Friedensau celebrates its 125th anniversary

Blue skies, pure sunshine, happy faces - a Sabbath that couldn't have been more beautiful. On Sabbath, 19 October 2024, a service of celebration and thanksgiving took place in the Friedensau Arena to mark the 125th anniversary. The sermon was preached by General Conference representative Lisa Beardsley-Hardy, who works as Head of Education at the highest governing body of the Free Church. She spoke about 2 Timothy 1 and gave the graduates and today's students the following message: ‘You don't have to be perfect to enter God's service and be blessed by him.’

The ‘ceremony’ followed in the afternoon, to which personalities from partner universities, the free church and the community were also invited. The keynote speaker was Prof Dr Hendrik Olbertz, former Minister of Culture of Saxony-Anhalt; he titled his speech ‘Believing to know’. Companions and long-time friends, graduates and other alumni had travelled to Friedensau to celebrate the anniversary.

On this day, there was also an opportunity to quote a few passages from the Friedensau Chronicle - no one could do this better than historian Johannes Hartlapp, who is currently working on the final corrections and texts for the Friedensau Chronicle.

The celebrations were accompanied by music from Friedensau students such as Martin Lindtner (with Elise Thiel, guitars), the university choir and the Lehmgrübner brass band (Freiberg), with Jürgen Hartmann (Berlin) and Helmut May (Wittenberg) playing the organ. The congregation joined in praise and thanksgiving.

Over the course of the year, there were already a large number of events to mark the anniversary, such as the exhibition on the local chronicle, the open day and a lecture series on ‘Flourishing’ towards the end of the year.

On Sunday, 20 October, the deans presented the certificates and diplomas to the lucky graduates of the class of 2024.
Prizes were awarded: The DAAD prize for outstanding achievements by foreign students went to Stanley Tangie; the sponsorship prize from the ‘Freundeskreis Friedensau International e.V.’ sponsorship association went to Vida Owusu Agyemang. The Waltraud and Herbert Blomstedt Prize for Theology went to Martin Lindtner; the Blomstedt Prize for Music was awarded to Andrei Sisu, Matej Luksic, Michael Bistrovic and Cin Die Tuang. It was an eventful day, especially for our graduates who are no longer students, their families and friends. How does the inscription at the Wilhelm-Michael-Haus put it? ‘Set off, become light!’ They are now starting their professional lives with this mission. We wish them all God's blessing! (Text: Andrea Cramer).