With music you can also reach people critical of the church, says Joachim Rohrbach. He loves classical music, but modern music as well as specially arranged and repositioned gospel, rock and pop songs “tend to pull”. The success proves him right: When Taufkirchen’s evangelical pastor appears with his “rendezvous band”, the church is as full as it is at Christmas.
On this Sunday, Rohrbach, known as the “singing pastor”, can be seen one last time with his band in the courtyard of the community center of the Jerusalem Church, before moving to the third parish of the Michael parish in Ottobrunn on September 1st. In Taufkirchen, the 45-year-old will be relieved of his duties on August 1st, i.e. he will say goodbye.
He will be remembered there, because on Sunday evening he collects a steel cross with a glass filling for his heart project, which is supposed to give the functional community center, which has neither a tower nor bells, a touch of church. Rohrbach leaves the community in which he worked for eight years, in his own words with gratitude. For family reasons he applied “after an intensive period of deliberation” for the office at St. Michael’s Church. There he will complete the pastoral care team again together with the pastor for training, Olivia Palumbiny. He was attracted by the new challenge of working in a team again in a larger congregation after a smaller congregation in which he was solely responsible for everything as a pastor.
But first it is time to say goodbye in Taufkirchen, and that is expected to be done with a charity concert. Since the rendezvous band was founded in 2009, the ensemble has donated the proceeds of a concert to social causes once a year. Both Rohrbach and his wife Lila are trained singers with a wide range of opportunities. Guitarist Hannes Bartz, pianist Roland Will, bassist Thomas Melzer, drummer Christian Toth and recently his wife Andrea on the violin are part of the party.
With songs like “We all need some light” by Transatlantic and “Lichterketten” by Sascha, the band wants to “bring light and new hope” and give confidence, as Rohrbach says. In the church services during the pandemic, they always felt that music can make a big difference. “When the pastor preaches and then picks up the microphone, people are surprised and open to the Christian message.” In a concert he explains the associated message before each song.
It is the message of God’s love that he never refuses to anyone and that Rohrbach has fascinated and guided from childhood. His grandfather and father were also pastors, the parental parsonage in Munich-Trudering was always open to visitors. If guests had come to the rectory, his two older brothers would have withdrawn, but he would have sneaked down from the upper floor and sat on the stairs. He still loves contact with people today, and music is his elixir of life, says the singing pastor.
Joachim Rohrbach and the rendezvous band will perform on Sunday, July 4th, at 6 p.m. in the courtyard of the community center of the Jerusalem Church in Taufkirchen, Eichenstrasse 18. The concert will be broadcast online at www.jerusalemkirche.de.