History
The English-speaking Christian Congregation was formally founded on Pentecost Sunday
1996. Worship in English had first been held in the Pauluskirche on Christmas Eve
1993 at the instigation of English-speaking actors resident in Bochum. The venture
proved so successful that English-language worship is now held there at 12.30 every
Sunday.
The Pauluskirche is an idyllic village church, somewhat incongruously nestling between
huge department stores and bank buildings in the heart of the city of Bochum in
the industrial Ruhr area of Germany. It is a church which looks back not only on
the industrial growth of the 19th and 20th centuries, which transformed Bochum from
a tiny village into a vast town of 400,000 inhabitants, but on a generally colourful
and varied past - on Spanish siege and on Allied bombs, on revolution and on Napoleonic
invasion. And it is also a forward-looking church, nurturing a tradition of dialogue
with both the Jewish and the Islamic communities, as well as being a welcoming host
to Hungarian, African and English-speaking congregations
Some Historic events ...
| 1557 |
Johann Bömken, one of the Catholic priests in Bochum, introduces Lutheran elements
into the liturgy
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| 1613 |
An independent Lutheran congregation is formed and Melchior Ebbinghaus called as
Pastor to serve its needs.
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| 1618-48 |
Thirty Year War - Spanish troops lay siege to the town and severely mishandle Ebbinghaus
(he is reported to have been publicly roasted in a tub).
|
| ca. 1650 |
Fund-raising trips are made through Europe to finance building a Lutheran church
in Bochum. Donations are noted in "Coligirbücher" (Collection Books). The King of
Denmark, Duke Friedrich of Schleswig-Holstein and the Universities of Wittenberg
and Jena give money, one Friedrich Mettegang gives stones from his "Quarry in Griesenbruch"
and a shepherd donates "one fat castrate ram".
|
| 1655 |
"Anno 1655 the 26 April the first Stone was laid of this Church, built to the Glory
of God and with the Permission of our Most Gracious Prince and Lord" (porch inscription)
|
| 1874 |
The Pauluskirche is incorporated into the Greater Bochum Parish and is given its
name, having until then been referred to sirnply as "the Lutheran Church".
|
| 1943 |
Allied air-raid on Bochum during the night of June 12. The Pauluskirche is struck
and its interior devastated. Only the outer walls remain intact.
|
| 1950 |
On Reformation Day, 30th October, the Pauluskirche is re-dedicated for public worship.
The first post-Reformation church built in Bochum is the first to be rebuilt after
the War. ca.
|
| 1960 |
Stained-glass windows depicting stages in the life of St. Paul (Stoning of Stephen;
Road to Damascus; Preaching in Athens) are installed in the chancel area. Designs
are by the Bochum artist Willy Heyer.
|
| 1993 |
December 24 - Rev. Robert Haworth (United Church of Christ, USA) and Rev. James
Brown (Church of Scotland) hold English-language worshipfor the first time in the
Pauluskirche.
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