Evangelical church boards in Bavaria can propose until September 15 who should become the new bishop. On March 27, 2023, the 108 members of the Bavarian state synod will elect who will succeed the current state bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, the state church announced on Wednesday. His term of office ends after twelve years on October 31, 2023.
Pastors from the entire regional church could be nominated for election as regional bishops. The election preparation committee, headed by synodal president Annekathrin Preidel, accepts proposals from church councils, parish chapters, deanery committees, church associations and individual synodal members.
The broad participation in the search for suitable bishop candidates is a great strength of the evangelical church, said Preidel: “We are practicing something typically evangelical: the church builds itself up from the bottom up.” Preidel said that she was already receiving new proposals every day from church leaders who had been dealing with the election of bishops before the summer break. The final election proposal of the election preparation committee will be presented to the public on February 10th.