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General Secretary Retires
The Captain Leaves
General Secretary of EMW is retiring
"Herbert Meissner is leaving EMW? To be retired? He can’t be this old!" Most people are amazed to hear that the General Secretary of the Association of Protestant Churches and Missions (EMW) is to leave the well known institution in Hamburg, Germany. And for the friends of the oecumenical movement it seems hard to imagine EMW without Meissner; and that is also true for the staff.
Meissner was born in Berlin but moved several times within Germany. In Bavaria he studied Theology and was ordained Pastor of the Lutheran Church. Age 31 he became Pastor in South Africa for the next nine years. In 1979 he and his family – his wife Ute and three daughters – returned to Germany, where he joined the Berliner Missionswerk. Nine years later moving was again on the agenda: Hamburg was the destination. Now, 17 years later, retirement is the next step.
Not all his friends, companions and collegues will attend the official fair-well shortly after his 65th birthday in October. Most of those that hold him dear live abroad, in other European countries, in Africa, in Asia and in America and also in Australia. Many words of greetings – writen or spoken – will pay him tribute. He himself will hate "all that fuss" for he is not a man who enjoys being in the middle of everbody’s attention. Herbert Meissner is a meek person, always siding with the weak ones, promoting others, helping, listening, stretching out hands. He is strong person speaking out against the wrong, advocating Christian virtues. Not everybody he met was amused by his determind spirit.
Whereever he was working, be it within EMW-structures, within Germany or at any other place in the world, he was always trying to promote the oecumenical movement. There were others that disagreed with him strongly yet he never stopped communicating while others did. He never stopped believing in the Oneness of the Christian Body. Where others would have given up he neither lost his temper, nor his good mood – and many a times his perserverance won peole "over". And just in case he was frustrated he went home and found things that needed repair, improvement, nailing and screwing.
Herbert Meissner, General Secretary of EMW, is retiring. He has plans to go back the South Africa to visit or to work. He and his wife have standing invitations to all ends of the world. They will be welcomed in many homes, church buildings and also offices of church organisations. We all wish Herbert und Ute Meissner good health to be able to do all those things together they didn’t have time for in the past. God bless you!
