Düsseldorf is preparing for the German Evangelical Church Day 2027!

Düsseldorf is preparing for the German Evangelical Church Day 2027!

On May 5, 2025, the official relay handover for the 40th German Evangelical Church Day took place, which will be organized in Düsseldorf from May 5 to 9, 2027. The handover took place during the 39th church day in Hanover, where Mayor Klaudia Zepuntke accepted the baton for the city of Düsseldorf, represented by Mayor Dr. Stephan Keller. This is the third time that Düsseldorf was elected as the venue for the Kirchentag after the city was already host in 1973 and 1985.

The invitation of Düsseldorf as well as the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia was officially accepted on October 6, 2023 by the Presidium of the Kirchentag. Klaudia Zepuntke emphasized that Düsseldorf is preparing for the upcoming major event with joy and conscientiousness. Dr. Thorsten Latzel, President of the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland, and Torsten belonged, President of the Kirchentag 2027, also expressed a positive comment on Düsseldorf as an event location.

financing and criticism

The upcoming event, which is expected to cost around 13 million euros, receives support from public funds. 7 million euros come from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, while the city of Düsseldorf provides 5.8 million euros. This amount is made up of 4.3 million euros in grants and 1.5 million euros in benefits in kind.

However, there was resistance to the financing of the church day with public funds. Demonstrations of groups such as the art campaign The 11th requirement and the Düsseldorf reconnaissance service led to a failed citizens' request that needed 15,000 signatures to be successful. Despite this resistance, the Düsseldorf FDP, as well as the youth organizations of the FDP, SPD and the Greens, support the concern. The criticism continued when the Evangelical Central Office for Weldenschauungschungs said the city administration for dealing with the citizens' request.

organizational aspects

An alternative sponsoring association was founded in October 2024, which should be responsible for all economic, legal and organizational concerns of the church day. The club chairs are David Farago and Mario Ickert, while the supervisory board includes prominent members such as Ingrid Matthäus-Maier and Michael Schmidt-Salomon. Critical voices such as that of Kristin Jahn, General Secretary of the "Association for the Promotion of the German Evangelical Church Day", expressed concerns about the establishment of this alternative association, in which an official extinguishing process against the "40th German Evangelical Church Day Düsseldorf 2027 e.V." was initiated.

It remains to be seen how the Situation around the organization of the German Evangelical Church Day will develop. The leading word of the event is: "But it had every world of one tongue and language" (1. Moses 11:1), which underlines a central aspect of the Kirchentag 2027, which is expected to attract thousands of visitors from all over the world.

The Kirchentag, founded since 1949 as a Christian lay movement, takes place every two years in changing cities in Germany. The last implementation in the Rhineland took place in Cologne in 2007, which further increases the high expectation to the upcoming events in Düsseldorf.