Evangelisch-reformierte Kirche

The Evangelisch-reformierte Kirche has kept the reformed faith alive in Hamburg for over four hundred years. English, Dutch and German merchants founded it, together with French refugees, in a city with a predominantly Lutheran clergy. Its addresses and allegiances have shifted several times since those early days.

A merger in 1976 united the various congregations under one church council. Since January 2012 the church has belonged to the Reformed Church of Lower Saxony, whose seat lies in Leer. You will find worship at two community centres: one on the Palmaille in Altona, the other on Ferdinandstraße near the main station. In the Altona church room the congregation keeps old reformed custom, celebrating communion seated at a wooden table. The city-centre church, expanded and modernised in 2011, glows with stained glass windows showing the Ten Commandments. The Paderborn artist collective Lönne Neumann designed those colourful windows. Both centres lay on a Saturday breakfast, and everyone is welcome at the table.

Diaconal work has its heart in the Altenhof in Winterhude, a care and residential home with a chapel and a garden. Outpatient nursing and hospice visitation carry it into people's everyday lives. Bible and discussion groups meet regularly, often reading scripture alongside literature and art. A project choir and a gospel choir invite new voices, while children get a service of their own every month. Outward, ecumenical ties lead into HafenCity work and the Working Group of Christian Churches. Friendships with communities in South Africa and Belarus sit alongside support for peace projects in Israel and Palestine. Closer to home, the congregation's retreat houses by Lake Ratzeburg and on Amrum stay open to guests all year. If you come to worship, coffee waits for you afterwards.