Cathedral Dean Christiane Münker

Curious about people and stories, thinking about God and the world, asking what Christian faith means today, taking people with me and inspiring them with the best message in the world - these are just a few aspects of why I still love my vocation even after many years in the ministry.

Growing up in a more traditional parsonage in the 1960s/70s with a broad outlook, a willingness to discuss and a sense of responsibility in the Christian faith, I have always learned to appreciate the community and the impetus provided by the Christian congregation. I was born the youngest with three older brothers in Mülheim an der Ruhr and have always been firmly rooted in the Rhineland.

After studying in Wuppertal and Bonn, I initially received important impulses from my work as an annual intern at Westdeutscher Rundfunk before my first pastorate. There, the focus was on communicating faith and church topics in the media. I then worked as a theological consultant at the Protestant Bible Society in the Rhineland, where I also worked in the field of education. My pastorates in Mönchengladbach-Rheydt and Moers were both at the central inner-city churches with city church work. As a theologian, I have been a part-time member of the church leadership of the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland since 2017.

I have been associated with Berlin for years as a member of the management team and the committee of the European Bible Dialogues of the UEK, formerly the Berlin Bible Weeks. The cross-border church meetings, also with Christians in other European countries, have helped to shape me. I see my main task as a cathedral preacher as being to further develop Berlin Cathedral with its many employees as a wonderful place for art and culture, but above all as a place of encounter between people, religions, cultures and the encounter between man and God.