In our latest seminar last Thursday evening (21 May), we had the opportunity to learn about how Anglicanism developed in Hamburg and how the city’s churches work together today in a new expression of faith in the Hafen City district.

Mats Nowak, who studies theology through the University of Hamburg (and is currently on placement at the Pontifical Gregorian University) presented on the history of the Anglican chaplaincy (Englische Kirche), which currently meets in the Church of St Thomas à Becket. He was joined online by Stephan Dreyer, from the Archdiocese of Hamburg, who chairs the Ecumenical Forum (Ökumenische Forum) in HafenCity – a space created for prayer, community and inspiration.

The unique history of the Anglican congregation, as the only non-Lutheran group allowed to worship in public in Hamburg in the first 200 years after the Reformation, built stronger connections between the city and England and aided the development of Church of England chaplaincies across the continent. Our discussion covered many of the nuances of being an expatriate worshipping community and relating to the locations in which God has placed us.

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