church.”

Bishops are responsible for appointing clergy. They also are the first stop when clergy face complaints under church law.

They also serve as board members or chairs of general agencies and other denomination-wide ministries. Even as he retires from his residential duties in Germany, Rückert plans to continue as co-chair of the denomination’s Standing Committee on Central Conference Matters. 

Philipp will give the sermon on Feb. 16 at the conclusion of the central conference session and will be blessed for his service as bishop. Phillip’s official inauguration will take place in May with the handover from Rückert as he retires.

Ruof is public relations officer and spokesperson for the United Methodist Church in Germany. Jennifer Rodia, head of partnerships, news and production, contributed to this story. 

News media contact: Julie Dwyer at (615) 742-5470 or [email protected]. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free UM News Digests.