A new bishop – festival service with guests

Bishop’s cross passed on to Christian Stäblein in Berlin-Mitte

As bishop, Markus Dröge guided the destinies of the more than 900,000 evangelical Christians in the region for ten years. On 16 November 2019, in an evangelical festival service in the Marienkirche (St Mary’s Church) in Berlin-Mitte, he passed on his bishop’s cross to Christian Stäblein.

Around 700 invited guests attended the service, including representatives from politics and society, congregations and evangelical schools, the voluntary sector and church music groups, along with a large number of bishops.

The public service was broadcast live on RBB

Mayor of Berlin Michael Müller, state premier of Brandenburg Dietmar Woidke, and the catholic archbishop of Berlin Heiner Koch gave welcome speeches on the occasion of this change of office. The Chairman of the German Evangelical Church (EKD) Council, Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, also took part in the festival service, which was broadcast live on the day by Berlin-Brandenburg Broadcasting (RBB).

Christian Stäblein is the new bishop in Berlin and Brandenburg Stäblein comes from Lower Saxony and from 2015 was provost of the Oberlausitz Evangelical Church (EKBO) and theological leader of the consistory, the highest administrative authority of the regional church. There, he headed the “Theology and Church Life” department, which also oversees the coordination of the work areas welfare and social work, ecumenism and world mission, journalism and the publishing house.

After completing his studies in Protestant Theology in Göttingen and Berlin, as well as courses in Jewish studies, philosophy and law, he was ordained as a pastor in the year 2000. He wrote his doctoral thesis on sermons after the Holocaust. From 2008 to 2015, he was Director of Studies at the seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover.

Event Consult supported the event

Event Consult GmbH was commissioned to provide equipment and various services to support the event. This included constructing a large tent for the accreditation of the many visitors. Hostesses and hosts were employed by Event Consult to assist the guests and guests of honour with accreditation and seating. We also had to provide good signage and supply the venue with additional furniture prior to the event.

This ensured the Marienkirche was adequately prepared for the large number of people. Expanding venues for additional capacities is one of Event Consult’s special skills.